Detailed Explanation of Edible Mushroom Preservation Methods and Mushroom Bag Aeration Methods

The first is the aeration plug method. Use wheat straw, cotton lint, sunflower stalks, corn cobs, etc. as materials, and tie them at both ends of the mushroom bag to form aeration plugs. Note that wheat straw and sunflower stalks should be cut into 3 cm long pieces; cotton lint should be folded into a cotton column with one end flat and the other end with fuzzy edges; corn cobs should be crushed to bean-sized pieces and wrapped into balls with newspaper. The size of the plug depends on the size of the mushroom bag: large bags use large plugs, small bags use small plugs; it also depends on the incubation temperature. When the incubation temperature is low, the plug can be smaller; otherwise, it should be larger.

The second is the ring collar method. You can buy flared rings, put them over the mushroom bag and then add a cotton plug. If flared rings are unavailable, you can also make them yourself from plastic packing straps (cut into sections and weld them into rings with a soldering iron), then seal the opening with kraft paper and a rubber band. Note that the ring collar must be fitted firmly to prevent it from falling off.

The third is the aeration hole method. Use a sewing machine needle to punch a row of holes at 6 cm from the bag opening, with a hole spacing of about 1 cm. When filling with substrate, sow the mushroom spawn at the punched holes. Do not punch too many holes, and be careful not to handle the mushroom bag roughly when punching holes, otherwise the mushroom bag is prone to splitting during the filling process.

The fourth is the aeration tunnel method. Use a thumb-thick conical wooden stick to punch 3 holes 6 cm deep in a triangular arrangement at both ends of the filled substrate bag, then punch a horizontal hole at the middle spawning site, and place the mushroom bag in a disinfected room for incubation.