Oyster mushrooms and mushrooms at home, many have been growing for a long time. The technology for caring for such mushrooms is well known and can be applied with great success. However, you can grow yourself, of course, not only oyster mushrooms or champignons. There are other types of mushrooms that can give good crops at home. For example, growing a shiitake can be quite profitable. Such mushrooms are simply excellent in taste and are considered relatively unpretentious.
A bit of history
In the east, shiitake is called the "mushroom of the sleeping Buddha." The first mention of it dates back to 199 BC. Initially, this fungus was used mainly only as a medicine. In Japan, shiitake preparations were very expensive and only noble people could afford to purchase them. Later, this mushroom began to be consumed and simply as food. After some time, the Japanese and Koreans developed methods for growing shiitake at home.
In 1969, the polysaccharide lentinan was isolated from this fungus by scientists. A feature of this substance, among other things, is that it can slow down and even stop the growth of cancerous tumors.
What is a mushroom
Shiitake belongs to the class of agaricomycetes, to the family of Negniyunchikovs. From Japanese, its name translates as "a mushroom growing on a Shi tree." Externally, shiitake is not particularly remarkable. It grows on trees, but despite this it is similar to any other forest mushrooms. That is, it has a hat and a leg.
The color of this mushroom is usually light brown. Shiitake hat is convex lamellar. The leg of this fungus is straight fibrous, slightly tapering at the base. Shiitake plates are white. When pressed, they change color to brown. In young mushrooms, the plates are covered with a protective film. The shiitake leg, depending on age, can have a length of 3 to 19 cm.
Cultivation methods
Like oyster mushrooms, shiitake mycelium can develop well on:
It is these three ways of growing shiitake mushroom at home that are most often used. All of these technologies in terms of yield can produce good results. Shiitake mycelium is able to form fruiting bodies up to six years old in the same place. After that, the material used for growing needs to be changed. For 6 years, up to 200-250 kg of mushrooms can be harvested from 1 m2 of shiitake plantings.
Log selection
This mushroom is grown on hardwood. You can infect with shiitake mycelium, for example, logs of oak, beech, elm. Also, sometimes this mushroom is grown on birch or aspen. In any case, the logs for shiitake, of course, must be chosen correctly.
The best harvested wood for this mushroom is winter. By the onset of cold weather, oaks, elms, birch, etc. accumulate a large amount of nutrients, which allows to increase the yield of shiitake.
Winter wood for growing this mushroom is considered the most suitable. However, if necessary, shiitake mycelium can also infect summer logs. The main thing is that the wood be intact and intact - without rotten or dry patches. It is believed that for a shiitake, it is best to choose logs with a not too thick core. The moisture content of the mushroom logs should not be less than 35% and more than 75%.
Conditions
The optimum temperature for growing shiitake is 20-22 ° C. In any case, the mycelium of this fungus is considered quite stable. Its mycelium can develop even at a temperature of 16 ° C. But to allow that at the place of cultivation at night the temperature dropped below 10 ° C, it is still impossible. Also, this fungus does not tolerate the heating of ambient air more than 26 ° C. At lower temperatures, shiitake slows growth. In the heat, these mushrooms begin to stretch. The legs of mushrooms grown under such conditions will be very thin, and the hats will be small.
Humidity in the cultivation of such a mushroom will also have to be maintained at a certain level. The most suitable indicator for shiitake in this case are 35-50%.
Where to place the "beds"
In summer, logs for growing shiitake are often laid just outside. But they do so only in regions with a fairly mild and humid climate. In areas with sharply continental shiitake, they usually grow all year round in cellars, heated sheds, etc. City residents sometimes manage to get a crop of fruiting bodies and simply on a shaded loggia.
Whatever room for such mushrooms was chosen, it must necessarily be well ventilated. On the street, "beds" with shiitake are placed in the shade of trees. In any case, the logs with mycelium are stacked so that they do not touch the ground. Most often, such "beds" just have a well. In this case, it will be easier to follow the conditions for growing shiitake in the future.
Landing
Selected logs are infested with shiitake mushroom by a fairly simple technology. The mycelium is laid in holes drilled in wood to a depth of 30-40 cm. Such nests are made with a drill with a thickness of at least 8 mm. Open the holes for the shiitake mycelium on a log in a checkerboard pattern. At the same time, a gap of 20 cm is left between the rows, and 10 cm between the nests.
The acquired mycelium of the fungus is laid in pieces in the holes and slightly tamped. Next, the nests are closed with wooden corks using a hammer. Top clogged holes are additionally coated with paraffin.
Shiitake mushroom cultivation at home: how to get a crop
In the future, logs infected with mycelium are simply left alone for a while. In order to get a harvest of fruiting bodies, first of all, of course, you need to wait for the mycelium to spread throughout the wood. The incubation period in shiitake can last from 6 to 18 months, depending on the thickness of the log. Such "beds" are considered ready for further processing when the spots of mycelium are already very clearly visible on the cut.
As soon as the mycelium begins to go outside, stimulate the formation of fruit affairs. For this, the logs are either soaked in water or simply irrigated for a long time. After completing this procedure, it remains only to wait for the harvest of mushrooms. Shiitake mycelium can bear fruit up to 2 times a year. After each wave, the logs with the mycelium of this fungus are again soaked.
Features of growing on sawdust and straw
Growing shiitake at home on logs in this way is not too complicated. The main thing when using this technology is to try to maintain the humidity level and temperature necessary for the mycelium. The main difficulty in applying this technique can be the purchase of the logs themselves and their placement. Such material, of course, is large in size, and therefore the room for it is necessary large.
In a small cellar or basement, a shiitake, of course, is best grown on sawdust or straw. Such a substrate is previously simply clogged tightly in plastic bags. Then he, as in the first case, becomes infected with mycelium.
Using this method, the mycelium creates the same conditions as when planting on logs. There are many recipes for making substrates for Shiitake. But most often, a nutrient medium for the mycelium of this fungus is created by mixing:
oak sawdust - 7 parts;
cereal grains - 9 parts;
bran - 3 parts.
Oak sawdust, if desired, can be replaced with maple, birch, alder. Coniferous for the cultivation of shiitake mushrooms is not recommended. Before preparing the substrate according to this recipe, all components are pre-crushed to a particle size of approximately 2-3 mm. A few chips are also added to the finished mixture to improve air exchange.
On straw, the substrate can be prepared according to the same recipe as on sawdust. It is also put in the substrate in a ratio of 7 parts. In any case, before bagging, the nutrient mixture must be boiled and cooled. Otherwise, in the future, mycelium parasites will develop in it, which, in turn, will lead to the fact that the mycelium of the shiitake itself will simply die. The substrate before laying in bags can also be simply steamed.
Growing rules
After filling the substrate in bags according to the same principle as when growing on logs, holes are made and pieces of mycelium are laid inside. Ultimately, the ratio of mycelium to the mass of the nutrient mixture when using this method of planting should be 3-5%.
The moisture content of the substrate when growing shiitake should be equal to 50-65%. To test suitability, a small amount of the mixture can simply be squeezed in your hand. Water from the substrate in this case should not flow. After about 2 months of incubation, bags filled with mycelium are transferred to a cooler and wetter room. Fruits using this technology shiitake in the future will be about 6 months. After this, the substrate will need to be changed. After six months, a new mixture is prepared using the same technology as described above.
Some recommendations
Thus, even for beginners, growing shiitake at home is likely to be quite profitable. But when cultivating such a mushroom in any case, of course, it is worth following some recommendations. What kind? Consider below.
For example, for the cultivation of shiitake, experts advise using bags not too large. On the dimensional blocks of the mycelium of this fungus spreads very slowly. The optimal volume of bags for substrate blocks is considered 2.5 liters.
Planting mycelium after sterilization of the substrate by boiling is possible only after the latter has cooled to room temperature. Specialists do not recommend closing bags with nutrient mixture and mycelium tightly. On the substrate, it is best to first put the neck of a plastic bottle, and then tie the polyethylene around it.