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Grow mushrooms yourself Instructions and tips for mushroom growing
Mushroom cultivation belongs to horticulture. This practice proliferates and cultivates edible mushrooms, harvests and markets them. For historical reasons, champignon is at the center of commercial mushroom cultivation.
contents
- Dark delicacies for the Sun King
- mushroom gardening
- Light and dark culture
- substratum
- Cultivate mushrooms yourself
- oyster mushrooms
- When are mushrooms ripe??
- Grow mushrooms yourself
- Growing mushrooms outside: tools and important hints
Dark delicacies for the Sun King
Louis XIV, the Sun King, cultivated mushrooms in the 17th century. These were considered a delicacy, and the field and meadow mushrooms had to be laboriously collected. The French ruler now let them breed in dark vaults. It was only in the 20th century that the industry began to cultivate mushrooms in large numbers. This served dark halls as well as mine tunnels or bomb shelters from the world wars.
The mushroom was first cultivated in France in the 17th century and is still one of the most cultivated mushrooms worldwide. (Image: Vladimir Gerasimov / fotolia.com) In China, shiitake mushrooms have been cultivated for a long time, and globalization has spread these cultivated mushrooms worldwide. In Germany, the champignon with nearly 60,000 tons is far ahead, followed by shiitake and oyster mushroom with 500 tons and herring with 200 tons. Forest mushrooms can not be cultivated today despite numerous attempts.
mushroom gardening
So far, the mushroom growers rarely organize themselves in associations with superannuation organizations, in Germany and Switzerland just a dozen companies. In terms of mushroom cultivation, Germany is "developing country". China produces 1.4 million tons of mushrooms every year, and the US still produces 0.38 million tons.
Light and dark culture
The Chanpignon is a typical mushroom for a dark culture, the less light it gets, the better. The Asian mushrooms, however, are light fungi.
substratum
Each type of fungus needs a specific substrate (nutrient medium) to grow, both in nature and in culture. The basis is for example straw, sawdust or wood chips. These can also affect the taste of mushrooms.
This substrate must first "lazy" for the mushrooms to grow. It is continuously watered for several days, so that the decomposition of the material begins. Then the mushroom gardeners pasteurize the substrate so that no unwanted organisms spread.
In mushrooms, wheat grains are the basis, these are inoculated with the mycelium. If the grains of mycelium are overgrown, we call them champignon brood.
When the fruiting body forms, the temperature, humidity, CO2 content and amount of light must be right. In modern companies, these conditions are created by climate computers. This ensures that there are a lot of mushrooms at a certain time.
Not every fungus grows on every nutrient medium. Oyster mushrooms thrive well on straw, for example. (Image: ermess / fotolia.com) Cultivate mushrooms yourself
To cultivate mushrooms themselves, they get a mushroom spawn in the garden trade and provide suitable substrate. Specialist shops offer special substrates with straw, bark mulch or grain. But they do not necessarily have to buy something like that: Especially the tasty herbal slices thrive excellently on coffee grounds.
To do this, crumble the mushroom fry into very small pieces and mix with the previously dried coffee powder. The mixture comes into the seed pot, they cover well and ensure that the substrate remains moist for about 4 weeks.
After two to four weeks, the mycelium has grown through the substrate. Now the lid off. The fruiting bodies now emerge in several bursts. All in all, a substrate of coffee grounds suffices for about 6 crops.
oyster mushrooms
Oyster mushrooms are usually obtained from specialist retailers as a fully growable substrate block. Store them in a room with moist air. It is best to turn on a nebulizer if available, or place a plastic wrap on the substrate. The temperature should be between 18 and 25 degrees.
When are mushrooms ripe??
If the plugs flourish, then the fruiting bodies first develop at the air holes. If the mushrooms are about 8 to 11 inches tall, you can turn them out.
Take the stump in so that no bacteria spreads. After about three weeks rest follows the next harvest. After about five crops, the substrate is leached out.
Grow mushrooms yourself
They also get mushrooms as ready-made cultures plus a bag of cover soil. They cover the substrate in a dish with the earth and cover it with plastic. Alternatively, there is also a wooden box, which they line with foil. Now keep everything moist at 12 degrees to 20 degrees.
Cover the box with foil until the first outgrowths form on the surface, they urgently need air.
Once the mushrooms are developed, you can harvest every two weeks, for about five months.
Mushrooms can be grown well in your own garden or on the balcony. (Image: encierro / fotolia.com) Growing mushrooms outside: tools and important hints
In the garden, yard or balcony mushrooms can be excellently pulled. The conditions are different for individual species: brown oysters like oyster mushrooms love bales of straw, which they water with water for two days in the later spring. Let the bale dribble for a day afterwards.
Tip: If you have a rain barrel, always put the bale in from different sides. Use a stick to drill holes at intervals of 20 centimeters into the straw and insert the mushroom spawn. When the straw bale is filled with the brood, cover it with foil to increase the humidity.
If all goes well, then after five to six weeks, the bale is soaked in mushroom braid at about 20-25 degrees, and they can harvest up to six kilos of mushrooms every three weeks.
The main sources of error are: wetness, drought and pests. The straw must be moist, but not wet. Therefore, pay attention to a place where it is not exposed to rain or blazing sun. On very hot days spray the bale better again. These are suitable
Druckluftsprühflaschen.
You can also use straw pellets that swell in a bucket of water, then mix the brood, tie everything into plastic bags and tie it up. However, there must be some air holes so that the whole thing does not die. They store the bags at about 15 degrees Celsius. The mycelium appears after about 3 weeks. Now remove the plastic wrap and place the growing mushrooms in a bright place with no direct sunlight.
Suitable for this method are lime mushroom, Schopftintling, Rosa Seitling, Kräuterseitling, Braunkappe and oyster mushroom. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)