Control Methods for Deformed Mushrooms in Off-Season Shiitake Cultivation
In off-season cultivation of shiitake mushrooms, deformed mushrooms often occur because production conditions are not properly regulated, which affects the commercial quality of the mushrooms and reduces production efficiency. The main manifestations of deformed mushrooms and the control measures are as follows:
1. Small and thin caps: The caps are both thin and small, and even after a long growth period they cannot grow larger, and when eaten fresh they lack the distinctive aroma of shiitake mushrooms. The causes are: first, color change was not completed, and fruiting was carried out when the bags were still flowered or white; second, the substrate nutrients were obviously insufficient; third, the growing temperature was too high.
Control methods: For bags that have not undergone color change, conditions must be regulated to carry out color change; if the substrate nutrients are insufficient, they can be appropriately supplemented when the bags are soaked, and the method of "fertilizing the mushroom surface" can also be adopted, such as spraying edible mushroom three-dimensional nutrient essence, which can effectively thicken the caps; in summer when temperatures are relatively high, effective cooling measures should be taken, such as spraying water on the walls of the mushroom shed.
2. Lampshade-shaped caps: The caps take on a pointed lampshade shape and become obviously thinner, and commercial quality declines severely.
The main causes are the same as above, and the above methods can be referred to for control.
3. Wavy caps: The cap edges take on a relatively regular wavy shape and are also obviously thinner and more brittle. The occurrence of the wavy shape is mainly because the young mushrooms were exposed to a relatively large temperature difference during the development stage, and at the same time the humidity of the environment also changed greatly, especially when large amounts of water were sprayed directly onto the caps, causing abnormal development of the cap tissue.
The control method is that after mushroom buds appear, relatively stable temperature and humidity should be maintained, especially in off-season cultivation in summer, when the temperature of the mushroom shed is often the basic condition determining whether the fruiting bodies can develop normally.
4. Irregular caps: The specific manifestations are caps that are either narrow and long or triangular, with irregularity being the main feature. The main cause is that in the young bud stage the plastic film was not cut open in time, so the caps pressed directly against the plastic film and received a certain amount of friction, or there were relatively many mushroom buds and thinning was not carried out in time, so that by the young bud stage, after cap differentiation, they were squeezed together; as long as the caps are squeezed when young, they will never grow round and regular again.
Control: Cut the film in time and carry out bud thinning, generally selecting only 1 to 2 young buds, and do not allow too many.
5. Hollow stipes: The stipes are slender and hollow, resulting in very small caps as well, mainly caused by too low moisture content of the substrate and too low spatial humidity.
Control measures: After each harvest flush, the bags should be soaked, generally soaking for 24 hours is enough to restore them to their original weight; keep the air humidity in the mushroom shed above 85%.
6. Stipes growing out from cracks: When the moisture content of the mushroom bag is too low, the substrate cracks, and after narrow and long cracks form, fruiting bodies can grow out from the cracks; some do not even fully emerge, and the caps grow larger inside the cracks, ultimately failing to achieve their commercial value.
The control method is to persist with soaking the mushroom bags so that cracks do not form.
7. Twisted stipes: This phenomenon is likely to occur when the air humidity in the mushroom shed is relatively low, the light is relatively strong, or the light angle changes too frequently.
The control method is to maintain relatively stable air humidity and relatively stable light; generally, 1000 lux of scattered light is sufficient.
8. Candle mushrooms: The characteristic of candle mushrooms is that on the bare stipes there is no normal cap tissue, resembling a candle. Causes: first, the cap tissue was damaged during the bud stage; second, the carbon dioxide concentration in the shed was too high.
Control measures: Cut the film in time; when thinning buds, be careful not to damage the buds intended to be retained; persist with good ventilation and maintain relatively fresh air conditions in the shed.