HOW TO CULTIVATE MUSHROOM

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION (LESSON NOTE)

Mushrooms grow very fast and mature for harvest in a matter of days, it is the easiest cultivatable item to cultivate for business, there are hundreds of  mushroom species you can start cultivating, you can make so much money cultivating mushroom, it is sell able both in the local and international market.

Mushrooms are both food and medicinal, must of the mushroom are used to make drugs thereby creating a wide range of market. 

ITEM YOU NEED TO START CULTIVATING

1. Oyster mushroom oyster spawn.

2. Make a pasteurized substrate.

3. Get some bags

4. Get a site with  a stable temperature.

5. Water.

 Procedures

  

1. Buy the mushroom spawn of your choice variety, choose the variety that you can eat, if you want to produce for the market do some search to know the most market choice, but recommend the Agaricus bisporus because it is the most popular, it is also very delicious specie, do not go for delicate species. your can always buy your mushroom spawn from Amazon or from click

2. CHOOSE A COOLER OR A TERRARIUM WITH COVER

• If you've got a dark basement which to grow your mushrooms, you don't necessarily need a growing chamber with a lid. Use or build some 6-8 inch deep trays to grow your mushrooms in.
• Use an old fish  tank or a plastic storage bin for growing mushrooms in drier climates, or if you don't have a basement in which to grow your mushrooms and need to regulate the temperature more readily.

3.  FILL  YOUR CONTAINER WITH MEDIUM THAT IS SUITABLE FOR MUSHROOM GROWING

You can buy your own premixed beds to grow mushrooms, or make your own beds. Materials as diverse as mature, vermiculite and wood flour are used for growing all kinds of edible mushrooms

Use a suitable medium to enable proper growth of the mushrooms, remember that mushrooms do not have chlorophyll like plants as a result cannot make the own food like plant, but will depend on the quality of the medium you have made to grow. A mature based compost is most appropriate for the recommended mushroom variety, you can get your compost from peat moss, greensand, corn fodder, straw etc., please ensure a proper PH value of the compost used.

To prepare a quality medium the initially recommended spawn, mix 80% hard wood flour, 10%% rice hulls, 5%  soyabeans meal, 5% sphagnum, add little lime to obtain a suitable PH level of about 7.1 to 7.3, the combine the 5 parts of this mixture with 2 parts sand and 3 parts potting soil and mix very well

4.  PLANTING THE MUSHROOM SPAWN

Plant the mushroom spawn about two inches deep in the medium you have prepared and give over 20 inches spacing from the planted spawn.

5. KEEPING THE CULTIVATING CHAMBER AT A PROPER TEMPERATURE.

After planting, place the containers in a heated room or in the sun to 21 degrees Celsius, when the roots begin to form that is about three weeks after planting, the remove the container and place them in a dark room or the basement so that the temperature is reduced to about 16 degrees Celsius and cover the spawn with   1 inch layer of potting soil.

6. SPRAY THE SOIL SURFACE WITH WATER TOP KEEP IT SLIGHTLY DAMP.

Spraying the surface of the soil regularly to keep it slightly damp, if you are keeping the containers in a heated indoor space, then spraying daily is necessary, you can also use a wet cloth to keep the soil damp.

7. MAINTAIN CLOTH AND SOIL DAMPNESS AND TEMPERATURE FOR 3 TO 4 WEEKS.

During this time, keep an eye out for any problem, You may start all over if you notice pin-prick dots of black fungus, or if you r substrates (medium) is over saturated and slimy, the .cloth must be removed once the mushroom begin ti poke out of the soil

8. HARVEST THE MUSHROOM.

The mushroom is now ready to be harvested either for consumption or for the market as soon as the cap is out of the soil. careful when harvesting the mushroom to avoid crushing the mushroom, you can use knife to harvest your mushroom near the bottom.

This is how you mushroom should look like when it is mature for harvesting.

You must note that not all mushroom are edible, most species of mushroom are poison and cultivated to extract these poisonous chemicals for different purposes, some species are cultivated to extract useful elements and chemical for drug  for drug making . Good luck to on mushroom cultivation.