How to Grow Mushrooms? A Detailed Guide to Mushroom Cultivation Techniques

As a general term for fungal plants, mushrooms have many varieties, and most are small and lively in appearance, tender in texture and delicious in taste. Since mushrooms are fungi, the cultivation methods for different varieties are roughly similar. Here I have compiled the general cultivation methods for mushrooms for everyone's reference.

Mushroom Cultivation Techniques

1. Choose a glass container with a lid. An old fish tank, a polystyrene foam container, a glass container, or even a tray covered with wet newspaper can all be used to grow mushrooms. If you have a dark basement at home, the container does not need a lid. However, note that the place where the container is placed needs a certain temperature control capability (such as an air-conditioned room), and the container needs a certain depth, about 15 cm deep is enough.

2. Fill the container with growing medium. Mushrooms are not like plants; they cannot produce nutrients themselves through photosynthesis. You need to create a nutritional bed for cultivating mushrooms in the container to provide for their growth and nutrients. The materials for the mixed bed can be purchased or made yourself. Cottonseed hulls, corn cobs, wood shavings, grass powder, lotus seed shells, etc. are all good nutritional bed materials. Note that scattering a small amount of lime into the substrate is very helpful for mushroom growth, and also pay attention to disinfection to prevent contamination.

3. Plant the mushroom spores. Mushroom spores are like plant seeds. Just plant the spores about 5 cm deep into the substrate. Of course, you can first scatter the mushroom spores, then pile the mixed fertilizer on top.

4. Keep room temperature and wait for the mycelium to sprout. Keep the room temperature at around 21°C. Temperature can be adjusted with an air-conditioned room or by using direct sunlight. It takes about 3 weeks, and you will see thin, spiderweb-like white mycelium appearing on the culture medium. At this point, you need to lower the room temperature to 16°C and cover with 2~3 cm of potting soil.

5. Spray the soil surface to keep it slightly moist. Slightly moist soil is very necessary for mushroom growth. You should frequently spray the soil surface to maintain humidity. This is especially true in places with a dry environment. You can also cover it with a wet cloth on top and frequently spray the wet cloth to maintain moisture.

6. Maintain soil moisture and temperature for 3~4 weeks. During this period, be careful not to be contaminated by other toxic fungi or viruses. If some small black spots appear on the culture medium or the grown mushrooms look especially wet, muddy and slimy, you will need to start over.

7. Harvest the mushrooms. The timing for picking mushrooms is very important. Mushrooms whose caps have not fully opened, or that have opened but not split and withered, are the good ones, with the best taste and just the right ripeness. Be careful not to pull the mushrooms out of the bed by force, as this will loosen the substrate, affect the growth of other mushrooms, and damage young mushrooms. Twist them off near the bed or cut them with a small knife.

Nutritional Components of Mushrooms

Mushrooms have very high nutritional value, containing rich nutrients such as amino acids and protein. The nutritional content per 100 grams of mushrooms is 20 kcal of calories, 2.7 g of protein, 0.1 g of fat, 4.1 g of carbohydrates, 2.1 g of dietary fiber, 2 micrograms of vitamin A, 10 micrograms of carotene, 0.43 mg of vitamin B, 4 mg of niacin, 2.1 mg of pantothenic acid, 2 mg of vitamin C, 0.56 mg of vitamin E, 6 mg of calcium, 94 mg of phosphorus, 312 mg of potassium, 8.3 mg of sodium, 11 mg of magnesium, 1.2 mg of iron, 0.92 mg of zinc, 0.55 micrograms of selenium, 0.49 mg of copper, and 0.11 mg of manganese.

Benefits of Eating Mushrooms

1. Improve body immunity

The active ingredients in mushrooms can enhance T lymphocyte function, thereby improving the body's immune function against various diseases.

2. Analgesic and sedative

A research institute in Brazil extracted a substance called Act-2 from mushrooms, which has analgesic and sedative effects, and its analgesic effect can replace morphine.

3. Relieve cough and reduce phlegm

Mushroom extract was used in animal experiments, and it was found to have obvious effects of relieving cough and thinning phlegm.

4. Anti-cancer

Japanese researchers analyzed a super-powerful anti-cancer substance with a molecular weight of 288 from the active ingredients of mushrooms, which can inhibit the growth of cancer cells, and its effect is 1000 times stronger than the anti-cancer substances in green tea. Mushrooms also contain a toxic protein that can effectively prevent protein synthesis in cancer cells.

5. Promote bowel movements and detoxify

The crude fiber, semi-crude fiber and lignin contained in mushrooms, which are difficult for the human body to digest, can maintain water in the intestines and absorb remaining cholesterol and sugar, excreting them from the body. This is very beneficial for preventing constipation, intestinal cancer, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, etc.

Common Types of Mushrooms

1. Button mushroom

The button mushroom, also known as white mushroom, mushroom, or cultivated mushroom, is often called common cultivated mushroom or button mushroom by producers and operators in Europe and America. It is a mushroom cultivated and consumed worldwide, known as the "world mushroom". It can be sold fresh, canned, or salted, and the mycelium is also used as a raw material for pharmaceuticals.

2. Shiitake

Shiitake is a fungus that grows on wood, also known as flower mushroom, fragrant mushroom, fragrant fungus, etc. It is the fruiting body of the fungus in the Pleurotaceae family, the second largest edible fungus in the world, and one of China's specialties. It has long been known among the people as a "mountain delicacy". It is delicious in taste, refreshing in aroma, and rich in nutrients, rich in B vitamins, iron, potassium, vitamin D precursor (which converts to vitamin D after sun exposure), etc.

3. Oyster mushroom

Oyster mushroom is a fairly common gray edible mushroom, also known as oyster cap, rough-skinned oyster mushroom, oyster mushroom, etc. It is a species in the Pleurotaceae family under the Agaricales order of Basidiomycota. It contains rich nutrients. Every 100 grams of dried product contains 20~23 g of protein, and the amino acid composition is complete in variety, with very rich mineral content. It has the effects of dispelling wind and dispersing cold, and relaxing muscles and activating collaterals. Moreover, the proteoglycan in oyster mushrooms has a strong inhibitory effect on cancer cells and can enhance the body's immune function.

4. Enoki mushroom

The scientific name of enoki mushroom is Flammulina velutipes, also known as velvet shank, winter mushroom, zhili mushroom, etc. It is named because its stem is slender like golden needle vegetable. It belongs to the Agaricales order, Tricholomataceae family, Flammulina genus, and has high medicinal and dietary therapeutic effects. It is widely distributed in nature, found in China, Japan, Russia, Europe, North America, Australia, and other places. In China, it is suitable for the growth of enoki mushroom from Heilongjiang in the north to Yunnan in the south, and from Jiangsu in the east to Xinjiang in the west.

5. Straw mushroom

Straw mushroom is the third largest cultivated edible mushroom in the world, also known as delicious straw mushroom, delicious volva mushroom, orchid mushroom, etc. It is named because it often grows in moist, rotting rice straw. It originated in Nanhua Temple in Shaoguan, Guangdong. China began artificial cultivation 300 years ago, and it was introduced to countries around the world by overseas Chinese in about the 1930s of the 20th century. In China, it is mostly produced in Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Taiwan, China, and other places. It is plump, thick-fleshed, short-stemmed, smooth, and extremely delicious.

The reason mushrooms have become such a remarkable mountain delicacy is that their existence not only provides people with rich taste and ingredient experiences, but also provides the human body with many essential nutrients. Therefore, regularly eating various types of fungi in daily life is very beneficial.