Detailed Explanation of Insulation Methods for Winter Oyster Mushroom Cultivation

Winter cultivation of oyster mushrooms has a high success rate and is also a good opportunity for people to use their spare time to make money. However, winter temperatures are low, and cultivated oyster mushrooms either colonize slowly or fail to colonize for a long time, and deformed mushrooms are produced during the fruiting period. Heating with coal stoves not only increases costs but the coal gas can also cause poisoning symptoms in the mushroom bodies. Through practice, I have developed a method for winter oyster mushroom cultivation using bioenergy for insulation, which has the advantages of saving costs and being hygienic. The technique is introduced as follows:

1. Bag cultivation of oyster mushrooms should begin in late autumn. When the weather turns cold, have ready mushroom bags with half-grown mycelium to serve as insulation bags for the oyster mushrooms. If bag cultivation was not done in advance, one-time heating can be used to incubate the mycelium.

2. After the temperature becomes very low, stack the mushroom bags densely, with greater height and width, to facilitate heat accumulation, warming and insulation. The stacking method is: stack 4 rows per section, each row 7 bags high, leaving a gap of about 50 cm between rows for ventilation. The distance between sections is 67 cm, convenient for people to walk through for management and to turn the stacks. Finally, cover with 2 whole layers of plastic film.

3. Stack newly inoculated bags together with the insulation bags. First place 3 layers of bags with half-grown mycelium on the lower level, and stack 4 layers of newly inoculated bags on top. Then cover with plastic film.

4. Check the temperature carefully every day. The bags generate heat during the colonization process. When the temperature reaches 27°C, uncover the film to control the temperature. Once the mycelium has fully covered the bags, remove them immediately and transfer them to the fruiting area for fruiting. Then stack newly inoculated bags on top of the bags that have not yet been fully colonized, cover with film and keep warm for incubation. In this way, remove the fully colonized bags one after another and add new inoculated bags.

5. Remove the bags fully covered with mycelium and transfer them to the fruiting site (indoors or in a shed, etc.) for fruiting. The stacking method is: stack 7 layers high per row, stack straight to prevent toppling, with a spacing of 40 cm between rows; stack 3 rows in a row and leave a large gap, then stack another 3 rows, with the large gap being 70 cm, convenient for people to walk through for management and mushroom picking, working from both sides, as long as the hands can reach. If the temperature is very low, thin bamboo poles can be laid across the entire oyster mushroom stack and covered with plastic film for insulation. When the temperature is high, open windows for ventilation to keep the air fresh. Other management methods follow conventional practice.