How to Grow Straw Mushrooms? A Detailed Guide to Straw Mushroom Cultivation Techniques
The straw mushroom is a relatively common fungal food, also known as the Chinese mushroom, orchid mushroom, and so on, and generally grows in relatively damp places. The straw mushroom has very high nutritional value, and eating it regularly can supplement some of the nutrients the human body needs, making it deeply loved by consumers. So do you know how to grow straw mushrooms?
How to Grow Straw Mushrooms
1. Cultivation materials: cottonseed hulls, rice straw, corncobs, wheat straw.
2. Material formulas: (1) cottonseed hulls 100, wheat bran 5, potassium dihydrogen phosphate 0.3, superphosphate 0.5, carbendazim 0.2, lime 6, insecticide 0.1, water 140. (2) corncobs 80, cottonseed hulls 20, potassium dihydrogen phosphate 0.3, superphosphate 0.5, carbendazim 0.2, lime 6, insecticide 0.1, water 140.
3. Building the pile for fermentation: pre-wet the cultivation materials for 3-4 days, then build the pile and raise the temperature. When mixing the materials, mix them evenly; keep the moisture content of the cultivation materials at about 65%, as high moisture makes it easy for contaminating microorganisms to grow. Ferment for 3-4 days; when actinomycetes appear and it smells of wine, and the materials take on a coffee color, adjust the cultivation material so that the pH is 8-9, and it can then be put into the shed for spawning.
4. Putting into the shed and spawning: because straw mushrooms are mostly cultivated in the high-temperature summer season, idle greenhouses or arched sheds set up in fast-growing forests can be used to cultivate straw mushrooms. The material should not be spread too thickly; 15 cm thick is enough, and the cultivation bed is 60 cm wide. The bed surface is wavy. Hole spawning or layer spawning can be used, and holes are made in the material layer. Cover with a small plastic shed to incubate the mycelium, with appropriate ventilation. Seven days after spawning, mushroom buds can be seen, and 10 days after spawning they can be marketed. The straw mushroom growth process occurs in the high-temperature season, so water should be sprayed frequently; the water temperature should be comparable to the shed temperature, and water can be stored in the shed for later use.
Straw Mushroom Cultivation Techniques
1. Suitable cultivation period: if straw mushrooms are spawned too early, the low temperature is unfavorable for growth; if spawned too late, it affects the production of autumn and winter vegetables. After the winter-spring vegetable production ends, the plot can be cleared, the greenhouse disinfected by fumigation with sulfur, and the soil treated with dichlorvos or trichlorfon.
2. Nutrient material treatment: the straw mushroom cultivation material must be fresh, dry, and free of mold; before use, sun-dry it for 2-3 days, then thoroughly mix 100 kg of wheat bran with 10 kg of lime and place it in a water tank, cover the top tightly with plastic film, and after 24-36 hours of thorough soaking, take it out.
3. Cultivation method
(1) Preparing the beds: the straw mushroom cultivation beds run north-south, with a width of 1 m, a length depending on the width of the shed, a bed depth of 8-10 cm, and a spacing between beds of 30-50 cm; the soil dug from the beds is temporarily placed on the bed ridges.
(2) Spreading the material: spread the soaked culture material in the beds in a turtle-back shape, or in a wavy shape; the ridges of material are 15 cm thick, the material on both sides is 5-8 cm thick, and the material used is 15-20 kg per sq m.
(3) Spawning: break the prepared spawn into small pieces 1-2 cm square, use the hole-spawning method, with a hole spacing of 8-10 cm, evenly sow the spawn into the material at a depth of 1 cm, with 10-15 g of spawn per hole, then cover the culture material with the soil from the bed ridges.
(4) Casing soil: clay and sandy soil cannot be used for the casing soil, and it must not be too dry or too wet; the casing soil thickness is 1 cm thicker than the material ridges and 3-5 cm thicker in the material furrows, then use sterilized wooden sticks 2 cm in diameter to make aeration holes, with a hole spacing of 10 cm, and the hole depth should be enough to penetrate the material.
Straw Mushroom Cultivation Season
The cultivation season for straw mushrooms under natural conditions should be determined according to the temperature required for straw mushroom growth and development and the local air temperature conditions. Usually, cultivation can only be carried out when the daily average temperature reaches above 23°C. In the south, the time for cultivation using natural air temperature is from late May to mid-September on the solar calendar. Cultivation from early June to early July is most favorable, because the temperature is suitable at this time and it is also the moldy-rain season, with high humidity, making temperature and humidity easy to control, yields high, and mushroom quality good. In the height of summer (mid-July to late August), the temperature is relatively high, it is dry, and water evaporation is high. Management is relatively difficult, and it is harder to obtain high yield and high quality of straw mushrooms. In provinces such as Guangdong and Hainan, cultivating straw mushrooms under natural air temperature conditions is more suitable from April to October. In northern regions, cultivation in June-July is appropriate. When using greenhouses and plastic sheds for cultivation, it can be advanced or delayed as appropriate. If foam mushroom houses with heating equipment are used, year-round production is possible.
A Brief Introduction to the Straw Mushroom
The straw mushroom, also known as the orchid mushroom and the volva-foot mushroom, originated in Nanhua Temple in Shaoguan, Guangdong. China began artificial cultivation 300 years ago, and in about the 1930s it was introduced to countries around the world by overseas Chinese. It is an important tropical and subtropical mushroom, the third-largest cultivated edible fungus in the world, and China's straw mushroom output ranks first in the world, mainly distributed in South China.
The straw mushroom is rich in nutrients and delicious in taste. Every 100 g of fresh mushrooms contains 207.7 mg of vitamin C, 2.6 g of sugar, 2.68 g of crude protein, 2.24 g of fat, and 0.91 g of ash. Straw mushroom protein contains 18 amino acids, of which essential amino acids account for 40.47-44.47%. In addition, it also contains various mineral elements such as phosphorus, potassium, and calcium.
The straw mushroom gets its name because it often grows in damp, rotting rice straw, and it is mostly produced in Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Taiwan, China. It is plump, thick-fleshed, short-stemmed, and smooth, with an extremely delicious taste, hence the names “orchid mushroom” and “delicious volva-foot mushroom.”
In summary, the straw mushroom is one of China's three major cultivated fungi, with a very high annual output, but at the same time the annual sales volume and consumption of straw mushrooms are also astonishing. Although growing straw mushrooms has certain prospects, the competitive pressure is also relatively great!