How to Grow Matsutake Well? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Cultivation Techniques
Matsutake is a rather rare type of fungus nowadays, and its price on the market is also very high, reaching around three hundred to six hundred yuan per kilogram. There are now many artificially cultivated matsutake, but because matsutake has relatively high requirements for the growing environment and cultivation techniques, the annual yield and quality of matsutake are not entirely satisfactory. Today Qinnong.com will teach everyone how to grow this rare matsutake fungus well.
1. Building and Turning the Compost Pile
To grow matsutake, the first thing you need to do is build a compost pile. The best material for building the pile is sugarcane bagasse if available; if not, you can use corn stalks or wheat straw, sawdust, and rice straw or thatch grass. But these alone do not provide much nutrients, so we also need to add an appropriate amount of cow dung and similar materials as well as a small amount of chemical fertilizer, mix them evenly, and then pile them together. After about a week, we need to turn the piled material once, which helps the nutrients ferment. After another four or five days, turn it again. A total of five turnings are needed, with each interval lasting about three or four days. This allows the nutrients to ferment fully, so that better-quality nutrients can be produced.
2. Loading Material and Spreading the Bed
After the five turnings are finished, it is time to load the material and spread the bed. Simply put, this means placing the processed nutrients onto the cultivation bed and spreading them evenly and levelly. The thickness of the nutrients should preferably be about twenty cm. Finally, adjust the temperature of the cultivation room to around fifty to sixty degrees so the nutrients ferment further. After two days, you can sow. Greenhouse cultivation also requires fermentation first, then digging furrows for sowing.
3. Sowing Management
For indoor cultivation, we only need to evenly sprinkle the spawn onto the cultivation bed covered with nutrients, then cover it with a thin layer of soil. But for outdoor cultivation, after sprinkling the spawn, we also need to cover it with a layer of plastic film, which can provide a heat-preserving effect. Indoors, we should ventilate from time to time to keep the air circulating indoors, while outdoors we need to uncover the film about every three days for ventilation. The purpose of this is to maintain the temperature and humidity both indoors and outdoors, allowing the matsutake fungus to grow better.
4. Mushroom Emergence Management
Mushroom emergence management means we need to start preparing when the matsutake mushrooms begin to push through the soil. This stage is very important, because a small mistake may lead to reduced yield or even death. About a month and a half after sowing, the matsutake mushrooms slowly grow out. At this time, we should water the cultivation bed, then cover it with a layer of plastic film, and uncover it after two days. When they reach three or four cm, watering must stop, otherwise the quality of the matsutake will be affected. At the same time, we should pay attention to controlling the indoor and outdoor temperatures, preferably around twenty-five degrees, and ventilate at least twice a day, generally around seven or eight in the morning and around six or seven in the evening, continuing until the matsutake can be harvested.
5. Pest and Disease Control
The disease resistance of the matsutake fungus is actually quite good, but it cannot be ruled out that improper management may sometimes cause a certain degree of disease infection, so in daily management, pay more attention to detailed issues, ensure ventilation, and if there are infected matsutake fungi, remove them promptly and disinfect. Matsutake fungus often has pests such as mushroom flies, mushroom moths, and nematodes. These mainly affect the quality of the matsutake fungus. We can use indoor blowtorch irradiation.