Detailed Explanation of Key Points in Cultivation and Management Techniques for the Tea Tree Mushroom
The tea tree mushroom, also known as the tea mushroom, is a rare, precious, and delicious edible fungus. Its cap is tender and its stem crisp, with a pure, delicate fragrance and excellent texture, and it can be cooked into all kinds of delicious dishes. According to testing by the China Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, the fruiting body contains important nutrients such as glucose, fungal protein, and minerals, and has all eight amino acids needed by the human body, among which lysine content is as high as 1.75%. It also has strong kidney-tonifying effects and antitumor activity, making it one of the top ten best-selling mushroom products on the international mushroom trading market, and it is known as the "Chinese divine mushroom." In supermarkets in Japan, Singapore, the United States, the European Community, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, China, each kilogram of dried product is worth as much as 100 US dollars.
China mainly relies on natural tea tree mushrooms for export. Only recently has artificial cultivation begun, but the cultivation scale is small, and the products are far from meeting market demand. The domestic modern purchase price is 160-200 yuan per kilogram of dried product. Therefore, artificial cultivation of tea tree mushrooms has significant economic benefits and broad market prospects.
I. Cultivation Season
According to the biological characteristics of tea tree mushrooms, in which mycelial growth occurs at 10-35°C, with the optimum temperature at 22-27°C, and fruiting body formation and growth occur at 16-32°C, with the optimum at 20-28°C, scientifically arrange the cultivation seasons for spring and autumn, and specifically master two points: first, within 40-50 days after inoculation, the local temperature must not exceed 32°C; second, from the inoculation date, count forward 60 days to enter the fruiting period, when the local temperature must not exceed 30°C or fall below 15°C.
II. Raw Material Formulas
Formula 1: sawdust 72%, wheat bran 25%, gypsum 1%, sugar 1%, superphosphate 0.5%, lime 0.5%. Formula 2: cottonseed hull 78%, wheat bran 20%, gypsum 1%, sugar 0.5%, lime 0.5%. Formula 3: sawdust 38%, rice straw powder (corncob) 37%, wheat bran 23%, gypsum 1%, superphosphate 0.5%, lime 0.5%.
III. Making the Mushroom Bags
Use polypropylene bags sized 17 cm X 33 cm X 0.05 cm for filling with material. Mix the raw materials evenly, with a water content of 60%-62% and a pH value of 6-6.5. Fill the culture material into the bags to a height of 18 cm; each bag holds about 450 grams of dry material. Put on neck rings and insert cotton plugs. Sterilize at normal pressure at 100°C for 10-12 hours, and after sterilization is completed, cool to below 30°C. Inoculate in an inoculation box or inoculation room: each bottle of stock culture can be expanded to inoculate 25-30 bags. Then place them in a cool, dry, clean, and ventilated culture room to grow the mycelium. It usually takes 40-50 days for the mycelium to fill the bags.
IV. Fruiting Management
When the mycelium has filled the material, it shifts from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, the surface of the material secretes yellow liquid and shows brown patches, and then small mushroom buds grow. At this time, open the bags promptly, straighten the bag openings, water the ground, maintain the spatial humidity of the cultivation room at 85%-95%, and provide a certain amount of scattered light and ventilation. After 10-15 days of management, the fruiting bodies grow to eight-tenths maturity and can then be harvested.
V. Harvesting
From the emergence of mushroom buds to harvest generally takes 5-7 days. Harvest when the cap is hemispherical and the ring has not yet detached. After harvesting the second flush, the material has become somewhat dry; inject about 40 milliliters of water into each bag so that the moisture in the substrate meets the requirements for fruiting. Generally, 3-4 harvests can be made, and each bag can yield 40-45 grams of dried mushrooms.
VI. Processing
Use scissors to trim off debris at the base of the tea tree mushrooms, and they can be sold fresh on the market, or dehydrated and dried with a dehydrator, then graded and packaged. At present, China mostly exports dried products to Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian countries.