High-yield field management techniques for cultivating button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) in rice paddies

Field selection and preparation: It is best to choose fresh fields or fields where mushrooms have been grown before that are upwind and upstream; avoid using diseased fields or old fields located at downwind, downstream outlets, otherwise they are prone to invasion by contaminating microorganisms.

Plow and finely level the field; if the field is dry and has good drainage, plowing may be omitted; also open drainage edges and bed furrows, with a bed surface width of 80-90 cm and a walkway width of 60-70 cm; spread the remaining 50 kg of fine lime powder into the casing soil.

Sowing: When sowing mushrooms, farmer friends should pay attention to doing the following work well:

1. Take a large handful of the well-composted culture material from each spot evenly and place it in a small sieve. First sprinkle a little spawn on the surface of the material and cover it well with newspaper. If mycelial germination can be seen after 24 hours, you can sow confidently; otherwise, find out the cause and only sow after proper treatment.

2. The culture material should be brown, with a distinctive grassy aroma, and no foul or rotten odor; the straw should be tough, well rotted but not decomposed, with a pH of 7.5-8 and no contaminating microorganisms; the moisture content should be suitable, so that when the material is tightly squeezed by hand, water shows between the fingers but does not drip. If too wet, dry it in the air; if too dry, adjust it with 1-2% lime water.

3. Pile the material on the bed surface where sowing will be done. Do not cover with plastic film when it is not raining; when it rains, it must be covered with plastic film. After the material is moved onto the bed surface, turn it once a day, and only after ammonia gas is completely released can the safety of the spawn be ensured. After 3 days, spread the material flat, and once there is completely no ammonia odor and the moisture is suitable, sowing can begin.

4. Sowing should be done on cloudy days and in the afternoon to prevent ultraviolet rays in sunlight from killing or damaging the spawn. When sowing, first remove the cotton plug from the spawn, place it upside down in a potassium permanganate (commonly known as "hymanganese oxygen", a strong oxidizing disinfectant) solution for disinfection; use a spawn hook (which can be made by heating thick cart wire until red-hot and hammering it into a small hook) to hook the spawn into a disinfection basin, then evenly broadcast the planned amount of spawn over the surface of the material, carrying out casing soil application as you sow. For those that cannot be covered with soil in time, promptly cover with a layer of rice straw or straw fans treated with lime water.

5. For casing soil, humus loam with a soil pH of 7-7.5 is best. The size of soil clods should preferably not exceed that of a small egg, the moisture content of the clods should be 20-22% (can be flattened by hand but does not stick to the hand), and the thickness should be about 6-7 cm. Casing soil can be applied in two stages.

Management after casing soil application: Generally, mushroom harvesting can begin 20 days after sowing. If there is no rain within 10 days after casing, cover only with straw and not with film, and water appropriately. Rice straw can be tied into straw mats for easy covering and uncovering; the thickness of the straw mat should be such that the bed soil is not visible after covering; choose plastic film with a thickness of 4 si or more; uncover the soil for inspection within 10-15 days. When the mycelium has reached nearly half of the soil and appears radial, spray 0.9-1.1 kg of "fruiting water" per sq m of mushroom bed surface (that is, 0.2-0.25 liang per sq chi), after which moisture retention and ventilation should be carried out together. If mycelium runs across the soil surface, strengthening ventilation and drying will solve it.

When the small mushrooms grow to the size of soybeans and emerge generally, spray once with "mushroom emergence water." According to the dryness or wetness of the bed surface and weather conditions, spray 1.3-1.4 kg per sq m (3 liang of water per sq chi), then stop watering for 2-3 days; after the mushrooms emerge evenly, spray water daily according to the growth condition of the mushrooms and changes in weather. Spray more when there are many mushrooms, less when there are few, and do not spray when there are none. If the mushroom caps are tender and white with good gloss, it indicates suitable moisture; if scales appear and the caps turn yellow, it indicates insufficient moisture. During mushroom emergence, keep the relative air humidity above 80% and ensure a sufficient supply of oxygen.

Management after harvesting: Harvest according to market conditions. After each batch ("one flush") of mushrooms is harvested, generally wait 5-7 days before harvesting the next batch. Do not water during the resting period between flushes; according to the growth condition of the mycelium and small mushrooms, spray an appropriate amount of fruiting water and mushroom emergence water. As the temperature decreases, the amount of water used should gradually be reduced.

After each flush of mushrooms, promptly clean up the residue on the bed surface, fill the holes left after harvesting with soil, and spray water once again (equivalent to fruiting water). After harvesting three flushes of mushrooms, a special fertilizer can be promptly applied once as a top dressing.

In addition, the conditions for mushroom growth are also suitable for the breeding of many diseases and insect pests. If prevention and control are improper, they will bring great losses to production. In the prevention and control of mushroom diseases and insect pests, we should persist in putting prevention above treatment. Under normal circumstances, if the culture material is well composted, high-quality spawn is used, and attention is paid to the above disinfection, insect elimination, and sterilization work, diseases and insect pests generally will not occur or will cause only slight harm.