How to Grow Button Mushrooms? Latest Cultivation Techniques and Methods Tutorial
The button mushroom, also known as the white mushroom, is the edible fungus with the highest yield and the largest consumption in the world. In China, cultivation is mainly for export, but as domestic consumption grows, the market prospects are good. In addition, the button mushroom has high nutritional value and health benefits, with strong market demand, and it requires little investment and delivers quick results. Now let's take a look together at how button mushrooms are cultivated.
1. Mushroom Shed Management
The mushroom shed is best built on flat terrain with plenty of water, and it should be far from warehouses, chemical plants and similar places, facing south so as to help raise temperatures in winter. If the temperature in the shed is too high or too low, or if the water content is too high or there is seepage and other such factors, no mushrooms will be produced. Therefore, ventilation holes must be properly set in the mushroom shed, and all doors and holes must have door panels, so that they can be opened for ventilation and closed to be sealed tight, in order to control temperature and humidity. At the same time, doors and holes should all be fitted with gauze netting to keep mosquitoes and flies out. Cover the top of the shed with a layer of black film, then spread a layer of 30 cm of rice straw, then cover with another layer of film, which helps with insulation.
2. Raw Material Formula
The main raw materials for button mushroom cultivation are rice straw and cow dung, with dry cow dung being preferable. Taking one square meter as an example, the formula generally uses 1300 kg of dry rice straw, 500 kg of dry cow dung, 350 kg of dry chicken manure, 17.5 kg of urea, 75 kg of cake fertilizer, 25 kg of phosphate fertilizer, 17.5 kg of lime and 17.5 kg of gypsum, and at this point the pH value of the compost is around 7.5-8. Alternatively, use 500 kg of dry rice straw, 1250 kg of dry cow dung and dry chicken manure, 40 kg of phosphate fertilizer, 40 kg of calcium carbonate and 50 kg of lime as the formula, with the pH value also around 7.5-8.
3. Stacking and Fermentation
First soak the rice straw in water in batches, stirring while soaking so that it absorbs water fully, then stack it in layers together. After pre-stacking there will be water runoff. On the 3rd day after pre-wetting, spread a layer of the pre-wetted rice straw, scatter a layer of lime powder on the surface, spray water once, then scatter urea and lime powder, then spread another layer of rice straw, and so on until the pre-stacking is complete. Before building the stack, crush the cow dung, chicken manure and fertilizers and mix them evenly, then pre-wet them with low-concentration lime water and knead them into balls, then crush the phosphate fertilizer, gypsum and lime and mix them evenly, scatter this on top of the cow dung and chicken manure, mix well and cover with plastic film. Fermentation is carried out on the fifth day of pre-stacking the rice straw: spread the rice straw on the ground, then scatter a layer of the mixed cow dung and chicken manure on the surface, and so on until the stack is built. Finally, spray water and turn the stack, measure the pH, and make suitable compost. In the end, the compost should have a water content of about 64%, a pH value of 7.5-8, no sour or foul smell, and a distinctive fragrance.
4. Sowing
When sowing, the spawn container, the inoculation tool and the operator's hands must all be disinfected with alcohol. First scatter half of the spawn evenly over the surface of the compost, then insert your fingers into the compost and press lightly, so that the spawn falls evenly into the compost at a depth of 3-5 of the surface, then scatter the remaining half of the spawn evenly over the surface of the compost. After sowing, maintain a temperature of 22-25 degrees and a relative air humidity of 75%. Within one week of sowing, close the ventilation holes promptly so that the spawn can germinate, feed and colonize as quickly as possible. After one week, once the mycelium is growing normally, normal ventilation and air exchange can be carried out.
The above is an introduction to button mushroom cultivation techniques. We hope it helps you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.