How to Grow Lingzhi (Reishi)? A Detailed Guide to Lingzhi Cultivation Techniques

As it becomes more difficult to harvest wild lingzhi, and as rural residents are now less willing to go up the mountains to harvest lingzhi, cultivated lingzhi has already become the main supplier in current lingzhi production. Given the current situation of continuously growing market demand for lingzhi spore powder, lingzhi cultivation techniques have become knowledge that lingzhi growers and potential growers urgently need to master.

How to Grow Lingzhi

1. Choose a suitable cultivation period: In Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, the most suitable cultivation period for lingzhi is from April 10 to May 10, and bags are gradually opened to produce lingzhi after May 20. June to July each year is the plum rain season, so it is necessary to ensure that all bags are opened to produce lingzhi before June 10, so that lingzhi fruiting body growth can be in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment, thereby achieving high and stable yields.

2. The culture material must be fresh and dry: The culture material for cultivating lingzhi must be especially fresh and dry. Fresh culture material is rich in nutrients and contains few contaminating microorganisms, which is conducive to mycelial germination and inhibits the growth of contaminating microorganisms.

3. Ventilation and air exchange during the mycelial growth stage: Lingzhi is an aerobic fungus. During the cultivation of lingzhi, attention must be paid to ventilation and air exchange. When making lingzhi fungus logs, it is best to seal the openings with plastic and cotton plugs. For fungus bags tied closed with plastic rope, after the mycelium covers the surface, micro-holes must be punched at both ends of the fungus bag for ventilation.

4. Reasonable watering during the fruiting stage: During the growth of the lingzhi fruiting body, the air humidity in the lingzhi room is required to be 85%-95%. Under conditions of suitable ambient temperature, too low humidity will make the lingzhi fruiting body thin and small, or even become rigid and stop growing. In the early stage of fruiting body formation, water management is mainly spraying water on the walls, bed frames, floor, and space. After the lingzhi cap diameter is greater than 3 cm, as the ventilation volume increases, the number of water sprayings should be increased, 3-4 times per day, and spraying directly onto the lingzhi is sufficient.

5. It is advisable to use the imitation-wild cultivation method: Under the same cultivation conditions, wall-style imitation-wild cultivation can increase yield by 20%-30% compared with bag cultivation. This is because during imitation-wild cultivation, the soil contains the nutrients needed for lingzhi growth, and the soil has good water-holding capacity, which can provide suitable, continuous, and stable moisture conditions for lingzhi growth. Moreover, the mycelium extends and grows through the soil to connect into a whole, which can give play to its overall advantages.

Main Producing Areas of Lingzhi

Lingzhi is native to eastern Asia, and within China it is most widely distributed in Jiangxi.

Producing areas: It is cultivated in most parts of the country, with Mount Lu in the south being the most famous.

Lingzhi is produced in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and eastern Asia. In China it is commonly distributed, but mostly south of the Yangtze River, in the high-temperature and rainy zones south of the Yangtze River. The specific provinces are: Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi.

The species of the Ganodermataceae in the world are mainly distributed in the tropical and subtropical zones of Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas, with a few distributed in temperate zones. Europe, located in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, has only 4 species of the genus Ganoderma, while North America has about 5 species. China spans from the tropics to the cold temperate zone, and has many species of Ganodermataceae with a wide distribution.

Lingzhi Disease and Pest Control

1. Trichoderma green mold (Penicillium) and Neurospora

On the culture material, the growing point of the lingzhi stipe and the hymenium under the cap are both easily damaged. The early mycelium of Penicillium is white, loose and cotton-like, and after producing conidia, it is light green or blue-green. The early mycelium of Trichoderma is gray-white or dense white cotton-like, and soon produces yellow-brown, black, or dark green conidia. Green mold has strong reproductive capacity. After infection during the mycelial growth stage of lingzhi, mycelial growth is inhibited, and in severe cases fruiting bodies cannot be produced. After the fruiting body is infected, it will rot and die in severe cases. Neurospora is rampant in high-temperature and high-humidity summers, mainly spreading extremely quickly at the bag openings of the culture material and at the roots and edges of the fruiting bodies, producing large amounts of orange-red powdery spores. For the control of contaminating microorganisms, injection with ketoconazole can be used, and for fruiting bodies, wiping or covering with ketoconazole plus lime can be used; in severe cases, they can be removed, burned, or deeply buried.

2. Fungus flies

Fungus flies lay eggs on the surface of the culture material, and after a few days they hatch into maggots. The maggots burrow into the culture material and destroy the mycelium, and in the later stage harm the fruiting bodies by feeding on the tissue. For fungus flies and other pests, prevention must be the main approach. Before the culture bags enter the shed, spray the inside and outside with 0.2% dimethoate or 0.2% deltamethrin for treatment, so as to thoroughly kill the insect bodies.

Lingzhi Harvesting and Processing

Cut it off from the middle of the stipe with a small knife, without breaking the cut, then spread it out to air-dry, or dry it at low temperature. If collecting spore powder, place clean plastic sheeting or smooth clean paper under the fruiting bodies on the cultivation rack, collect with a board brush, and after the spore powder is sun-dried and dried, store it in plastic bags for medicinal use.

Although lingzhi is distributed very widely in the world, creating an environment suitable for lingzhi growth is not so simple. Although lingzhi is a type of fungus and is very similar to general fungi in cultivation, due to the particularity of lingzhi, special attention is still needed when cultivating lingzhi.