How to prevent and treat deformed lion's mane mushrooms
The lion's mane mushroom (scientific name: Hericium erinaceus) is a traditional precious Chinese dish, with tender flesh, fragrant aroma, and delicious taste. It is one of the four famous dishes (lion's mane mushroom, bear paw, sea cucumber, shark fin). It is known as “mountain delicacy lion's mane mushroom, sea delicacy bird's nest.” This fungus of the family Hericiaceae has furry fleshy spines on the surface of its cap, about 1-3 cm long. Its fruiting body is round and thick, white when fresh, and light yellow to light brown after drying, with a narrow base or a slightly short stalk, and an enlarged upper part, 3.5-10 cm in diameter. Seen from a distance it resembles the head of a golden snub-nosed monkey, hence the name “lion's mane mushroom,” and it also looks like a hedgehog, hence it is also called “hedgehog fungus.” The lion's mane mushroom is an incomparably delicious mountain delicacy, with tender flesh and a rich, savory flavor, and is known as “the meat among vegetables.”
Morphological characteristics of the lion's mane mushroom
The lion's mane mushroom is named for its shape, which resembles a monkey's head. The spores are transparent and colorless, with a smooth surface, spherical or nearly spherical, about 6.5 - 7.5 & micro; m×5×5.5. The hyphal cell walls are thin, with cross walls, and have clamp connections. The hyphal diameter is 10-20. It is one of the four famous dishes (lion's mane mushroom, bear paw, sea cucumber, shark fin). The fruiting body is lump-shaped, flatly hemispherical or head-shaped, fleshy, 5-15 cm in diameter, unbranched (which distinguishes it from the false lion's mane mushroom). It is white when fresh and turns brown or light brown when dry. The base of the fruiting body is narrow or has a slightly short stalk. The spines are densely drooping and cover the entire fruiting body; the fleshy spines are cylindrical, 1-5 cm long and 1-2 mm thick. The surface of each thin spine is covered with a hymenium, and on the hymenium densely grow basidia and cystidia, but the basidia bear 4 basidiospores, and wild lion's mane mushrooms generally grow in pairs.
What to do about deformed lion's mane mushrooms?
During cultivation, the lion's mane mushroom often develops deformed fruiting bodies due to poor ventilation, improper water management, or excessively high temperature and low humidity. For example, if humidity is one-sidedly emphasized during growth, ventilation is poor, and the carbon dioxide concentration exceeds 0.1%, it will continuously stimulate branching at the base of the fruiting body, forming a coral-like shape, so that a spherical fruiting body cannot form, affecting product quality. If the temperature exceeds 25°C and the air humidity is low, a bald fruiting body without spines is likely to appear.
The main ways to prevent and overcome deformed lion's mane mushrooms are: when coral-like fruiting bodies appear, ventilation should be strengthened to promote healthy growth of the fruiting body, and the symptoms can be eliminated quickly. For young buds that have already formed a coral-like shape, they should immediately be dug out together with a layer of the surface growing medium, and under suitable conditions normal fruiting bodies can grow. When bald fruiting bodies appear, water management should be strengthened, using misting into the air or sprinkling water on the ground to lower the temperature and supplement moisture. In addition, because the strain has been subcultured too many times and its strain characteristics have degenerated, when deformed lion's mane mushrooms appear, purification and rejuvenation should be carried out, excellent strains should be cultivated, and strain characteristics and purity should be improved.
In lion's mane mushroom cultivation, due to loss of control over the cultivation management ecology, deformed and abnormal mushroom bodies often appear, directly reducing commercial value and affecting the economic benefits of producers, thus becoming a difficulty in production. Here we introduce the types and forms of deformed mushrooms, their causes, and avoidance measures.
1. Bald and spineless type:
The mushroom body is clustered and branched, large, with a wrinkled and rough surface, no spines or hairs, loose and crisp flesh, slightly yellowish brown, with normal aroma. The main cause is relatively high temperature and relatively low humidity. At 25°C, the fruiting body evaporates too much water, and if humidity does not keep up in time, spines do not grow, forming bald mushrooms. Preventive measures: pay attention to temperature control and moisture retention. When the temperature exceeds 25°C, for field bed cultivation, the covering film should be opened in the morning and evening for ventilation, and during the day both ends of the covering film should be opened to allow air circulation; irrigate the furrows to lower ground temperature, spray mist into the air to increase humidity, and maintain relative humidity above 90%; and thicken the shade shed covering to reduce sunlight penetration and lower water evaporation.
2. Coral clustering type:
The base of the mushroom body branches and clusters many times, shaped like coral, and a root-like rhizomorph can clearly be seen connecting to the medium. Some of these fruiting bodies die during the fruiting period, while others continue to grow and develop, with the tips of the small branches constantly expanding to form multiple small fruiting bodies. The main cause is excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide concentration, which stimulates continuous differentiation of the stipe and inhibits development of the central part, resulting in irregular coral-like shapes; in some cases, because the growing medium contains aromatic compound sterilizing substances, mycelial growth is inhibited or stimulated; and often because temperature and moisture are maintained while ventilation and air exchange are neglected, under such saturated humidity and still-air conditions, the fruiting body is forced to develop abnormally. Preventive measures: (1) Strengthen ventilation and air exchange and improve environmental conditions. (2) When selecting the growing medium, take care to remove trees such as Chinese fir, pine, camphor, and poplar and locust that contain sterilizing substances. (3) For fruiting bodies that have already formed a coral-like shape, scrape them off together with the surface growing medium while they are still young, then continue cultivation, and they can still fruit as usual.
3. Abnormal color type:
The mushroom body turns yellow, and the spines are short and thick; some fruiting bodies turn red, or from the young mushroom stage to maturity are pink, and the mushroom body tastes bitter. The cause of this kind of color change is mainly relatively low temperature. Often in autumn and winter cultivation, when the temperature drops suddenly and the fruiting body development and growth stage is below 10°C, the mushroom body turns red, and as the temperature drops, the color deepens. In some cases, during ventilation, the fruiting body is stimulated by a direct draft, and the mushroom body turns yellow and wilts. For discolored mushrooms, the cause should be distinguished and treated accordingly. If caused by low temperature, then when arranging inoculation, one should consider that about 25 days after inoculation, the local temperature should preferably not be lower than 14°C; calculate forward from this as the boundary to determine the best inoculation period, and low-temperature damage can be avoided. Warming measures: for field bed cultivation, the covering film can be covered tightly, ventilation can be done at noon when the temperature is high, and the covering can be thinned to let in light and raise the temperature; at the same time, try to avoid direct ventilation blowing onto the mushroom bodies, or cover the mushroom bags at the air inlet with wet gauze.
4. Shrinking and rotting type:
In the early stage the mushroom body grows normally, then the middle spines wither and fall, and the mushroom body shrinks; some mushroom bodies turn brown and moldy. The former is often caused by excessively high temperature, dry air, and obvious water shortage, so that growth stops and the mushroom gradually shrinks and dries up. Mist should be sprayed into the air in time, with a tiny amount sprayed on the mushroom body to help it recover. If the mushroom body is found to be rotting, then it is disease or mold invasion, and ventilation should be strengthened and the temperature lowered. Those already rotting should be dug out in time, and 3% bleaching powder water or 1% white lime water should be applied locally to control its spread.