High-yield Cultivation of Enoki Mushroom (Flammulina velutipes) and How to Handle Abnormal Mushrooms

The scientific name of enoki mushroom is Flammulina velutipes, also known as velvet shank. It is both a delicious food and a fairly good health food, and the domestic and international markets for enoki mushroom are growing ever broader. The artificial cultivation technique for enoki mushroom is not complicated; as long as environmental conditions are well controlled, it is easy to obtain stable and reliable yields. So how do you grow enoki mushroom for high yield? What should you do when abnormal mushrooms appear?

I. How do you grow enoki mushroom for high yield?

Method 1: Change from wide-bag cultivation to narrow-bag cultivation:

Many people believe that using 25 cm × 50 cm plastic bags for enoki mushroom cultivation is better, but wide bags are prone to infection by contaminant microorganisms, and when there are few mushroom buds, the fruiting bodies tend to bend, affecting quality and failing to meet the high-quality requirements of small caps, long stipes, light color, and plump tenderness. Therefore, it is better to use 17 cm × 33 cm plastic bags for cultivation.

Method 2: Change from high-pressure sterilization to extended atmospheric-pressure sterilization:

This is because enoki mushroom grows rapidly and produces fewer oidia on a substrate rich in vitamin B1 and B2. However, vitamin B1 is not heat-resistant and decomposes quickly above 120 degrees Celsius, so the substrate is better sterilized at atmospheric pressure. But to ensure a pure culture rate, the sterilization time can be extended from 10-12 hours to 13-18 hours.

Method 3: Change traditional vertical fruiting of enoki mushroom to horizontal fruiting from both ends:

When filling the substrate, inoculate both ends and leave about 15 cm of bag film at each end, fill lightly and press evenly, and tie the bag opening tightly. Place horizontally in about four layers for mycelial running. This method not only ensures fruiting quality but also saves mushroom house space, and can increase the yield per square meter of mushroom house by more than 30%.

Method 4: Change the one-time opening of the enoki mushroom bag to controlled opening:

With both ends tied closed for sealed mycelial running culture, the oxygen concentration inside the bag is low; if you wait according to the conventional method until the mycelium has grown and exuded yellow droplets before opening the bag, growth will inevitably be affected.

Therefore, once the mycelium in the bag is found to be growing slowly, the bag should be opened in time. But at this point do not open it fully; wait until the mushroom stipes have grown to about 8 cm, then pull the tube bag straight all at once, to ensure suitable temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration during fruiting. During this process, prevent the mushroom bodies from being forced to grow bent.

Method 5: Change letting enoki mushroom stipes grow freely to red-light induction:

Because enoki mushroom bodies have strong phototropism, after the mycelium has run well and been placed on the shelves, a 15-watt red light bulb can be hung above the center of every two rows of walls at intervals of about 4 m to produce vertical light, which can induce them to grow horizontally in bundles toward the light source, promoting stipe elongation. But doors and windows should be shaded to prevent the mushroom bodies from growing chaotically, lodging, and bending.

II. What should you do when abnormal mushrooms appear in enoki mushroom?

1. Fat mushrooms: caps enlarged, stipes thick and short

Causes: (1) Mushrooms growing from the spawn block; (2) scratching the substrate too late or scratching after budding; (3) the substrate surface is dry, with few mushroom buds or only a small number of buds appearing around the bag wall.

Preventive measures: (1) Scratch at the proper time to stimulate synchronous budding on the substrate surface; (2) after buds appear, open the bag tube to prevent the substrate surface from drying; (3) when buds are seen around the bag wall, press them to death to prevent fat mushrooms from occurring.

2. Needle-head mushrooms: no caps, mushroom bodies like needle heads

Causes: carbon dioxide concentration too high, so only stipes grow and caps do not form.

Preventive measures: strengthen ventilation and reduce the carbon dioxide concentration in the air.

3. Water mushrooms: look water-soaked, color darkened, semi-transparent

Causes: too much watering, too high temperature, weakened transpiration, and water retained in the mushroom bodies.

Preventive measures: ventilate regularly, reduce watering, and keep the relative air humidity at 75%-80% as appropriate.

4. Flaccid mushrooms: mushroom bodies soft and not upright

Causes: temperature on the high side, plus oxygen deficiency.

Preventive measures: (1) Prevent high temperatures; (2) carry out proper conditioning and suppression, so that under low-temperature, dry, and ventilated conditions the young mushrooms grow uniformly, firmly, and without water marks.

5. Twisted mushrooms: stipes bent or twisted, sometimes in a “twisted fried dough twist” shape

Causes: the direction of light in the mushroom shed changes frequently.

Preventive measures: set up top lighting, cover light sources from all around, and encourage the stipes to elongate in one direction.

6. Lateral mushrooms: mushroom bodies growing around the bag wall

Causes: loose filling, especially with relatively soft substrate; in the later culture period, gaps appear between the bag wall and the substrate, and once physiological maturity is reached, lateral mushrooms often form.

Preventive measures: fill the substrate tightly and press it firm, evenly from top to bottom, so that the substrate hugs the bag wall; press to death any lateral mushrooms already formed to prevent nutrient consumption.

7. Early-opening mushrooms: caps open too early or fall off

Causes: (1) Insufficient water content in the substrate; (2) the bag is short, so the stipes quickly grow out of the bag opening, oxygen supply is excessive, and the temperature is also on the high side.

Preventive measures: pay attention to replenishing water; properly control the carbon dioxide concentration in the bag and add an outer plastic film bag; when the temperature is high, do a good job of cooling.

8. Stipe bases joined together

Causes: when the film at the bag opening is raised to suppress cap growth, because the film has low air permeability, oxygen inside the bag tube is insufficient, causing the fuzz at the stipe bases to increase and the stipes to join together.

Preventive measures: fold back the film at the bag opening in stages to increase the oxygen content inside the bag tube; when the young mushrooms have grown to 1-2 cm, fold back the bag opening so that the bag tube extends 4-5 cm above the substrate surface; when they have grown to 5-6 cm, pull the bag tube straight all at once to raise the carbon dioxide concentration and let the stipes elongate as quickly as possible.