Detailed explanation of year-round production and cultivation techniques for straw mushroom and shaggy ink cap mushroom

1 Cropping schedule

1.1 Straw mushroom. In May, prepare materials and sow; 1 crop per month, harvest 3 flushes, and finish production by the end of September.

1.2 Shaggy ink cap mushroom. In September, sow and grow the spawn; in late October, place the mushroom sticks into the shed for cultivation and fruiting; harvest the first flush in mid-November; inoculate and grow the spawn again in late November; harvest the 2nd flush in mid-December; harvest the 3rd flush in early January of the following year. Plant the 2nd crop in late January, and finish production by the end of April.

2 Cultivation techniques

2.1 Straw mushroom production and cultivation techniques

2.1.1 Ingredients.

(1) Wheat straw 100 kg, wheat bran 5 kg, urea 1 kg, phosphate fertilizer 1 kg, gypsum 1 kg, carbendazim 0.1 kg, lime powder 5 kg.

(2) Spent mushroom substrate from shaggy ink cap mushroom 50 kg, short wheat straw 40 kg, wheat bran 10 kg, lime powder 5 kg, 50% carbendazim 0.1 kg. The ratio of ingredients to water is 1:1.5, and the pH is 9-12.

2.1.2 Pile fermentation. Mix the culture material evenly and moisten it; the moisture level is suitable when water drips out after squeezing the material tightly by hand. Make a trapezoidal pile with a bottom width of 1.5 m, top width of 1.2 m, and height of 1.2 m. After patting it flat, insert a thermometer and cover with plastic film for fermentation. When the temperature at the center of the pile rises to 60°C, keep it for 24 hours, then turn the pile; after rebuilding the pile, still cover it well with plastic film. When the temperature again rises to 60°C, keep it for 24 hours, and fermentation can be ended.

2.1.3 Spreading material and sowing. Before the culture material enters the shed, loosen the soil, spray 5% lime water for disinfection, and kill pests. Level the land and make beds, with a bed spacing of 30 cm, dig furrows 20 cm deep, and 2 days before cultivation, irrigate the furrows heavily to increase the humidity in the shed; before adding the material, spread it out to release heat, and when the pH is lower than 9, add some lime water as appropriate. Then spread the material on the beds, with a material thickness of 15-20 cm. The amount of spawn used is 5%-10% of the total material amount; after sowing, press lightly so that the spawn fully contacts the material, cover with 1 cm thick garden soil, and cover with film.

2.1.4 Spawn-running management. Generally, do not uncover the film within 3 days after inoculation; keep the air temperature at 30°C-32°C, the material temperature at 35°C-38°C, and keep water at the bottom of the furrow every day. The relative air humidity is required to reach 70%. When the material temperature rises to 40°C, uncover the four corners of the film for ventilation and cooling. From 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., open the straw curtains to increase the shed temperature, and ventilate 2-3 times a day. After 4 days of inoculation, uncover the film to prevent excessive vegetative growth of the surface mycelium.

2.1.5 Fruiting management. Mushroom buds appear 7-10 days after inoculation; at this time, irrigate the ground furrow heavily once, taking care not to soak the material pile. Spray 2-3 times a day, spray 2% lime water once every other day, raise the air humidity to about 90%, and keep water at the bottom of the furrow every day. After spraying water, be sure to ventilate, and close the air inlet only when no water vapor is visible. Keep the temperature in the shed at 28°C-30°C, and lift part of the straw curtains every day so that scattered light enters the shed. During the fruiting period, if ink cap mushrooms are found, pull them out immediately and bury them with soil. When the mushroom buds grow to the size of a quail egg, they can be harvested and processed; generally harvest once each in the morning, midday, and evening to prevent the caps from opening.

2.1.6 Disease and pest control. Straw mushroom is susceptible to mushroom mites. During the interval between flushes, pesticides such as mite cleaner and pyridaben can be sprayed on the bed surface. After removing dead mushrooms and mushroom roots, use a wooden strip to scrape the bed soil flat and mix it evenly to prevent pests.

2.2 Cultivation techniques for shaggy ink cap mushroom

2.2.1 Ingredients.

(1) Cottonseed hulls 100 kg, wheat bran 8 kg, quicklime 2-3 kg, with moisture content controlled at about 65%.

(2) Cottonseed hulls 100 kg, phosphate fertilizer 2 kg, urea 0.5 kg, lime 2 kg, water 160 kg.

(3) Crushed corn cobs 100 kg, diammonium phosphate 1 kg, lime 35 kg, water 150-160 kg.

2.2.2 Culture material fermentation. Mix the culture material thoroughly, and build a pile 1 m high. The width is 1 m, and the length is unlimited. Make 2 rows of holes on both sides of the pile at intervals of 35 cm, cover with film, and after the material temperature reaches 60°C, keep it for 12 hours, turn the pile, and when it reaches 60°C again, keep it for 12 hours; fermentation is finished, then spread it out to cool, and prepare for bagging and inoculation.

2.2.3 Bagging and inoculation. Use bags with a folded width of 22-24 cm and a length of 35 cm for spawn running. Break the spawn into pieces the size of red dates and use the 4:5:5:4 inoculation method, that is, inoculate 4 pieces of spawn at each end of the bag opening, and place 5 pieces of spawn in the middle every 12 cm, for a total of 4 layers of inoculation. Fill the culture material firmly in the bag. After the bag is filled, pierce it through from both ends with a pointed wooden stick 3 cm in diameter to facilitate air permeability and oxygen supply. The amount of spawn used is 10%-15%.

2.2.4 Spawn running. After the spawn bags are filled, place them indoors. When the room temperature is high, stack 2 layers per pile; when the room temperature is low, stack 4 layers per pile; the distance between piles is 4 cm, which helps heat dissipation. During spawn running, the material temperature is suitably controlled at 22°C-28°C, and the indoor relative air humidity is controlled at about 60%. When the material temperature is high, pay attention to turning the piles.

2.2.5 Casing soil cultivation. After the spawn bags have run for 20 days, the mycelium grows throughout the whole bag, and after another 5 days of culture, they can be placed in the shed for casing soil cultivation. The method is to remove the bags from the mushroom sticks, place two sticks horizontally, add one vertical stick in the middle, and make beds in a north-south direction; it is suitable to place 85-90 sticks per bed; the sticks can also be cut into two sections and placed upside down on the bed with no gaps between sticks. Then cover the mushroom sticks tightly with soil, with a casing soil thickness of 3-5 cm. The soil used for burying the sticks is preferably loam soil, and before casing, the soil must be treated with 5% formaldehyde solution before use.

2.2.6 Fruiting management. Fruiting begins 20 days after the mushroom sticks are placed in the shed and covered with soil, and the suitable fruiting temperature is 16°C-25°C. Sufficient oxygen is also an important factor in increasing the yield of shaggy ink cap mushroom. Shaggy ink cap mushroom also needs suitable light conditions. Practice shows that when the light is less than 10 lux, the mycelium grows slowly, and fruiting is delayed by an average of 7-11 days compared with normal conditions. The fruiting bodies also grow very slowly without light stimulation, with harvest delayed by an average of 5-10 days; if the light is too strong, reaching more than 1500 lux, the growth of both mycelium and fruiting bodies is even slower, and the quality is poor, dry, yellow in color, and of poor commercial value. The most ideal light is 70-800 lux.

2.2.7 Harvesting. The fruiting bodies of shaggy ink cap mushroom grow larger after 7-8 days, and should be harvested promptly before the caps open. Otherwise, after the shaggy ink cap mushroom matures and opens its cap, the black spores released can cause autolysis of its fruiting bodies, which will reduce the commercial value of the shaggy ink cap mushroom.

2.2.8 Management of the second flush. After the first flush is completely harvested, clean up the mushroom roots and dead mushrooms on the bed surface, supplement with fertilized soil, spray water on the bed surface, and carry out the second flush according to the above management. The 3rd and 4th flushes are managed in the same way. One production cycle of shaggy ink cap mushroom can harvest 3-5 flushes.

2.2.9 Disease and pest control. Shaggy ink cap mushroom has extremely strong resistance to contaminants, and generally no chemicals are needed. It is sufficient to treat the soil with formaldehyde before casing to kill contaminating fungi and insect eggs, and normal production can proceed.