Management Methods and Key Points for Mushrooms After Fruiting

Speaking of mushrooms, I think everyone is quite familiar with them. In daily life we basically eat mushrooms quite often. Mushrooms have high nutritional value, and eating them regularly is very good for people's health, so the demand for mushrooms is also increasing.

Management Methods for Mushrooms After Fruiting

1. Control the temperature. After fruiting, the temperature should be kept between 15 and 18°C. If it exceeds 20°C or temporarily rises back above 25°C, effective measures should be taken promptly. For those that have not yet knotted to form fruiting bodies, reduce or stop spraying water to prevent the mycelium from knotting into fruiting bodies. For those that have already formed fruiting bodies, increase the amount of water sprayed to meet the mushroom bodies' heavy water consumption and to lower the temperature of the mushroom house and mushroom bed. At the same time, increase ventilation: close during the day and ventilate at night. When it is cold, focus on keeping warm; if ventilation is needed, do it in the late morning or early afternoon.

2. Spraying water. As the fruiting bodies increase in number and grow larger, water should be increased accordingly, with the peak harvesting period requiring the most water. Generally, during the fruiting period, spray 1 kg of water per square meter, or about 2 kg of water for every 1 kg of mushrooms produced, adjusting flexibly according to how many mushrooms are produced. At the end of each batch of mushrooms, spray maintenance water, and until the next batch of small mushroom buds appears, the amount of water sprayed gradually increases again.

3. Ventilation. After fruiting, respiration becomes more intense; ventilation and air exchange should be correspondingly strengthened. But at this time the temperature is lower and the climate is dry. To keep warm and retain moisture, it is best to install ventilation windows so that the micro-environment of the mushroom house does not change drastically and affect the growth of the fruiting bodies. Especially, sudden drafts of cold air are very harmful to small mushroom buds, causing them to turn brown or die. If no ventilation window is installed, open the south door or south window at noon for 2 to 3 hours. When the temperature is high, open the north and south doors during the day to ventilate and exchange air to regulate the temperature of the mushroom house.

4. Tidying the bed surface and adding soil. After harvesting, there are often some dead mushrooms on the mushroom bed that should be picked out promptly to avoid rot and pests and diseases. At the same time, the holes left after harvesting should be filled level with soil particles so that the vegetable bed remains flat.

5. Topdressing. After mushrooms have been harvested for several batches, nutrients are heavily consumed, and phenomena such as reduced mushroom production and an increase in small and thin mushrooms often appear. Therefore, topdressing is needed to supplement nutrients so that the mycelium can continue to maintain strong mushroom-producing capacity.

Commonly Used Topdressing Methods

1. Glucose. Topdressing with glucose has a very good effect on enlarging the mushroom bodies. Brown sugar and granulated sugar can also be used instead. The commonly used concentration is 2% to 5%.

2. Yeast liquid. Yeast is rich in nutrients and easily absorbed by mushrooms; it can promote the formation of fruiting bodies and make the mushroom bodies grow robustly. For the concentration used, commercially available yeast powder is 0.5% to 0.1%, and pure yeast powder is 0.05%.

3. Soybean milk. Using 1% soybean milk as topdressing has a significant yield-increasing effect, but do not use it when the temperature is high, to avoid mold growth. 

4. Ammonium sulfate or urea. Spraying 0.2% ammonium sulfate or urea solution also has a good effect on the robustness of the mushroom bodies. 

5. Cow urine. Boil decomposed cow urine in a pot for 20 to 30 minutes, filter it, dilute it with 10 times water, and spray it.

6. Mushroom stem soup. Rinse fresh mushroom stems clean, add water and boil for 10 to 15 minutes, then add 10 to 20 times water and spray. It can promote the growth of small mushrooms.

7. B-group elements. Spraying one part per million of vitamin B1 or B6, as well as the plant growth regulator B9, etc., also has an obvious effect on the formation of fruiting bodies.

8. Triacontanol. According to experiments, using 0.2 to 0.4 PPm triacontanol and spraying 90 kg per 100 square meters can increase yield by 10% to 20%.

When topdressing, the principle of "small meals, more often" should be grasped, and the amount used at one time must not be too much. Especially after the first flush of mushrooms, do not rush to topdress, because at that time the temperature is relatively high and topdressing easily leads to the occurrence of contaminating bacteria.

Nutritional Advantages of Mushroom Vegetables  

1. High protein content. The protein content in fresh or water-soaked edible fungi is 1% to 3.5%, slightly higher than that of ordinary vegetables. For example, the protein content of water-soaked wood ear is 1.5%, and that of fresh shiitake is 2.2%. Because dried edible fungi have less water, their protein proportion increases greatly, with protein content mostly 10% to 30%. The quality of protein in edible fungi is also relatively high; they contain 9 kinds of amino acids essential to the human body, and their proportions are relatively close to the proportions of essential amino acids in the human body, so they have good utilization and high nutritional value.  

2. Rich in micronutrients, such as vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin K, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc and selenium, etc. Among them, the most unique is vitamin D, which is almost absent in other vegetables. Its main function is to promote calcium absorption, regulate calcium metabolism, and it is crucial to bone health. In recent years, studies have also found that vitamin D is related to the prevention and treatment of common chronic diseases such as arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease.  

3. Edible fungi contain a class of components with special health value -- fungal polysaccharides. Fungal polysaccharides exist in the cell walls of edible fungi and have been proven to have effects such as improving immunity, regulating blood lipids, and fighting cancer. Some of these fungal polysaccharides, such as lentinan and wood ear polysaccharide, have been developed into drugs and applied clinically.

Medicinal Value of Mushrooms  

1. Antibacterial effect  

Mushroom culture liquid (cultured at 28 to 30°C for 22 days) can inhibit Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli. This culture liquid is non-toxic to guinea pigs, and oral administration of 250 milliliters by humans also has no side effects. The pressed juice can still inhibit Mycobacterium and tubercle bacillus.  

2. Other effects  

Its extract (extracted with ethanol for 24 hours, the filtrate mixed with acetone for precipitation, the supernatant then extracted again with ethanol and vacuum dried) has the effect of lowering blood sugar. A non-specific plant hemagglutinin was once isolated from mushrooms.

Mushrooms have high nutritional value. They are rich in protein content and also have certain medicinal effects. Therefore, eating more mushrooms can also play a role in lowering blood sugar. Therefore, when people grow them, they should pay attention to their management methods and understand the growth habits of mushrooms.