How do you deal with a lack of water in the substrate during the later stage of oyster mushroom cultivation?

The first flush of oyster mushrooms accounts for about 40% of the total yield. Generally, after the second flush is harvested, because the water in the substrate is almost used up, even if mushrooms can still come out they are sparse, with thin and weak fruiting bodies, loose and dry flesh, and poor taste. To increase the yield, the following methods can be used to supplement water and nutrient solution:

(1) The upright bag hole-irrigation method: the soaking method requires a water-holding container, but in some cases a small container or other reasons make it inconvenient, so this method can be used. Stand the fungus bags upright on the floor of the mushroom house, pull up the edges of the plastic bag so that water can be retained after watering, then poke a hole 2 cm in diameter in the center of the bag opening, with the hole reaching 4/5 of the substrate depth, and pour water into the bag every day; use cold water in hot weather and lukewarm water in cold weather. After the substrate bags have absorbed enough water, stack them again to produce mushrooms.

(2) The cut-and-plant cultivation method: choose a place with good soil quality and close to a water source, make beds running east-west, with the bed 40 cm deep, 90 cm wide, and any length, with the bed edges 10-15 cm above the ground, dig drainage ditches around it, spray dichlorvos around the site to kill insects, and spread lime powder around and on the bottom for disinfection. Remove the plastic bags from the fungus logs and cut them into two sections, poke 4-6 holes around each fungus log with iron wire, stand them tightly upright in the bed with the cut face upward, pack soil tightly between the logs, cover with 1 cm of granular fine soil (after disinfection treatment), and pour a large amount of water into the bed; after the water has seeped through, cover with more soil so as to keep a 1 cm thick soil cover on the substrate surface. Finally, cover the bed with plastic film to keep it warm and moist, and mushrooms can appear after 7 days.

(3) The wall-building irrigation method: remove the plastic bags from the water-deficient fungus logs and dig out the mushroom roots and parts infected by miscellaneous bacteria. Lay a layer of bricks at the bottom of the wall, take relatively fertile vegetable garden soil, which should be loose in texture, mix 100 kg of soil with 15 kg of wheat bran and 3 kg of lime, mix well and adjust the moisture, then place a layer of fungus logs and a layer of soil, and build the fungus wall to a height of 1-1.5 m. Then take sticky soil to make mud slurry, coat the entire surface of the fungus wall, about 0.8 cm thick, thinner is better, but there must be no leaks. Finally, build a water trough on top of the wall, and after 2 days irrigate to wet the soil; after 5 days the mycelium has basically filled the fungus wall, and mushrooms appear in 6-8 days.

You can also remove half of the plastic bag from the fungus logs. When building the wall, place the end with the plastic bag facing outward, and the two fungus logs with half the plastic bag removed facing inward, and build the wall head to head, leaving a 10 cm gap between the heads of the two fungus logs, fill the gap with fertile soil, and also add a layer of fertile soil between the layers on the part of the fungus logs with the bags removed (do not add soil on the outer part with plastic bags), with the wall 1-1.5 m high. Finally, build a concave water trough on top of the fungus wall, irrigate to wet the soil, and mushrooms can appear in 6-8 days, with many mushrooms and good quality.

The above methods should be used according to the situation. If you want oyster mushrooms to have an even higher yield, you can add nutrient material to the water while irrigating. The nutrient formula is: 100 g glucose, 8 g magnesium sulfate, 6 g urea, 10 g superphosphate, 6 g monopotassium phosphate, mixed with 50 kg of water.