If you carefully studied biology at school, then remember that mushrooms grow from mycelium. But most people use a different, more understandable and consonant word in the conversation - mushroom picker. It is she who gives rise to the growth of mushrooms. Having bought or taken mycelium in the forest, you can start growing mushrooms - for yourself or for sale.
Properties and purpose of mycelium
Mycelium is a vegetative body of the fungus, capable of changing its shape, adapting to specific growing conditions. The mycelium forms special organs that allow it to reliably gain a foothold in the nutrient medium - soil, root, wood, substrate.
To grow butterflies, saffron mushrooms or porcini mushrooms, you need a mycelium, a substrate and conditions suitable for vegetation.
Mycelium Functions:
- Attachment to the nutrient medium.
- Processing cellulose with enzymes - to obtain the substances necessary for the growth and development of fruiting bodies.
- Adapting to environmental conditions.
- Participation in the education and preservation of disputes.
The mushroom picker is the most important organ responsible for the transport of nutrients and vegetative propagation.
The structure and life cycle of the mycelium
Mycelium has the form of cotton wool, fluffy plaque, a light film or mesh woven from the smallest threads. The mycelium consists of thin branched threads - hyphae. Their thickness is 1.5-10 microns. The color of the threads is white, light shades.
On hyphae, a network of small side branches is formed - haustorium, which allows fungi to penetrate into the internal tissues of plants, receiving water and nutrition.
If we summarize the length of all hyphae in the mycelium, it is 30-35 kilometers in some mushrooms.
Hyphae collected in bunches look like plant roots. Tenacious hyphae help the fungi to gain a foothold not only on a soft substrate, but also on hard bases. Filaments rich in nutrients form sclerotia - they look like black capsules and perform protective functions. Thanks to sclerotia, the mycelium does not die even in severe cold.
Mushroom development cycle:
- The life cycle of fungi begins with a spore - it gives rise to the primary mycelium.
- After crossing the cells from two different spores, a secondary mycelium appears.
- The vegetative development of secondary mycelium begins.
- After the growth of the vegetative mycelium, its cells have an unprecedented high rate of division - when it reaches a peak, the erection of fruiting bodies begins.
The mycelium undergoes the last functional change, transforming into a tertiary mycelium.
Forms of mycelium
Mushrooms are divided into two classes:
- Submerged - if they are completely hidden in the nutrient substrate.
- Aerial - if they only concern the nutrient medium.
Mycelium fungi are also divided into:
- Coenotic - “non-cellular”. There are no transverse septa between the cells. Such a mycelium is one large cell with many nuclei.
- Septic - "cellular." Mycelial cells are separated by intercellular septa. Each cell has a certain number of nuclei.
Where is mycelium formed?
Mycelium is bought in specialized stores or brought from the forest. Where is mycelium formed? The network of the finest weaves - hyphae, you can find:
- on stumps, old roots, wood - depends on the type of mushroom;
- in place of the prolific mycelium.
Take a piece of mycelium with hyphae, create favorable conditions for it, and soon - when the cells are activated, mushrooms will sprout from the threads. In this way, amateur mushroom growers get "seedlings" for home mushroom plantings.
Methods of growing fungi from mycelium
To grow mushrooms, it would be nice to learn how to get mushroom mycelium on your own - you can’t always find the right amount of mycelium in the forest, but you need serious funds to purchase it. According to the method of cultivation, mycelium is distinguished:
- Uterine. He is usually bred in laboratories. In test tubes, fungal strains are removed, which become inoculum.
- From the body of the fungus. For sowing, use slices of overripe hats. Harvesting mycelium from hats is carried out according to special rules.
- Sowing season. Material almost ready for sowing. It is collected from mycelium that have finished bearing fruit.
- From the wand. It can be bought at specials. the store.
How to grow uterine mycelium?
The simplest thing is, when there is a ready-sowing seed mycelium - it is only laid in the substrate, but the uterine and the mushroom body still have to be cooked. To grow uterine mycelium, you need to purchase the necessary equipment. Sowing of the material is carried out under sterile conditions. Access to heat and water is needed. Growing technology:
- Buy:
- test tubes with plugs;
- tweezers;
- wort;
- burner and alcohol;
- agar agar;
- hydrogen peroxide;
- sterile gloves.
- Everything that will participate in the preparation of uterine mycelium must be sterilized. The working area must also be sterile.
- Prepare a growth medium. Agar-agar and wort mix and boil until thickened.
- Prepare slices of mushroom caps in advance. They must be washed in hydrogen peroxide, and then transferred to a sterilized container.
- Pour the wort mixed with agar into test tubes - they must be placed with a slight slope. Let it cool. Keep clean.
- In a warm, thick substance (with tweezers or tweezers), put a piece of mushroom.
- Sterilize each tube with fungus over the burner. Immediately after sterilization, the tube should be corked.
- Test tubes in warmth and darkness. The exposure time is two weeks. As soon as this period expires, the seed can be sown in the substrate.
Most often, it is not possible to grow the uterine mycelium itself due to a violation of sterility. In the test tubes are microorganisms, as a result - instead of mycelium, the predominance of mold and other bacterial parasites is obtained.
It is extremely difficult to grow uterine mycelium on your own. It is recommended not to take risks and not waste time, but to purchase the finished product from professionals. When buying mycelium, make sure:
- that he did not have an expiration date;
- that storage conditions were met.
As a rule, the shelf life of mycelium grown in vitro is limited to 3-4 months.
Growing seed mycelium from mushroom caps
This method of obtaining mycelium is simpler than the previous one. This breeding option is especially good for mushrooms and oyster mushrooms. How to prepare seed:
- Pick up ripe hats. Choose the largest and without damage.
- Fill the hats with boiled water. Soak the dough for 24 hours.
- After draining the water, soaked hats are kneaded - to make slurry.
- The mixture is not stored - it must be used immediately. Therefore, the substrate for sowing should be ready.
If mushrooms are to be grown on stumps and cuttings, then in the latter, cuts are made in advance, in which the mushroom gruel is laid. If a substrate is used, hat mycelium is placed between its layers.
In order for the mushrooms to sprout successfully, during the incubation period, a temperature of + 23- + 25 degrees must be maintained. The room also needs to provide high humidity.
Getting mycelium from hats is the easiest option for home use. Other methods of growing mycelium cannot be applied at home. Unless you organize a mini-laboratory equipped with autoclaves and other special equipment.
Mycelium sticks
These are simple hardwood sticks. They are infected with mycelium. Shelf life is six months. Storage conditions - room temperature humidity above 50%. To start the growth of mushrooms, sticks are placed in a nutrient substrate. Such mycelium can be purchased at enterprises engaged in the mass production of mushrooms, or at specialized retail outlets.
Most fans "burned" in an attempt to grow mycelium on their own, prefer to buy a finished product. If mushroom cultivation is an exciting hobby, why not try to grow mycelium on your own.
How to choose a substrate?
The choice of substrate - the material in which the mushrooms will grow, is not an easy task. First, it should be ideally suited for growing a specific type of mushroom - oyster mushrooms, champignons, porcini mushrooms, etc. Some species require a soft substrate, while others prefer to grow on hard wood.
There are several options for the substrate, the task of the mushroom grower is to choose the best option for specific mushrooms and goals.
From straw
Use rye, wheat or oat straw. This is cheap and affordable stuff. And most importantly, it is universal - almost any mushrooms can be grown on straw. Mushrooms easily destroy and absorb the nutrient fibers of straw. Less straw substrate - the need for sterilization (pasteurization). Any straw contains mold spores and other parasitic fungi, which will compete with the cultivated fungus for food supply.
Log substrate
Mushrooms are tastier on logs than on straw substrate. The mushroom sprouts in wood for a long time, but good yields are obtained. Mushrooms are grown on hardwood - on maple, poplar, willow, birch, chestnut, ash, and also on fruit trees. Not suitable - black walnut and white acacia. The nuances of growing on logs:
- Only healthy wood is used - without traces of other mushrooms.
- The presence of moss and lichen is permitted, but they are cleaned before sowing.
- It is better to do a drank in late February and mid-March. At this time, sap flow is in the tree. Mushrooms will receive an extremely nutrient medium.
- The length of the log is 50-150 cm. The diameter is 10-15 cm or more. Thin logs can break.
- Freshly cut logs should lie down before settling for about six months. Logs should be stored in clean and well-ventilated areas. The tree must not touch the ground.
- The ideal time for settlement is spring, after frosts. In hot weather, it is better not to sow.
For growing on logs you will need:
- logs;
- 5/16 drill and drill;
- rubber mallet;
- work surface - for example, a workbench;
- natural wax;
- brush - apply wax;
- mushroom sticks.
Sawdust
The best sawdust for growing mushrooms - from deciduous trees. The choice is like logs. Do not use too small filings - they can be compressed and the mycelium suffocates.
Clean sawdust has few nutrients. To increase nutrition, bran is added to sawdust - they receive nitrogen. On empty filings, fungi grow thin, flimsy, with poorly developed hats. Sawdust is pasteurized before use.
Alternative substrates
In addition to logs, straw and sawdust substrates, for growing mushrooms, you can use:
- sleeping coffee grounds;
- drunk tea leaf;
- cardboard (without dyes);
- compost, garden rubbish;
- paper (if newspapers are used, make sure ink is not toxic);
- sunflower husk, corncobs, other organics.
The substrate is selected taking into account the type of fungus and the type of mycelium. If you bought mushroom sticks, then the substrate will be wood. You can use straw, but in a tree, the mycelium, already familiar with wood fibers, will sprout faster.
How to grow mushrooms?
First you need to decide which mushrooms you will grow. Based on this, you will select the optimal substrate. The first step is to find out where it is better to take the mycelium. You can grow it yourself. Mushroom cultivation allows not only providing the family with a delicious nutritious product, but also creating your own business. To start your own business you will need:
- The room with special conditions is wet, warm, lighted, ventilated.
- Investments in the room will depend on the type of mushroom. For example, oyster mushrooms are not particularly whimsical to environmental conditions, but champignons, on the contrary, require attention and careful care.
- Decide on the method of growing. There is an intensive method - mushrooms are grown year-round on different substrates, and extensive - involves limited yield.
- The substrate is the basis for growing. It can be prepared independently, for example, from straw or sawdust, or it can be purchased at companies specializing in the sale of equipment for mushroom growing. If you organize the case correctly, then with 10 kg of substrate you can get more than 2 kg of mushrooms. It is important that the substrate is environmentally friendly - without synthetic fertilizers and chemical additives. The presence of "chemistry" affects the taste and yield of mushrooms. It happens that mushrooms do not grow at all on substrates saturated with chemical additives.
- Mycelium. Mycelium is sown in the finished substrate. For 100 kg of substrate, 3-5 kg are needed. Mushroom picker is purchased or prepared independently - by the method of growing from the body of a mushroom. Getting mycelium of mushrooms at home is a difficult, but quite feasible task.
Today it is difficult to find a company that would guarantee 100% quality of the sold mycelium. For the successful cultivation of mycelium, you will need a room with a constant temperature (+ 20- + 30 ° C) and humidity, illuminated and ventilated.
If you follow the technology and ensure favorable conditions for growth, then after a couple of weeks, embryos of fruiting bodies will appear, from which clusters of mushrooms will grow. Fruiting is undulating in nature. As a rule, when grown on a substrate in bags, three crops are harvested, after which the bags are changed.
What mushrooms are grown from mycelium?
If you have a summer cottage or a personal plot, then, besides vegetables and fruits, you can also grow mushrooms on it - a delicious product that diversifies your diet. And if you get a taste, you can put the matter on a grand scale - grow mushrooms for sale. And not only traditional oyster mushrooms and champignons, but also mushrooms, mushrooms, other mushrooms with good taste and productivity. Find out which mushrooms are best grown from mycelium.
Champignons
Champignon is the most popular mushroom in mass production. There are three types of champignons - white, cream and brown. It is easiest to grow white champignons from mycelium - they are less capricious and produce seven crops per year. For successful cultivation it is necessary:
1. Create a favorable temperature and humidity in the greenhouse.
2. Prepare a special substrate. To prepare it you will need:
- crushed straw of winter cereals;
- horse, cow, rabbit or pig manure;
- urea;
- lime, chalk or gypsum.
The substrate is prepared, observing the proportions:
- straw - 100 kg;
- manure - 50 kg;
- urea - 300 g;
- water - 300 l.
It is advisable to add superphosphate - 300 g. Compost is laid out on a film, stirring and moistening for 10 days. It is necessary to ensure that there is no excess of ammonia and carbon dioxide in the substrate.
3. The finished substrate is laid out on boxes - a layer of 20 cm.
4. Prepare the mycelium:
- Grain. In a metal bowl, put the grain mixture and pour water - it should cover 2-3 cm. Cook for 1 hour. After filtering the grain, dried. Poured into banks, filling them with 50%. Sterilized. In the cooled banks put a little mycelium. When white fluff appears, it becomes clear that the mycelium successfully develops. After a week, the finished mycelium can be planted.
- From mushroom legs. Soak the corrugated cardboard for 1 hour. On the leg of the fungus make incisions and divide it into fibers. In the tank for the "farm" make drainage holes. Mushroom fiber is laid on wet cardboard, covered with wet cardboard - it is removed from above, and a press is placed. When the leaf turns white - the mycelium is ready, it can be placed in a nutrient mixture.
5. Placed on a substrate of mycelium. Cover the boxes with paper. The mycelium will begin to germinate in 2-3 weeks.
Oyster mushrooms
This productive and unpretentious mushroom is grown on:
- hardwood;
- in bags with a substrate - it is prepared from the husks of sunflower, sawdust and straw.
For planting, you need a quality mycelium. In a healthy mycelium, oyster mushroom is white or cream. Dry to the touch. It is bought in late autumn or early spring - until the temperature rises above + 3 ° C. The procedure for growing oyster mushrooms:
- Room preparation - for example, greenhouses.
- Planting can begin in November, then the first mushrooms will be able to get by the end of winter.
- Log preparation. Cuttings are taken - up to 0.5 m long, 40 cm in diameter. Dry wood is soaked for 2 days. Fresh wood is not soaked.
- Finished scraps infect with mycelium. For this purpose, each section is generously sprinkled with mycelium - a layer of about 1 cm. Four logs are made on top of each other. Cover with burlap or sprinkle with sawdust. The distance between the bars is at least 40 cm.
- Indoor temperature is maintained at + 13- + 15 ° C. Humidity - 90%. Oyster mushrooms do not like light - if there is a lot of it, mycelium can die. After the fruiting starts, you need to increase the temperature to + 25 ° C. From one stump get 0.5-2.5 kg of mushrooms.
In addition to logs, you can use bags for growing oyster mushrooms:
- The material is used in one form or as a mixture.
- The crushed raw materials are placed in an enameled container and poured with boiling water for 12 hours.
- Drain and squeeze the raw materials.
- After mixing the substrate with mycelium, stuff the bags with the mixture.
- Holes are made in bags - mushrooms will grow through them.
A specialist mushroom grower talks about all the stages of growing oyster mushroom mycelium at home:
White mushroom
Ceps are not grown indoors. They need a plot where birch, pine or oak grow. The procedure for growing mushrooms:
- Landing can be done in the period from late spring to early autumn. It should be warm outside.
- For the preparation of mycelium, hats of healthy ripe mushrooms are taken. The hats are soaked for 2 hours - they are poured with clean cold water. Then add sugar - 200 g and break into pieces. After this, the hats lie in sweetened water for another 2 hours.
- Remove 20 cm of the upper layer under the trees (under which mushrooms will grow), pour the prepared mycelium. The first mushrooms will appear in a year. It is important to maintain optimum humidity. If the soil is waterlogged, the mycelium will begin to rot.
Mushrooms
It is not immediately possible for everyone to grow mushrooms on the site. The procedure for growing honey mushrooms from mycelium:
- Harvesting of wood - it is transferred to the landing site. The plot is selected so that there is no wind and sun.
- Mycelium is prepared from the fruiting bodies of mushrooms - in the usual way, or they buy it ready. You can put mycelium sticks in the wood.
- In order for the mycelium to penetrate the soil, chocks are dug at 2/3 of the height. The interval between chocks is 10-15 cm.
- From the moment of infection of the substrate with mycelium to fruiting, 45 days pass.
Landing honey mushrooms in open ground is recommended in the spring - in the trunks, saturated with moisture and nutrients.
Growing mycelium at home complicates the already difficult process of growing mushrooms. Buy a mushroom picker or grow it yourself - each mushroom grower decides for himself.
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Russia. City Novosibirsk
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