We Grow Winter Honey On The Window

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

We offer two original ways to grow mushrooms in an apartment. In the form of a substrate, you can use hulls from seeds and pumpkin

A little about winter honey

Winter honey mushroom or winter mushroom, which has the scientific name Flammulina Velvety-leg, is little known to mushroom pickers, since it appears in the forests after frost and by this time the mushroom season is closed.

Winter mushroom differs from honey agarics in the absence of a skirt and color. It has a dense reddish-red tubular, tapered leg below (3-7 cm), a lamellar flat cap (3-10 cm) of honey-brown, yellow or orange-brown color. The plates are of different colors - from ocher to white. Grows in groups on weakened or fallen trees. The harvest season is autumn-spring. Experienced mushroom pickers collect ice cream under the snow during thaws.

The experience of cultivating winter mushrooms began in Japan, where industrial production was launched already in the 50s. In this country they are called "enokitake", "enoki". Today, along with Japan, honey mushroom is included in mushroom growing in many countries. The mycelium is available to everyone and is sold everywhere.

How to grow winter mushrooms at home

This delicious delicacy is not problematic to grow. Those who wish can easily cultivate it at home. For cultivation, you do not need to buy a substrate or cook the land yourself for a long time. It is enough to have sawdust of deciduous trees or straw in the house. You can also use buckwheat husks, sunflower husks, bran, corn cobs.

We prepare containers and substrate

If you choose sawdust, then the last six months will be the best material. Before planting, they need to be soaked for a day. Then squeeze and fill the prepared cans with them, usually these are liter or two-liter. The container is filled in half or by a third, covered with a polyethylene lid, in which a hole of two centimeters is preliminarily made. The hole made is plugged with a cotton pad or cotton wool. The prepared substrate must be sterilized in a pot of water - boil for 1-1.5 hours. After cooling, you can plant.

Growing honey agaric

Several small pieces of mycelium are placed in the jar. With a wooden peg, make a deepening of 0.5 cm in the substrate and put the mycelium in this place. The lid is closed again and the container is placed in a warm place. For germination, you need + 20 … + 24.

The incubation process lasts 20-30 days, no light is needed at this time, so you can put it anywhere, even in a closed cabinet. When the first bodies of mushrooms appear, the jars are placed on the windowsill. It is advisable to choose the north side. When placed in the south - shade at noon. When the mushrooms began to grow, they no longer need to provide heat, so you can arrange a mushroom greenhouse on a glazed loggia. At + 10 … + 15, fruiting bodies are guaranteed to be laid and develop qualitatively.

After the first mushrooms appear, you need to monitor their growth. As soon as they reach the lid, it must be removed and poured over with boiled water. Now it is necessary to "build up" the container. Wrap the neck with thick paper / cardboard and fix with tape, wire. The height of this structure should be 5-10 cm. It will be a vertical support for mushrooms stretched out from the jar. At this point, your pets need high humidity, so spray the hats at least once a day.

Harvesting

When the height of the mushrooms reaches the maximum level of your winding, that is, they grow 10 cm above the can, you can collect. Remove the harness and cut as low as possible. Put the lid back on the jar and wait for the next wave of growth. It is no longer necessary to put in a warm place, since the mycelium is active. After 10-15 days, new mushrooms will appear.

Growing mushrooms in a pumpkin

There is an original way of cultivating winter honeydew in a pumpkin, since its pulp serves as an ideal environment for the development of mycelium. Take a medium sized fruit, cut a hole and place a few lumps of mycelium inside. Cover the section area with cellophane and secure with tape / plaster.

Heat the pumpkin for three weeks. Move to a cool place after 25 days. Set it straight, preferably on a flat bowl stand. Now you cannot touch the fruit, as many dots will appear on it in the form of mushroom rudiments. Soon the entire surface will be covered with fruit bodies. Do the cut after the caps are fully opened and until the leg “woods” - do not wait for it to turn brown.