How Are Enoki Mushrooms Grown? A Detailed Guide to Cultivation Methods
As market demand for enoki mushrooms continues to increase, the scale and quantity of enoki mushroom cultivation are also growing steadily. For this reason, enoki mushroom cultivation techniques have had to improve day by day, and the technical requirements placed on growers are becoming higher and higher. Below, let us update our knowledge of enoki mushroom cultivation together!
How Are Enoki Mushrooms Grown
1. Making the spawn bags
Spawn bag production requires plastic film bags, rings and cotton, etc. For enoki mushroom spawn bags, polypropylene film bags should be used. The specifications are 38 cm long and 15-16 cm wide. The film bag thickness is 5-6 silk (0.05-0.06 mm). The quality of the plastic film bags has a relatively large effect on the yield of bag-cultivated enoki mushrooms. Attention should be paid to checking the film quality. There are two kinds of rings: plastic rings and hard paper rings. The cotton used for making cotton plugs should be exposed to the sun before use and stored in a dry, ventilated place.
2. Mixing the substrate
There are two ways to mix the substrate: mechanical mixing and manual mixing. When mixing the substrate, special attention should be paid to thoroughly mixing the various culture materials and supplements, and the culture material and water must also be thoroughly mixed. The specific method requires strictly weighing out the required amounts according to the culture material formula. Apart from a small amount of water-soluble supplements such as sugar, first dry-mix the dry materials evenly, and at the same time dissolve water-soluble supplements such as sugar in water. After diluting in proportion, spray it onto the culture material, spraying while mixing, until the water content is suitable. The theoretical water content of the culture material for enoki mushroom cultivation is 58-65%, but because the types of culture material and their dryness and wetness differ, this should be judged according to the specific situation when mixing. Usually it is checked by experience: the method is to tightly squeeze the culture material in the hand so it forms a ball, and it breaks apart when dropped to the ground; when the culture material is tightly pinched between the thumb, index finger and middle finger and water marks can be seen, that is suitable.
3. Filling the bags
At present there is no bag-filling machine in China specially used for cultivating enoki mushrooms, so a filling machine used for shiitake sawdust cultivation can be used for filling. The specific manual filling operation is: after putting a small amount of culture material into the bag, use the thumb and index finger to press the two corners of the bag bottom into the bag, so that the bottom becomes square and the spawn bag can stand upright and steady, then continue filling and compacting. To shorten the mycelium culture time, when filling, a small conical wooden stick about 1 cm in diameter can be placed into the plastic bag; after the material is filled and compacted, gently rotate and pull out the small wooden stick. After the material is filled, put on the ring, insert the cotton plug, and then sterilization can be carried out. The amount of material put in accounts for about 3/5 of the total bag length, leaving 15-20 cm at the upper end of the bag unfilled.
4. Sterilization
Enoki mushroom bag cultivation is cooked-material cultivation, that is, a sterilization pot or sterilization stove must be used for sterilization. During sterilization, if using an autoclave, it must be kept for 1.5 hours under a pressure of 1.5 kg/cm. If using a normal-pressure stove, it must be kept for 10 hours after the temperature of the culture material in the culture bags in the stove reaches 100°C. After sterilization is finished, first open the vent hole to gradually lower the temperature, then open the stove door and take out the bags.
5. Inoculation
Bag-cultivated enoki mushroom inoculation is generally carried out in a disinfected inoculation box. If there is no inoculation box, inoculation can also be carried out in an inoculation room according to conventional edible mushroom operations. When inoculating in an inoculation room, the inoculator should change into clean clothes before entering the inoculation room, and both hands and tools should be disinfected with 70% alcohol. Before the spawn is fully inoculated, people should not walk in and out. The enoki mushroom cultivation spawn should be carefully selected; spawn found to contain contaminating fungi cannot be used, and the spawn age is best within 1.5 months. During inoculation, the plastic bag opening should be close to the sterile zone of the alcohol lamp flame, and a larger inoculation amount is better: put a small part of the spawn into the hole, and most of the spawn distributed on the surface of the medium, so each bottle of stock spawn can inoculate about 40 bags.
Three Major Principles of Enoki Mushroom Cultivation
First, ensure the quality of the enoki mushrooms. If the quality is poor, the price will naturally not be high, and the price gap is very large. Only by continuously improving product quality, operating with integrity, and building a brand can high returns be achieved.
Second, choose an appropriate fruiting time. Most cultivated enoki mushrooms belong to low-temperature varieties. The suitable temperature for mycelium growth is 18-23°C, and the suitable temperature for mushroom bud formation is 6-8°C. Generally, cultivation and fruiting are suitable from October to April of the following year. Enoki mushrooms that come to market early fetch a high price, but if it is too early and the temperature is high, the fungus is easily damaged by heat, and the risk is very great, so only moderate early timing is advocated.
Third, fruiting should be carried out in batches to reduce market risk. The enoki mushroom market is unstable, and prices change relatively quickly. To catch high prices as much as possible and obtain the best benefits, it is best to fruit in batches, one crop about every 10 days, so that the high-price period in the market coincides with the peak production period.
Methods for Supplementing Nutrition for Enoki Mushrooms
1. For flat-cultivated enoki mushrooms, because the bag openings face upward, growers using this mode to cultivate enoki mushrooms can dissolve Gu'er Gao Neng Yuan at a ratio of 300 times or Guo Duo Sheng at a ratio of 200 times in water, then directly pour the nutrient solution into the material bags with a water ladle or watering can, and let the nutrient solution seep naturally into the culture material. After 2-3 days, check whether the nutrient solution has all seeped into the culture material. For nutrient solution that has not completely seeped into the culture material, growers should pour it out, put it into a container and take it out of the shed, then manage it according to the management method for the first flush of mushrooms, which can promote an increase in enoki mushroom yield.
2. For enoki mushrooms grown using the three-dimensional cultivation method, because all the material bags lie horizontally and are stacked together, with the bag openings facing one side, growers must use a water-supplementing needle to supplement water. Growers can put the prepared Gu'er Gao Neng Yuan or Guo Duo Sheng nutrient solution into a bucket, then use a mini water pump to pressurize it and press the nutrient solution into the enoki mushroom culture material. The supplementary principle is to supplement as much nutrient solution as the amount of mushrooms harvested; never inject too much nutrient solution.
Harvesting Methods for Enoki Mushrooms
When the stipes are 13-14 cm long, uniform, the caps about 1 cm in diameter, the edges curled inward, without deformity, the stipes and caps not showing a water-soaked appearance, the stipes clearly separated one by one, round and thick, the whole body pure white, the fruiting bodies firm, and the water content not excessive, it is the harvest period.
A few days before harvest, check the water content of the caps. If they contain a lot of water, ventilate 2 days before harvest to promote water evaporation. After harvest, remove the part of the culture material connecting the base of the stipes to the medium and poorly grown mushrooms, carry out small packaging according to market requirements, or use polyethylene film bags for vacuum sealing, and store at low temperature. After the second flush, to improve yield and quality, the spawn column can be taken out, turned around and put back into the bag; the original fruiting bag opening can also be sealed and the other end opened for fruiting.
Cultivating enoki mushrooms requires not only grasping the initial stages of cultivation well, but more importantly, putting customers first and benefits first. Therefore, when cultivating enoki mushrooms, it is necessary to ensure the quality of the enoki mushrooms and improve their appearance and quality, and on this basis maximize the benefits of enoki mushroom cultivation.