A Detailed Guide to Mushroom Cultivation Techniques: Planting Methods and Management Essentials

Mushrooms are a highly popular treat on the market, and many people love their tender texture. There are many kinds of mushrooms, and their cultivation techniques are all quite similar. Let's take a look below.

1. Mushroom house

When growing mushrooms, you need to prepare the construction of a mushroom house, and the most common type of mushroom house nowadays is a greenhouse. The mushroom house is generally built on higher ground, but the site as a whole should be fairly flat, with fairly open surroundings and good ventilation. The greenhouse should be made of a material that diffuses light, and the floor needs to be finished with cement so it is easy to wash. Mushroom beds should be set up inside the mushroom house; they can be made of wood, iron, or brick. Finally, windows or rolling blinds should be left in place to improve ventilation.

2. Compost

Preparing the compost for mushroom cultivation is also very important. The main ingredients of the compost are livestock manure, wheat straw, bran, rice straw, corn stalks, and so on, and the compost is generally piled and prepared around July. We need to dry the manure, cut the other materials, then mix in an appropriate amount of gypsum, soak it thoroughly with water or urine, and then pile it up in layers of one layer of straw and one layer of manure for fermentation. Generally, the pile needs to be turned once every three or four days, and after about half a month it is just about ready.

3. Disinfection

After the compost has been piled, we first need to thoroughly disinfect and sterilize the mushroom house once, then move the compost into the mushroom house and spread it evenly on the mushroom beds. Then close the doors and windows of the mushroom house and raise the indoor temperature to about 60°C. After three hours, lower the temperature to about 50°C and maintain this temperature for one week so the compost ferments thoroughly. Moreover, during this fermentation process, the compost is also disinfected and sterilized, so that what remains in the compost are beneficial microorganisms, which is greatly beneficial to the growth of the mushrooms.

4. Inoculation

When the temperature of the compost drops to about 25°C, the mushrooms can be inoculated. We need to level the compost on the mushroom beds, and the thickness of the compost on each mushroom bed should reach about 15 cm. Then inoculate by the hole-planting method, with the spacing between each spot at about 10 cm. If you want to increase the speed of mycelial growth, you can plant them as densely as possible. After inoculation, the compost needs to be kept moist, and the ventilation of the mushroom house should be increased. Finally, cover the compost evenly with fine fertile soil, and then you can wait for the mycelium to grow.

5. Harvesting

Harvesting affects the yield and quality of the mushrooms. The most important things are water management and temperature management. We need to keep the compost moist; in the early stage of fruiting, the humidity is generally around 70%, and later it can gradually return to around 80% to 90%. When watering, we should follow the principle of small amounts and frequent watering. During the mycelial growth period, the temperature in the fruiting house is best kept at around 10°C to 18°C, and during the fruiting period, raise the temperature to around 20°C to 28°C, which can speed up fruiting. When the mushrooms have grown to a certain size, they can be harvested.

The cultivation techniques for different mushrooms may differ slightly, but the cultivation techniques for most mushrooms are similar. I hope the above content can help you.