How is Cordyceps sinensis cultivated? Detailed explanation of cultivation methods and technical key points

I. Economic value of cultivating Cordyceps sinensis

Cordyceps sinensis is a fungal species of the genus Cordyceps that infects host insects and causes them to become rigid; under suitable conditions, the infected rigid insect produces a stroma, thereby forming a fruiting body structure with the specific form of an insect (rigid insect) and grass (fungal stroma) complex. Because species of Cordyceps fungi are basically named after the morphological characteristics of their sexual generation, the host insect, or a person's name, the species names of Cordyceps fungi are the names of the various Cordyceps species.

Cordyceps sinensis has relatively high medicinal value; its taste is sweet, its nature is warm, and it has the effects of preserving essence and boosting qi, protecting the lungs and tonifying the kidneys, and stopping bleeding and resolving phlegm. In modern medicine, Cordyceps sinensis is believed to be able to treat consumptive cough with bloody phlegm, night sweats, impotence, spermatorrhea, jaundice, pulmonary structure, and chronic cough and asthma in weakened elderly people, and it has both tonic and sedative effects.

In recent years, wild resources of Cordyceps sinensis have decreased, and output has declined year by year. In addition, export and domestic demand have increased, making the contradiction between supply and demand increasingly prominent. In particular, health drinks and medicines using it as a raw material, such as Cordyceps oral liquid and Cordyceps snow lotus liquid, have been recognized worldwide for health effects such as nourishing yin, tonifying the kidneys, strengthening yang, beautifying the face, and anti-aging, so the market prospects for artificially cultivated Cordyceps sinensis are broad.

II. Precautions for cultivating Cordyceps sinensis

A. Beware of fraud:

In recent years, when transferring Cordyceps militaris (also known as northern Cordyceps sinensis), many units and individuals have deceptively called Cordyceps militaris "Cordyceps sinensis" by taking advantage of people's inability to clearly distinguish Cordyceps and Cordyceps militaris. This is not the case. Cordyceps and Cordyceps militaris are both organisms of the family Clavicipitaceae, belonging to the same genus but different species, and their mycelia are very similar. Under natural conditions, Cordyceps fungi parasitize only bat moth larvae and are called Cordyceps; Cordyceps militaris parasitizes the pupae of Lepidoptera insects, so it is called Cordyceps militaris.

B. Pay attention to the environment:

The temperature requirements of Cordyceps fungi differ from those of other edible fungi. They are a low-temperature mycelium-growing and high-temperature fruiting type. The temperature throughout the entire growth period must not exceed 20°C, otherwise they cannot grow normally or may even die. Whether Cordyceps fungi or Cordyceps militaris fungi, neither can parasitize larvae that have not undergone "immune" treatment (except bat moth larvae), and it is even less like what lawbreakers claim: "As long as it is not lower than -30°C and not higher than 35°C, it can be cultivated indoors and outdoors all year round."