New cultivation method for enoki mushrooms yields high economic returns
Homemade growing medium. Take 84% cottonseed hulls, 14% wheat bran, 1% gypsum, 0.2% monopotassium phosphate, 0.25% magnesium sulfate, and 0.55% carbendazim, mix them evenly, then add water at a material-to-water ratio of 1:1.3 and stir well to make the growing medium. Filling and sterilization. Put the growing medium into wide-mouth bottles or bags; when filling, be sure to keep it moderately firm...
Homemade growing medium. Take 84% cottonseed hulls, 14% wheat bran, 1% gypsum, 0.2% monopotassium phosphate, 0.25% magnesium sulfate, and 0.55% carbendazim, mix them evenly, then add water at a material-to-water ratio of 1:1.3 and stir well to make the growing medium.
Filling and sterilization. Put the growing medium into wide-mouth bottles or bags; when filling, be sure to keep it moderately firm so as to effectively avoid the later phenomenon of mushrooms fruiting all over the bottles or bags. After filling, seal the mouths of the bottles or bags tightly, place them in an ordinary-temperature pot for sterilization, and steam them at a high temperature of 100°C for 8 to 10 hours.
Cultivation at a suitable temperature. After they have cooled completely, in the inoculation room or inoculation box under the flame of an alcohol lamp, use an inoculation spatula to dig the spawn blocks out of the spawn bottles and transfer them into the cultivation bottles or bags, then place them in the culture room for mycelial culture. The temperature of the culture room must be controlled at 22°C to 26°C. It is strictly forbidden to prolong the culture period at low temperatures, so as to avoid fruiting before the mycelium has fully colonized, which would affect yield and quality.
Careful management. After the mycelium has fully colonized, promptly move them into the mushroom yard, open the bottles or bags and perform scratching to stimulate fruiting. Once the mushroom buds have formed, carry out regeneration management to promote a greater density of mushroom buds, then put on bags or cover with newspaper so that a microclimate with high carbon dioxide concentration forms inside the bottles or bags, which is favorable for the growth of enoki mushrooms.
When the mushrooms have grown to 4 to 5 cm tall, special attention must be paid to water management. The humidity of the cultivation site should be kept at 80% to 90%, the temperature should be kept at 8°C to 14°C, and straw curtains or black plastic (11255, -30.00, -0.27%) sheeting should be used to shade the light at the cultivation site. The light intensity should be such that a person with normal vision can vaguely make out size 5 Chinese characters. When the mushrooms have grown to 15 to 20 cm tall, they can be harvested.