How Are Enoki Mushrooms Grown? A Complete Guide to the Growing Process
SummaryPreparing the substrate: choose fresh, clean materials that have not become moldy to prepare the substrate. Bagging and sterilization: place the spawn bags under high pressure to sterilize them. Inoculation and cultivation: put the sterilized spawn bags into a greenhouse for inoculation, keep the temperature at around 20-25°C, then cover with film. Environmental management: spray a water mist every day to keep things moist, but do not spray it directly on the mushrooms. Fruiting management: maintain a certain humidity, strengthen indoor air circulation, and harvest once the mushrooms grow to 12 cm.
I. When to Grow Enoki Mushrooms
1. When growing enoki mushrooms under relatively stable temperature conditions, inoculation must be carried out at the right time to favor fruiting; it is best to plant once the temperature drops below 20°C. If producing from stock spawn, you can start about 30 days earlier.
2. For the inoculation time when growing enoki mushrooms after the New Year, you can calculate it based on the date when the average temperature rises to 20°C, starting 60-80 days in advance.
II. The Enoki Mushroom Growing Process
1. Preparing the substrate
Because enoki mushrooms develop from a kind of mycelium, the substrate needs to be prepared well. Generally, cornmeal, corncobs, soybean meal, gypsum powder, cottonseed hulls, wheat bran, superphosphate and some white sugar are chosen and mixed together.
Be sure to make sure these materials have not become moldy and are fresh and clean, then add water and leave them in a closed environment for about 2-4 hours.
2. Bagging and sterilization
Put the selected substrate into spawn bags. To ensure normal fruiting, cut open one end of the spawn bag, then press the other side firm, and after both sides are filled, tie them tightly with thin string.
Then begin sterilization: put them under high pressure and spray an appropriate amount of potassium permanganate solution.
3. Inoculation and cultivation
Put the already sterilized plastic bags into a greenhouse ready for inoculation. First take an appropriate amount of formaldehyde and treat them once, then place the spawn bags in the cultivation room and keep the temperature at around 20-25°C.
To ensure normal mycelial growth, you can cover them with a layer of transparent film, and once the mycelium has fully run through, uncover the film every day for ventilation.
4. Environmental management
When only a little white liquid remains on the mushroom bed, prop the film up by about 20 cm, then cover it with a layer of newspaper.
To keep it moist, spray a water mist every day. Be careful never to spray it directly on the mushrooms, otherwise the mycelium will rot; simply strengthening air circulation is enough.
5. Fruiting management
When the stipes grow to 2 cm, be sure to keep the indoor humidity at around 90%; when they grow to about 10 cm, be sure to appropriately control the amount of water sprayed, keeping the air humidity at around 80-85%.
In the 2-3 weeks before fruiting, be sure to strengthen indoor air circulation. When the mushrooms have grown to about 12 cm, they can be harvested. Then clean up the substrate and let it dry for about one day, water it and cover with film, and wait for a second harvest.