Watering Techniques During Fruiting and Key Points on Shiitake Cultivation
Do many people love eating shiitake mushrooms? Especially when they are put in chicken soup, the flavor is so savory that just thinking about it makes my mouth water. So some people might say, can't I just grow them at home and eat fresh shiitake mushrooms every day? I can only say the ideal is beautiful, but the reality is stark. This requires the relevant techniques and equipment. Let's learn about it together below.
Shiitake Cultivation Techniques and Key Points
I. Shiitake Cultivation Techniques
1. Temperature
Under moist conditions, the optimal temperature for spore germination is 22-26°C, the temperature range for mycelial growth is 5-24°C, and the most suitable temperature is 24-27°C. However, thanks to the protective effect of wood, in high-altitude mountain areas with temperatures below -20°C or in low-altitude areas above 40°C, the mushroom wood can still survive safely and the mycelium will not die. Shiitake is a mushroom type that fruits at low and fluctuating temperatures. Shiitake primordia differentiate at 8-21°C, with the best differentiation at 10-12°C. The fruiting bodies develop within the range of 5-24°C, with 8-16°C being the most suitable. For the same variety, within the suitable range, at lower temperatures (10-12°C) the fruiting bodies develop slowly, the stipe is short, the flesh is thick and firm, and the quality is good; at high temperatures (above 20°C) the fruiting bodies develop quickly, the stipe is long, the flesh is thin, and the quality is poor. Under constant temperature conditions, mushrooms will not form fruiting bodies.
2. Moisture
In sawdust medium, the optimal moisture content for mycelial growth is 60-70%; in mushroom wood the suitable moisture content is 32-40%. Below 32% the inoculation survival rate is not high, and under 10%-15% conditions mycelial growth is extremely poor. During fruiting body formation, the moisture content of the mushroom wood should be maintained at around 60%, and the air humidity is preferably 80-90%.
3. Air
Mushrooms are aerobic fungi, and sufficient fresh air is an important environmental condition for ensuring normal growth and development of mushrooms. If the cultivation environment is too enclosed, deformed mushrooms are very likely to form.
4. Light
Shiitake is a photoheterotrophic fungus, and diffuse light of appropriate intensity is needed for the mushroom to complete its normal life cycle. However, mycelial growth does not require light. Research shows that blue light with a wavelength of 380-540nm inhibits mycelial growth but is most favorable for primordium formation. The differentiation and growth of shiitake fruiting bodies require light. Without light, fruiting bodies cannot form. Research shows that a light intensity of 40-7-lx is relatively suitable. Shiitake primordia tend to grow spindly in the dark, with small caps, long stipes, pale color, thin flesh, and poor quality; such shiitake mushrooms are not favorable for sale.
5. pH
The pH suitable for mushroom mycelial growth in the medium is 5-6. For the formation of shiitake primordia and the development of fruiting bodies, during the rotting process of the log, the pH value of the mushroom wood continuously decreases, thereby promoting the formation of fruiting bodies.
II. Key Points for Shiitake Cultivation
1. Before growing mushrooms, you must first choose a well-ventilated place with scattered light, and keep it clean and disinfected. For a site where mushrooms are being grown for the first time, measures such as brushing the walls with limewater and spreading quicklime on the ground should be taken for disinfection; the quicklime spread on the ground should be swept away the next day. For an old mushroom site, potassium permanganate plus formalin fumigation can be used for disinfection; for a mushroom site with pests, first spray insecticide to eliminate the pests, then disinfect. Air humidity is an important condition during the fruiting period. Blindly increasing the amount of water sprayed in order to increase humidity, or even spraying water directly onto the mushroom bodies, will suffocate some small mushrooms, and some growing mushrooms will also be affected by water damage.
2. During the budding period, attention should be paid to the hydration method. To spray into the air, attention should also be paid to ventilation and air exchange, so as to avoid excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide, which would cause fruiting bodies to fail to form, or deformed mushrooms to form. In addition, unreasonable harvesting also affects the improvement of yield. Some mushroom growers harvest the large ones and leave the small ones, hoping to let the small mushroom bodies continue to grow. As a result, not only do they fail to grow larger, but the fruiting period is also prolonged, affecting the yield of the next batch of mushrooms. Be sure to strictly control the selection of materials and ingredients. Use clean raw materials and carry out disinfection treatment properly. Do not add chemical fertilizers at will when mixing ingredients. Only when pile-fermenting to grow shiitake mushrooms can urea be added in an appropriate amount to supplement the nitrogen source. During the ingredient mixing process, special attention should be paid to the moisture of the culture material. The moisture content should not be too high or too low, otherwise it will affect growth.
Watering Techniques During Shiitake Fruiting
After controlling the humidity of the mushroom field, the relative humidity of the mushrooms is kept at about 85% in the initial stage. As a large number of mushroom buds differentiate to produce mushroom caps and stipes, lower the relative air humidity to about 80%. Create a suitable dry-wet difference In the early stage, the internal moisture content of the mushroom logs is relatively sufficient and can fully meet the needs of first-flush fruiting body production, so there is no need to soak them in water to induce fruiting. After the first flush of mushrooms is harvested, stop spraying water, remove the film for ventilation, and let the surface of the mushroom logs dry for 1-3 days, then cover with film again to raise the bed temperature and promote mycelial growth. After 2-3 days, the mushroom holes left after harvesting will turn white and grow mycelium. At this time, spray water again to increase humidity, remove the film for ventilation, and raise the temperature to promote the growth of the next batch of mushrooms.
Measures to Solve Low Yield in Shiitake Cultivation
1. Improper selection of mushroom cultivation site. If you choose to grow them in a dark place or in a poorly ventilated or unsanitary place, bacterial contamination will be severe and shiitake mushrooms cannot grow normally, resulting in failure; although some may barely develop mycelium, due to poor air circulation during the fruiting period, the carbon dioxide content is too high and they suffer from poisoning, unable to fruit or forming deformed mushrooms. Therefore, when growing shiitake mushrooms, you must first choose a place with good ventilation and good scattered light, and keep it clean and hygienic.
2. Improper selection or preparation of culture material. Using raw materials that have been contaminated to grow shiitake mushrooms may lead to large-scale contamination or no bacterial contamination. When preparing the culture material, adding excessive nitrogen fertilizer such as urea into the material is easy to decompose after inoculation and release ammonia gas, poisoning the mycelium so that it cannot infect normally.
3. Improper selection of mushroom spawn. For example, if a high-temperature type is used in winter, a low-temperature type is used in spring, or spawn that has already aged or been contaminated is sown, all of these can easily cause slow mycelial development or no mycelial development, delayed fruiting, or no fruiting. Therefore, when growing shiitake mushrooms, suitable spawn should be selected according to the local climatic conditions at the time, and aged or contaminated strains should not be used.
4. Poor management. Under natural temperature conditions, mushroom management involves light ventilation. During the fruiting period, scattered light alone can meet the requirements. If light is insufficient when growing mushrooms in a mushroom house and fruiting is slow, electric light can be used as a supplement to induce fruiting. Air humidity is an important condition during the fruiting period. Blindly increasing the amount of water sprayed in order to increase humidity, or even spraying water directly onto the mushroom bodies, will suffocate some small mushrooms, and some mushrooms that have already grown large will also rot and turn black due to water damage. Therefore, during the shiitake fruiting period, attention should be paid to the method of water supplementation; spraying into the air is preferable. At the same time, attention should also be paid to ventilation and air exchange, so as to avoid excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide, which would cause fruiting bodies to form or deformed mushrooms to form.
Shiitake and similar fungi like cool, ventilated places, so they must not be left exposed to the sun all the time, or they will certainly dry out. Moreover, watering during shiitake fruiting actually involves techniques, and not everyone can just let them be watered. I wonder if everyone has learned it after reading the above introduction.