Cultivation Techniques and Precautions for Poria on Living Pine Trees
AbstractAt a point one cun above the ground on the pine stump, cut away the surrounding lateral roots, then peel back the bark and set it aside. Scrape off part of the bark, leaving an unbroken strip of bark about 5 cm on the scraped surface, whose function is to transmit the fungus. Then pound fresh Poria into a powder, wrap it in paper, and at the time of inoculation add an appropriate amount of cold water and stir it into a rice-wash-water consistency. Pour the slurry between the previously prepared bark and the crack in the wood, then press the bark closed and cover it tightly, and finally cover with soil.
I. Cultivation Techniques for Poria on Living Pine Trees
1. The living pine tree cultivation method is a common cultivation method for growing Poria. You can choose pine trees that are to be felled within three years.
2. First, at a point one cun above the ground on the stump, cut away the lateral roots around the tree, peel back the bark and set it aside, then scrape off part of the bark. You need to leave an unbroken strip of bark about 5 cm on the scraped surface, whose function is to transmit the fungus.
3. Then pound fresh Poria into a powder and wrap it in paper. At the time of inoculation, add an appropriate amount of cold water and stir it into a rice-wash-water consistency. Then pour the slurry between the previously prepared bark and the crack in the wood, and finally press the bark closed and cover it tightly, then cover with soil.
4. The survival rate of this method reaches over 90%. Half a year after inoculation, if a white film forms inside the bark of the stump, it proves that the inoculation was successful.
II. Common Cultivation Methods for Poria
1. Stump cultivation method
(1) The stump cultivation method requires felling the tree before planting, and inoculation must be done within 15 days after felling, because a newly cut stump is full of sap, which can ensure a survival rate of over 80% for the Poria.
(2) It can also be cultivated on dry stumps, but you must choose stumps that have not rotted. However, if cultivated on dry stumps, the survival rate can only be about 50%.
(3) The stump cultivation method is best carried out in August. There are two inoculation methods: tuber inoculation and slurry inoculation.
(4) When using the tuber inoculation method, you need to inoculate according to the density of the stumps. If the stumps are numerous and dense, choose the larger stumps within a 20 sq m interval for inoculation. If the stumps are sparse, then every stump must be inoculated.
(5) When inoculating, you need to dig away the soil beside the stump until the roots are exposed. Choose a relatively thick root and scrape off a piece of bark, then inoculate it with Poria, press them face to face, and then tamp it firmly with the original soil.
2. Pine needle cultivation method
(1) The pine needle cultivation method uses pine needles and pine logs or stumps together in the pit for inoculation.
(2) The specific procedure is: add about 80 kg of fresh pine branches and pine needles per pit. Before the logs are put into the pit, first spread a layer of fresh pine needles on the bottom of the pit, then from bottom to top spread dry logs, pine wood, Poria spawn, and pine needles in sequence. The spawn on the pine wood must be pressed tightly, sown in a plum-blossom pattern, and finally tamped firmly with soil.
3. Indoor cultivation
(1) Indoor cultivation means using pine log sections or stumps and tree heads to inoculate spawn indoors, then using artificial temperature control to cultivate Poria.
(2) The inoculation method is to inoculate the Poria spawn onto the bark and trunk by the tuber or slurry method, then after inoculation, cover with sandy loess soil, maintain good cleanliness and ventilation in the site, and keep the soil in a state of four parts wet and six parts dry.