How to grow lingzhi? These cultivation methods you need to master
Q: As a new variety of ornamental flower - lingzhi (Ganoderma), it is increasingly sold in flower markets, but because people do not know how to cultivate it, they love it in their hearts but dare not buy it. How should lingzhi be cultivated?
A: Lingzhi has been known in China since ancient times as a "miracle cure" and "auspicious herb," with high medicinal value. As an ornamental, it has only attracted people's attention in recent years. Actually, it is merely a large wood-decaying fungus, belonging in fungal taxonomy to the family Polyporaceae, genus Ganoderma. China has about 40 species, the most common being purple lingzhi, black lingzhi, purple-glow lingzhi, and so on. Artificial cultivation often uses cottonseed hulls (or sawdust), wheat bran, sugar, gypsum powder, water, and so on as raw materials, mixed into a special culture medium according to a certain formula. After sterilization, lingzhi spawn is inoculated, and after cultivating for 2 months under special conditions, the red lignified mature fruiting body - lingzhi - can be obtained.
The lingzhi sold on the market no longer has vitality; it is merely the fruiting body of the lingzhi fungus. Burying and planting it in a flowerpot filled with dry fine sand or perlite powder makes it suitable for indoor display; some people glue the lingzhi fruiting body onto an ancient, simple dead root or dry branch according to an aesthetic composition, matching it with an elegant flowerpot to make a lingzhi bonsai; others simply paste the lingzhi fruiting body directly onto a shaped potted pine tree, creating a living pine-with-lingzhi bonsai, which is even more distinctive.
For the lingzhi sold on the market, potted maintenance is very simple. It requires no watering, no fertilizing, no sunlight, and no rain or dew. All that is needed is to wipe the surface of the lingzhi fruiting body with a damp cloth every few days, wiping away the fine dust adhering to it and restoring its original bright colors. Sometimes, to increase the fresh and glossy appearance of the lingzhi fruiting body's surface, plant oil such as walnut oil or rapeseed oil can also be used to wipe it, making it appear even more smooth and bright. If you are interested, you can go to the flower market and buy a pot to display indoors. There is no need to worry about maintenance, but you must note that after too long a time, borers may appear on the lingzhi fruiting body, so it can be given an insecticidal disinfection once every 1 to 2 years.