10 Premium Varieties of Summer Mushrooms and Techniques for Stable Yield and Quality

The vast majority of edible fungi varieties belong to the medium-to-low temperature type, with products concentrated on the market in autumn, winter and spring. The mushroom volume is excessively concentrated, goods are plentiful and prices are low, which affects profitability. However, every summer mushroom products are @#@125@#@ in short supply, the market is active and prices are high, and mushroom cultivation is highly profitable, but production management is relatively difficult; therefore, developing main summer mushroom varieties and production management has become a hot topic of concern for the broad community of mushroom farmers. Below is an introduction to 10 premium and rare varieties that are @#@136@#@ favored by the market and suitable for summer mushroom production in both northern and southern provinces, as well as management techniques for how to promote stable yield and quality of summer mushrooms during the high-temperature season.

1 Varieties

1.1 Pleurotus abalones has a sweet taste and stores well, making it a premium and superior mushroom product. It produces mushrooms from May to August, with an optimum temperature of 20-32°C; cultivation substrates can use miscellaneous wood chips, cottonseed hulls, bagasse or rice straw. Grown in bags indoors or outdoors, with openings for mushroom growth, biological conversion rate 100%. Products are sold fresh, salted or canned, and are needed for both export and domestic sales.

1.2 Clitocybe maxima, also known as large cup mushroom or large funnel mushroom. The flesh is crisp and the flavor is unique, making it a rare variety. It produces mushrooms from June to September, with an optimum temperature of 23-32°C; cultivation substrates mainly use miscellaneous wood chips and cottonseed hulls. Grown in sterilized bags indoors or outdoors, with casing soil for mushroom growth, biological conversion rate 80%. Products are sold fresh, salted, canned or dried, and are needed for both export and domestic sales.

1.3 Pleurotus cystidiosus, also known as Taiwan oyster mushroom. The flesh is thick and the texture is crisp and tender. It produces mushrooms from June to September, with an optimum temperature of 20-32°C. Cultivation substrates can use rice straw, waste cotton, wood chips or bagasse. Grown in sterilized bags, biological conversion rate 100%. Products are mainly sold fresh, and can also be dried, and are needed for both export and domestic sales.

1.4 Silver plate mushroom is one of the varieties of the genus Clitocybe (clitoybekurta.). The mushroom body is dark gray and named for its round, plate-like shape. It produces mushrooms from June to September, with an optimum temperature of 22-36°C. Cultivation substrates are cottonseed hulls or miscellaneous wood chips. Grown in sterilized bags, with field casing soil for mushroom growth, biological conversion rate 80%-90%. Products are sold fresh, salted or dehydrated and dried, and are needed for both export and domestic sales.

1.5 Lepiota alba has crisp and tender flesh and a delicious taste, making it a very promising typical high-temperature-type rare mushroom product. It produces mushrooms from May to September, with an optimum temperature of 18-38°C. Cultivation substrates can use rice straw powder, cow dung powder or spent substrate from mushroom and wood ear cultivation. Grown in sterilized bags, with field bed casing soil for mushroom growth, biological conversion rate 80%-90%. Products are sold fresh, salted, canned and dehydrated and dried, and are needed for both export and domestic sales.

1.6 Agaricus blazei Murrill, abbreviated as A, B, M mushroom, also known as Brazilian mushroom. The flesh is crisp, tender and refreshing, with a rich aroma, making it one of the famous export mushrooms. It produces mushrooms from June to August, with an optimum temperature of 16-35°C. Cultivation substrates can use rice straw, corn stalks, reeds, cottonseed hulls, etc. Grown with fermented substrate on indoor or outdoor shelves or beds, with casing soil for mushroom growth, producing 5-6 kg of fresh mushrooms per sq m. Products are dehydrated and dried, mainly for export, and also needed for domestic sales.

1.7 Tricholoma lobayense, also known as Lobay mushroom, large white Tricholoma, and called white matsutake by Japanese people. The flesh is thick, crisp and tender, with a unique taste, making it a fashionable rare mushroom product newly developed in recent years. It produces mushrooms from June to September, with an optimum temperature of 15-33°C. Grown in bags with a mixed fermented substrate of rice straw, corn cobs, cottonseed hulls, etc., with field bed casing soil for mushroom growth, biological conversion rate 100%. Products are mainly sold fresh, and can also be canned, and are needed for both export and domestic sales.

1.8 Straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea), also known as stalk mushroom, orchid mushroom, delicious paddy straw mushroom, and hemp mushroom. The flesh is smooth and tender, with a sweet taste, making it a traditional premium product. It produces mushrooms from June to September, with the temperature preferably not lower than 28°C and not exceeding 35°C. Cultivation uses fermented rice straw, wheat straw, corn stalks, cottonseed hulls, waste cotton, etc., grown in material ridges or on shelves, biological conversion rate 35%-45%. Products are mainly sold fresh on the market, and can also be canned or dried, and are in hot demand in both domestic and international markets.

1.9 Bamboo fungus (D. echinovoluata), also known as bamboo ginseng, immortal's umbrella, and net-veil mushroom. The flesh is crisp and tender, with a delicate fragrance, making it a traditional premium product. The mushroom production period is from June to September, with an optimum temperature of 20-35°C. Cultivation substrates can use crop straw, wild grass, various types of bamboo, trees, fruit and mulberry branches, etc. Grown with raw substrate in open-air wild-simulated bed casing soil cultivation, producing 80 kg of dried product per mu. Products are dried, and are needed for both export and domestic sales.

1.10 White wood ear (Auricularia polyticha) is an excellent strain in the hairy wood ear group. The texture is soft, crisp and tender, intermediate between black wood ear and yellow-backed hairy wood ear. The production season is from May to September, with an optimum temperature of 23-32°C. Grown in sterilized bags with wood chips, sugarcane bagasse, cottonseed hulls, etc., cultivated indoors or outdoors in houses or sheds with controlled light, with irregular mushroom growth on the bag surface, biological conversion rate 120%-140%. Mainly sold fresh and dried for domestic sales.

2 Management Techniques

In summer, temperatures are high. Regardless of which mushroom species, the mycelium development speed is very fast, and the fruiting body formation time is relatively short. A slight mistake in any technical step in management will cause reduced yield, decreased quality and affect economic benefits. Below is an introduction to management techniques for stable yield and quality of summer mushrooms.

2.1 "Four Musts" for Cultivating Strong Mother Bodies Whether bag cultivation or bed cultivation, it is the carrier for mushroom growth, called the mother body, and "a strong mother makes fat children." For this reason, during the mycelium vegetative growth stage, the "Four Musts" should be achieved: 1) Must control the optimum temperature. Generally, the temperature for cultivating mycelium should be 3-5°C lower than the mushroom-producing temperature of that variety to facilitate normal mycelium development and prevent high-temperature "mycelium burning"; 2) Must avoid light stimulation to prevent premature primordium appearance; 3) Must open bags for ventilation at the proper time to prevent mycelium shrinkage from oxygen deprivation; 4) Must grasp the physiological maturity period and promptly move into the shed to transition to reproductive growth management, to prevent missing the initial mushroom-producing period.

2.2 "Three Requirements" for Mushroom Sheds 1) The cultivation site should face south with its back to the north, be near mountains and water, or be built under forest shade; 2) The shading density of the mushroom shed should be increased by 50% compared with conventional practice; 3) Water channels should be opened around the shed perimeter to channel flowing water, and micro-spray facilities should be installed on the shed roof.

2.3 "Three Controls" to Restrict Adverse Reproduction 1) Control the extreme temperature. The optimum temperature for summer mushroom growth: except for Lepiota alba, which can tolerate a high temperature of 38°C, the maximum temperature for general varieties should not exceed 35°C; otherwise, mushroom buds will shrink or the fruiting bodies will be relatively thin and deformed, with poor quality and low value; 2) Control direct light. The light intensity of the mushroom shed should preferably be "one part yang to nine parts yin," and generally 100-150 Lx of scattered light is sufficient; 3) Control the watering time. In the high-temperature season, water evaporation is large. Watering the mushroom shed to increase humidity should preferably be done in the early morning and evening, and doors and windows of the house or shed should be opened for ventilation to renew the air. At noon, water should be sprayed outside the shed to lower the temperature, and shallow water should be stored in the bed furrows inside the shed to preserve moisture. Never spray water inside the shed, to avoid creating high temperature and high humidity, which can lead to the occurrence of pests and diseases.

2.4 "Four Checkpoints" for Product Harvesting and Turning of Flushes 1) Maturity checkpoint. Summer mushroom fruiting bodies mature relatively quickly. Generally, it takes only 1-2 days from the appearance of mushroom buds to the maturity of the fruiting body. Bamboo fungus in particular grows quickly; from the breaking of the mushroom ball and stalk extension with skirt spreading to maturity takes only 3 hours. If harvested late, the mushroom body collapses and self-digests, causing losses. Therefore, attention must be paid to observing the product maturity period; 2) Harvesting checkpoint. Summer mushrooms should preferably be harvested before sunrise, generally entering the shed at 4 o'clock and harvesting until sunrise. Do not spray water before harvesting; 3) Flush-turning management checkpoint. After harvesting, pay attention to removing mushroom bases and residues left on the bed or mushroom bags to prevent mold and disease occurrence; at the same time, stop watering and strengthen ventilation to let them rest and cultivate mycelium. When primordia appear, use spatial mist spraying to increase humidity and promote the second flush of mushrooms; 4) Product freshness checkpoint. After summer mushrooms are harvested, because the natural temperature is higher than in spring and autumn, the fruiting bodies are very prone to opening their caps and reducing quality; therefore, freshly harvested mushrooms should be placed in bamboo or plastic baskets with relatively wide gaps, with each basket holding no more than 10 kg, and promptly sent to purchasing points for purchase and processing, or kept fresh in foam boxes with ice blocks wrapped in plastic bags, and transported by refrigerated truck to the city for supply.