The Art Of Growing Mushrooms

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

Mushrooms are a very tasty and healthy product. In terms of their nutritional value, they are similar to meat, as they contain a large amount of protein, carbohydrates, trace elements and amino acids. Most often, mushrooms and oyster mushrooms are used in cooking. It turns out that you don't have to go to the supermarket to cook delicious mushroom dishes. Many are quite successful in growing mushrooms and get a good harvest, which, in principle, can bring financial benefits. This is not a difficult occupation, you just need to master certain skills and principles of agricultural technology

Primary requirements

Initially, you need to decide on the place in which you will grow mushrooms. An ordinary film greenhouse is suitable for champignons, but oyster mushrooms can grow even in a cellar or basement. The only thing here is to ensure the optimum temperature and humidity. In addition, for growing mushrooms, you can build a polycarbonate greenhouse or make it with a glass cover.

In any case, the necessary requirements must be met:

- correct lighting, which implies the presence of sunlight without hitting the place of growth of direct rays;

temperature regime;

- the required humidity;

- fertilizing with fertilizers.

If you follow these simple rules, you can grow mushrooms even in an ordinary city apartment.

How to grow oyster mushroom

Most often, it is oyster mushroom that is grown for sale. An environmentally friendly mushroom growing on a special substrate is absolutely safe for health. An ordinary greenhouse is suitable for him, in which vegetable crops are planted from spring to autumn. Many experienced summer residents practice growing oyster mushrooms at the same time as cucumbers, since they require similar climatic parameters.

If planting work is done in November, the first mushroom harvest can be taken in the winter.

For growing oyster mushrooms, they take wooden blocks, which are infected with mycelium and placed throughout the greenhouse, lightly sprinkling them with earth. Then each bar is covered with burlap or a layer of sawdust. Conditions with a temperature of 13-15 ° C and a humidity of 90% are considered optimal. As the mushroom web grows, the temperature is lowered to 2 ° C, and during the active growth of mushrooms, it is again raised to the original mark. It is very convenient to grow oyster mushrooms in bags with a substrate. To do this, in the greenhouse, all the beds are lined with a layer of plastic wrap and the bags with mycelium are placed as close to each other as possible.

During the period of active growth of oyster mushrooms, you need to monitor the temperature and humidity. In order for it to be at 80-85%, the room is periodically sprayed with water. To prevent direct sunlight from entering the greenhouse, it is darkened outside with a camouflage net or branches. It is noticed that low temperature significantly lengthens the growth cycle of mushrooms, but has a positive effect on their taste.

Champignons

These mushrooms are more whimsical than oyster mushrooms and require special attention.

To grow them in a greenhouse, a special substrate with good moisture and air permeability is prepared. In addition, the soil base for mushrooms should be free of ammonia and carbon dioxide. Horse manure is used as a substrate, as well as straw containing various dressings. Sometimes chalk or gypsum is added to it.

Preparatory work depends, first of all, on the type of mycelium of the fungus, which is compostable or granular. The compost mycelium is planted after grinding it to 3 cm, and the granular one requires preliminary grinding into a homogeneous mass.

For the growth phase of the mycelium, a temperature of 22-24 ° C and a humidity of 90-95% are recommended. At too low a temperature, it can slow down in growth, and a high temperature can lead to its death. After the characteristic mushroom smell appears in the greenhouse, and the spider web of the mycelium appears on the substrate, the room temperature is reduced to 15 ° C. During the period of active growth of champignons, the boxes with the substrate are sprinkled with a small layer of peat, and appropriate cuts are made in the bags. Usually the first crop is harvested 14-17 days after planting. Young champignons are removed before the cap opens. This is done very carefully so as not to damage the mycelium.

As you can see, growing mushrooms in a greenhouse is a very interesting and not difficult task. If you adhere to all the recommendations and observe the necessary conditions, you can get a fairly good harvest in a short time. It is not for nothing that mushroom farming is considered one of the types of family business.