Detailed Explanation of Key Management Techniques for Mushroom Fruiting

For mushroom production in October, the focus should be on mycelium colonization management. For those currently fruiting or about to fruit, management should be carried out promptly to ensure ideal fruiting.

Early-autumn oyster mushrooms: fruiting begins in early September, and by October most have completed 2 flushes, with some in the midst of managing a 3rd flush. Even those fruiting in mid-to-late September have at least 1 flush brought to market, and by October should enter 2nd-flush management. The management focus at this stage should emphasize one word: “water”. For conventional cultivation, after fruiting the mushroom bags lose water severely, so methods such as soaking or injection should be adopted to replenish water, in order to obtain higher yields. For those with a biological efficiency reaching 100% or more in a flush outbreak, the mushroom bags may be cleared out, and the next batch of mushroom bags should be promptly transferred into fruiting management. For mushroom bags inoculated in September, efforts should be made to control them so as to allow further mycelial post-ripening, accumulating nutrients to the maximum extent, and laying a solid material foundation for high-yield fruiting.

Shiitake mushrooms: high-temperature shiitake mushrooms have entered the final stage of management. Due to lower temperatures and greater temperature differences, commodity quality will improve as a result, but attention should be paid: after the last bag soaking at the beginning of the month, strengthening low-temperature management can produce a batch of high-quality fresh mushrooms, after which the shed should be cleared and disinfected, and by the end of the month preparations can be made to move the logs of low-temperature strains into the shed.

Button mushrooms: button mushrooms inoculated in early September will produce their first flush in mid-to-late October. With a suitable formula and proper management, biological efficiency can reach about 25%, generally mostly between 15 and 20%; because the first-flush mushrooms are of high commodity quality and fetch a higher price, the benefits are promising. Attention should be paid to effectively replenishing water to the beds after fruiting, to facilitate the occurrence of the second flush.