A Detailed Guide to the Latest Method for Collecting Lingzhi (Reishi) Spore Powder by Bagging

Lingzhi spore powder is the extremely tiny oval-shaped reproductive cell, namely the seed of lingzhi, ejected from the gills of lingzhi during its growth and maturation period. Each lingzhi spore is only 4 to 6 microns, is a living organism, condenses the essence of lingzhi, and possesses all the genetic material and health benefits of lingzhi. Collecting lingzhi spore powder is a technical job. Let us take a look below at collecting lingzhi spore powder by bagging!

Making the Lingzhi Spore Powder Collection Bag

Making the bags is fairly labor-intensive and must be done in advance so as not to miss the timing and cause losses. Generally, each person can make 200 to 300 bags per day. Select 50-gram, 8-format newsprint with good air permeability (size 39 cm * 27 cm). The making method is carried out in the following four steps.

1. First, leave 2 cm of the 39 cm side for applying paste glue, then fold it in half to 18.5 cm and glue it into a cylinder 27 cm high with a circumference of 37 cm.

2. Fold the 27 cm height of the cylinder in half to find the center line, then choose either end and fold it again toward the center line, obtaining one quarter, namely 6.75 cm, to serve as the bag bottom.

3. Fold the two side lines of the resulting quarter inward into the cylinder, and align the two lines respectively with the inner lines, obtaining the flat bottom surface of the cylinder, with the other two equal sides each 5 cm.

4. Fold either equal side toward the bottom center line and extend 1 cm past the center line, apply glue to the sealed part of the bottom, then fold the other side toward the center line and also extend 1 cm past it, press firmly, and glue it into a long bag shape 20 cm high with a circumference of 37 cm and a fully sealed bottom, namely a food bag shape, and it is complete.

Note: For lingzhi spore powder bagging, you can also choose a polypropylene gusseted bag of the same size as the paper bag and 0.0004 cm thick, and prepare it by pricking more than 20 holes per sq cm with a size 12 needle.

Timing for Bagging Lingzhi Spore Powder

It generally takes about 30 days from primordium formation to fruiting body maturity. Once the fruiting body matures, spores also begin to be released one after another. The standard for fruiting body maturity is that the white growth ring at the edge of the cap has basically disappeared, the cap has changed from yellow to brownish-yellow and brown, the tubes have begun to mature and brown thread-like spores appear or brown spore powder appears deposited near the base of the mushroom. At this time, it enters the optimal time for bagging.

Method for Bagging Lingzhi Spore Powder

Before bagging, drain accumulated water to lower humidity, and at the same time use a clean towel to wipe clean around the lingzhi to be bagged, then put on the bag down to the lowest part of the lingzhi. Bagging must be done at the right time, so that each fruiting body is bagged as soon as it matures, in stages and batches. If bagging is too early, the growth ring of the cap has not yet disappeared, and it will continue to grow and stick to the bag wall or grow outside the bag, causing difficulty in local tube differentiation and affecting spore production. If bagging is too late, the spores will drift away with the airflow after release, affecting yield. Generally, for every 10,000 bags, bagging needs to be carried out successively and finished over 10-15 days.

Management After Bagging Lingzhi Spore Powder

1. Moisture retention: After lingzhi spores are produced, a relatively high relative humidity is still needed to meet the conditions for later growth and development of the fruiting body and promote greater spore production. Spray water indoors regularly, and if necessary still irrigate, controlling the relative humidity to reach 90%.

2. Ventilation: After the lingzhi fruiting body matures, respiration gradually decreases, but after bagging the local carbon dioxide concentration will also increase, so it is still necessary to keep the indoor air fresh. Generally, after half a month of bagging, the spores released by the fruiting body can account for more than 60% of the total