A Detailed Guide to Edible Mushroom Cultivation Methods and Techniques

There are many varieties of edible mushrooms; here we introduce the cultivation method for enoki mushrooms (Flammulina velutipes). To cultivate enoki mushrooms, you first need to prepare a mushroom house, which must be insulated, ventilated, and clean. Then prepare the raw materials; once the raw materials are ready, bag them and sterilize them; after sterilization, inoculate; after inoculation, move them into the mushroom house and wait for fruiting. After fruiting, simply manage temperature, humidity, ventilation, and light well.

1. Time

The suitable temperature for the growth of enoki mushroom mycelium is 7-30°C, with the optimal temperature being 23°C; the suitable temperature for the differentiation and development of fruiting bodies is 3-18°C, with the optimal temperature being 13°C. Therefore, in southern regions the best cultivation time is late autumn, in northern regions it is mid-autumn, in the provinces south of the Yangtze River it is October to November, and in high-altitude mountainous areas it is September.

2. Site

A mushroom house needs to be prepared. The main requirements for the mushroom house are insulation, ventilation, and cleanliness. You can build a semi-underground mushroom house; it is recommended to dig a 1 m deep square pit outdoors, then pile soil around it above ground to form a 1 m high wall, and cover the top with plastic film and straw curtains.

3. Raw Materials

You can prepare crushed corn cobs (which can be replaced with sorghum husks, sawdust, peanut shells, bean stalks, corn stalks, rapeseed stalks, etc.), wheat bran, cornmeal, gypsum powder, soybean flour, superphosphate, and white sugar in a ratio of 75:20:3.5:2:1.5:1:1, then dissolve the white sugar in water, mix the sugar water and the other ingredients thoroughly with added water until the moisture content reaches about 65%, let it sit for 2-4 hours, and then bag it.

4. Inoculation

First, choose plastic bags 15-17 cm wide and 55 cm long for bagging. While bagging, press the material down as you fill it. After filling, tie both ends with thin rope into slip knots, then sterilize under high pressure or normal pressure. After sterilization, you can inoculate, and after inoculation promptly move the bags into the mushroom house.

5. Management

Under suitable temperature conditions, the mycelium begins to germinate in about 24 hours, and the bags are fully colonized in about 40 days. After full colonization, untie the bag openings and roll them back, stack the bags and cover them with film. Every morning, uncover the film for ventilation for 30 minutes, and maintain humidity at 85%-90%. In about 7-10 days, fruiting begins successively. After fruiting, ventilation can be appropriately increased. When the stems grow to 3-5 cm, remove the plastic film and ventilate for 1-2 days; afterward, control the temperature at 6-8°C, the relative air humidity at 85%-90%, the carbon dioxide concentration at 0.11%-0.15%, and keep light weak. After about 10 days, the enoki mushrooms will have grown and can be harvested.