How to properly grow porcini mushrooms at home?

Self-cultivation of porcini mushrooms at home seems like a very attractive idea to many. After all, the white mushroom (or, as it is also called, boletus) is almost the most famous and widespread edible mushroom growing in the territory of the Russian Federation. It looks simple, but expressive - a thick white leg and a fleshy brown hat. Porcini mushrooms are used today to make sauces, soups and many other delicious dishes. One of the features of the porcini mushroom is that it does not change its color during heat treatment.

Under natural conditions, boletus grow in moderately humid places with different levels of illumination, under deciduous (oak, birch, beech) or coniferous (pine and spruce) trees.

Self-cultivation of porcini mushrooms requires the creation of conditions that will be as similar to natural as possible. It is not so easy, it takes some effort and some patience to achieve the result. For example, it is much easier to grow oyster mushrooms - many do it even on the balcony.

Boletus mushrooms can be grown in two main ways:

1. outdoors (for example, in your summer cottage or personal plot);
2. in the premises.

The second method, which involves the creation of a completely artificial environment, requires more significant investments. However, with the right approach, they can certainly pay off.

Seed preparation

Whichever method of these two is chosen, first you need to prepare a special seed. And here you need to know a lot of subtleties. Fruit bodies of ordinary boletus mushrooms are suitable as raw materials. Moreover, if you want to grow them on a personal plot under an oak tree, then you need to take those porcini mushrooms that grow just under an oak tree. The need for such accuracy is due to the fact that the boletus interact quite closely with the trees next to which they are located.

In the harvested fruiting bodies, all the legs are detached from the caps. In the future, we only need hats, and even dried and wormy ones can be put into action. They need to be placed in a bowl of cold water (by the way, alcohol can be added to the water at the rate of 3 cups per 10 liters, this will further stimulate the germination of spores). In addition, you need to add 1 gram of potassium permanganate here and leave for a couple of hours.

Then sugar should be added to this bowl - 15-20 teaspoons per 10 liters of water. This is almost all - the mixture only needs to be infused in some heated room (if it's winter outside). The result is a liquid containing a large number of boletus spores.

Buying ready-made mycelium for growing

You can take an easier path and buy ready-made mycelium of porcini mushrooms in gardening stores. Foreign goods are considered the best in this market, but in any case, you should first buy a small trial batch.

When buying, be sure to specify:

• strain and variety;
• the rate of fouling;
• the resistance of this mycelium to mold;
• shelf life.

In addition, it does not hurt to talk to gardeners who have already grown boletus on their site - they will certainly give useful recommendations.

A good, high-quality mycelium should have a deep red color with small patches of yellow. If there are green and black spots on the mycelium, and a nasty ammonia smell emanates from the package, then the product is spoiled and cannot be used.

Advice

Purchased mycelium can be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature not exceeding +4 degrees Celsius. Here he can be kept for up to three months without any problems.

Correct preparation of substrates

Another important stage is the preparation of the substrate, that is, the mixture in which the porcini mushroom can grow. This substrate consists of sunflower husks, straw, deciduous sawdust, buckwheat, etc. But it should not contain mold and rotten pieces at all, otherwise it will not be possible to grow your own boletus crop on the site.

The substrate must be saturated with moisture before placing mycelium or spores into it. There are two methods for this - steaming and boiling. Regardless of the selected processing technology, the substrate must retain such a property as air permeability. During processing, the material can be left directly in plastic bags.

How to grow boletus in open spaces

Now let's figure out how porcini mushrooms are grown on a personal plot. Of course, there must be a suitable tree (or trees) in this area. And within a radius of one meter from this tree, the first step is to remove a layer of earth about 15 centimeters thick. Pour seed with spores onto the roots (which must never be damaged!). For every 25 square centimeters, about 350 milliliters of seed is needed. Then you need to fill everything back with earth and pour several buckets of water (it is better to pour along the trunk, carefully so as not to wash out the spores). The optimal sowing time when choosing this method is from mid-August to mid-September.

The mycelium (mycelium) must be planted differently on the site. To do this, a pit is pulled out, 30 centimeters deep and 1.5 square meters wide. A substrate is placed in it in layers of 10 centimeters - it is alternated with the ground in such a way that a 20 centimeters high bed is formed. It is worth, by the way, to provide it with sloping edges, this will allow moisture to drain off, and not stagnate.

In this case, it is necessary to plant myceliums in a checkerboard pattern, and the distance between them should be 30 centimeters or more. Then the garden bed needs to be watered and covered with foliage.

Advice

The optimal time for planting mycelium is late summer or early September, but it must be borne in mind that the harvest in this case will not be in the same, but only next year. And as soon as next summer comes, you need to remember about the mushroom garden and start watering it at least once every seven days.

Growing porcini mushrooms from mycelium on site is more difficult than growing from spores, but ultimately yields a higher yield per tree.

How to grow boletus indoors

The difficulty here lies in the fact that for planting it is necessary to prepare not only the substrate and seed, but also the room itself. This can be a basement of a house, a special greenhouse, or, for example, an ordinary barn.

The substrate material for planting mushrooms indoors must be boiled for 60-80 minutes without putting it out of standard plastic bags. Then you need to drain the water (for example, by making several holes in the bag) and put the substrate under something heavy. After cooling, it can already be taken to the room where the mycelium was prepared for planting (it is the purchased mycelium that is needed here, and not the self-prepared planting mixture) and where the mushrooms will subsequently grow. This room should be sterile, for which it should be treated with 1% chlorine solution.

When mixing mycelium and substrates, ventilation, if any, should be turned off so that the spores do not scatter. This procedure takes place as follows: the mycelium and the substrate are placed on a disinfected clean table and manually mixed. The weight of the planting material should be 3-5% of the weight of the substrate.

Then the already grafted substrate must be folded into whole bags - from 5 to 15 kilograms each. Moreover, the substrate should be tamped as tightly as possible. Then you need to make a few neat holes with a blade. Cuts are best done at a 45-degree angle, and each cut should be no more than 5 millimeters.

These bags must then be placed on the pre-prepared incubation shelves. There should be ventilation holes around the edges of each shelf. Air should circulate freely here, but only after the incubation period of the mycelium, which lasts three weeks.

In addition, there must be a distance of at least 5 centimeters between the bags. The comfortable temperature for growing boletus mushrooms is about +25 degrees. If the temperature exceeds +30, then the mushrooms can get heatstroke and not germinate.

Plus, the room should have high humidity (85 to 95 percent). And so that mold does not start in such conditions, every day you need to clean the room with a chlorine solution. Such difficulties, of course, scare off many potential breeders, and they prefer to either plant mushrooms on the site, or not plant at all. But in fact, the possible result may well more than recoup the effort expended, and quite a few people have already turned indoor mushroom cultivation into a good business.

Porcini mushrooms will begin to bear fruit for the first time about a month after planting.

Advice

To make the mushrooms dense and not watery, it is worth pouring water on the bags with a spray bottle once a day. And this water should have a temperature in the range from +10 to +25 degrees. To prevent moisture from stagnating, the room must be ventilated after watering.

The second fruiting time will come in another couple of weeks. In general, with proper care, porcini mushrooms grown in an enclosed space will produce a crop for six months continuously. Of course, some bags can get moldy, and they need to be taken out of the room on time, but throwing them out is not always important - they can be a good organic fertilizer.

So, the cultivation of porcini mushrooms can be carried out in several ways, each of which has its own difficulties and characteristics. You need to choose, of course, the one that will be easier to implement for you. Note that growing mushrooms in a personal plot or in a basement can be not only a pleasant hobby, but also a completely successful business. At least there is a demand for porcini mushrooms among the population.

White mushroom or boletus is rightfully considered the king of mushrooms. Those who like to feast on the juicy pulp of this forest dweller sometimes travel long distances to collect full baskets of boletus and then prepare delicious and aromatic dishes and preparations from them. But some gardeners prefer to grow this delicacy on their backyards. It's a troublesome business, but will this stop real experimenters and lovers of porcini mushrooms?

Growing porcini mushrooms at home

Description of porcini mushroom

The porcini mushroom belongs to the Boletaceae family and is a tubular mushroom. It is quite large in size: its thickened at the base, a dense leg, resembling a barrel, can stretch up to 25 cm in height and 10 cm thick, while its average size is up to 12 cm.Its color ranges from white to red-brown with white streaked.

1. The diameter of the convex cap is also amazing, sometimes reaching 50 cm (the average size is from 7 to 30 cm). The skin is smooth, less often wrinkled, during rains - smooth and slimy, during drought - matte.The color of the cap ranges from creamy white to brown, and the older the mushroom, the darker the shade of the cap.

   White mushroom with a brown cap

2. Juicy and fleshy pulp after cutting does not change color, remaining white-yellow. Although sometimes there are individuals in which the color of the pulp can change to a pink-blue hue.
3. White mushroom is superior in taste to other mushrooms and is rightfully considered one of the best. The pulp contains a huge amount of nutrients and beneficial trace elements.
4. The porcini mushroom is used for cooking fresh, pickled or dried dishes. At the same time, during cooking or drying, the pulp of the mushroom emits a pleasant mushroom aroma. In some countries, boletus is eaten without heat treatment, and sauces are also prepared from it.

Description of porcini mushroom

Unfortunately, these mushrooms are practically not grown on an industrial scale due to their unprofitability. Boletus lovers have to either travel through the forests or grow this delicacy on their own.

The habitat of porcini mushrooms is a coniferous and deciduous forest.

Conditions and place for growing

To grow boletus mushrooms on your own personal plot, you will have to work hard and create conditions close to natural nature.

Symbiosis	In the forest, the porcini mushroom is in close symbiosis with the trees that surround it. Most often it is spruce, oak, pine, birch
Age of trees	Most often, porcini mushrooms grow in the forest where the trees are more than 50 years old, although they can also be found in pine forests 20-25 years old.
Neighborhood with other mushrooms	Scientists have found that the porcini mushroom most often appears in the neighborhood of other representatives of this kingdom: green tea, chanterelle, green russula
Soil cover	Boletus respects the forest in which the soil cover is represented by mosses and lichens
Air temperature	The most comfortable air temperature for porcini mushrooms ranges from 15-18 degrees in August and 8-10 in September. Sudden temperature fluctuations are undesirable
Humidity	The largest boletus harvests are observed after short thunderstorms or foggy nights.
The soil	Ideal soil for porcini mushrooms - loam, sandy loam or sand with good drainage
Light	Boletus loves light, but sometimes (depending on other conditions) it can abundantly spread in shaded forest thickets.

Based on all this, those areas where there are adult coniferous or deciduous trees are best suited for growing porcini mushrooms. Oak, birch, pine groves are suitable for organizing plantations. The place should be well lit, sufficiently humid, but not waterlogged. Before planting mushrooms, it is worth removing nearby herbs such as ferns and hoofs.

Best suited for growing porcini mushrooms are those areas where there are adult coniferous or deciduous trees.

If the planting material was made by the gardener on his own, then it is important to choose the soil for planting the mushrooms near the tree from which the adult boletus parent came from.

Sowing mushrooms should be at the end of the summer season or in early autumn to mid-September.

Seed preparation

If you decide to grow porcini mushrooms from material collected in forests, that is, from porcini mushrooms that grow in their natural environment, then it is important to choose mature mature mushrooms for the preparation of planting material.

1. Collect mother mushrooms that grow under the same trees as in your area.
2. Choose those mushrooms where the spores in the caps are already ripe (about 10 caps measuring 10-20 cm). You can take wormy or dried hats.

   Found a wormy porcini mushroom? Do not rush to throw it out, it is better to make a suspension for planting out of it.

3. Prepare a weak solution of potassium permanganate at the rate of 1 g per bucket of rainwater.
4. Add 15 sugar lumps to it for a nutrient solution.
5. Mash the selected mushroom caps thoroughly until a smooth porridge.
6. Place the resulting material in the solution and leave for several hours.
7. Strain the resulting mixture - this way we get a suspension that contains the spores of the porcini mushroom.

Preparation of planting material

We will tell you about the methods of planting with the help of a suspension just below.

In the case of using such seed, you will be able to harvest the next crop no earlier than in a year, or even later.

Natural planting material can be made in another way. To do this, you should find an adult porcini mushroom in the forest and carefully cut off the soil with a layer of about 15 * 25 cm around it. The layer is divided into 8-20 small fragments and is laid in the soil in the garden bed.

Carefully cut off a layer of soil about 15 * 25 cm in size near the mushroom and get planting material

You can also grow porcini mushrooms at home from powdered mycelium, which is sold in stores.

Dry mycelium of porcini mushroom

Porcini mycelium

1. Choose a slightly shaded area under the trees and remove the top of the soil (30 cm) on an area of ​​about 3 square meters.
2. At the bottom of the pit, tree bark and fallen leaves are lined with a layer of about 10 cm.
3. It is also necessary to add humus or soil from under the trees.
4. Take powdered mycelium (20 g) and mix it with sand (1 L).
5. Sprinkle the mixture on the garden bed and cover with compost (layer about 3 cm).
6. The final stage is to cover it all with ordinary earth (a layer of about 4 cm).
7. Immediately after sowing, the bed is carefully watered, best of all with a drip method.

Such a bed will yield faster harvest and will delight you with porcini mushrooms for up to 5 years.

Sowing methods of mushrooms

Powdered mycelium purchased in a store is rarely used by mushroom growers as a planting material. Most often, they still prepare natural planting material, which they use in several ways.

Growing porcini mushrooms under birches

Method number 1. At a distance of about a meter from the selected tree on the site, carefully so as not to damage the root system of the plant, remove 15 cm of the top layer of soil. It is good if it turns out that the roots are slightly exposed. At the rate of 350 gr per ¼ sq.m. the roots are watered with the prepared suspension and then sprinkled on top with the previously removed soil. Now you need to moisten the garden bed - under each tree, carefully, so as not to wash off the future mycelium, pour up to 5 buckets of water.

For good mushroom growth, the soil must be moistened as it dries.

Please note: if the soil in the place chosen for planting is almost always wet by itself, then watering is carried out only during sowing. Additionally, the plantation is moistened only in case of severe drought.

Method number 2. To implement this method, a month before planting the mushrooms, it is necessary to prepare a special nutrient mixture. These are fallen oak leaves collected after winter, rotted oak wood (5%) and horse manure (5%). The components are laid out in layers (foliage alternates with manure and wood) and on top of the resulting heap is watered with ammonium nitrate (1%). After 7-10 days, this mass must be dug up to get a homogeneous substrate.

Ammonium nitrate for soil preparation for growing porcini mushrooms

Then we begin to prepare directly the ridge itself. A hole up to 30 cm deep and about 2 m wide is dug under the trees, where the resulting nutrient mixture is laid out in layers up to 12 cm. Each layer must be covered with a 10 cm layer of soil. In this case, the total height of the ridge will turn out to be about 50 cm. To avoid waterlogging, create a small elevation in the middle of the plantation.

On the surface of the prepared substrate, shallow pits are made in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of no more than 30 cm from each other, into which fragments of soil from under the porcini mushroom are either laid, or watered with a suspension and ground with a layer of up to 7 cm.

After sowing, the ridge is moistened and covered with fallen foliage.

Method number 3. The garden bed is prepared in the same way as in method # 2. Small dried pieces of the tubular part of the mushroom are placed in the substrate, opening a few centimeters.After 3-4 days, they are taken out, and the soil is slightly moistened. In this case, the harvest will appear next year.

The harvest of porcini mushrooms

Growing in a greenhouse

Porcini mushrooms can be grown in a greenhouse in any of the ways. To make the boletus feel comfortable in it, you should first prepare the room.

1. Use a material that does not allow light to shade a small area of ​​the greenhouse and place several containers of water there to create the necessary level of humidity.
2. Barrels can also be replaced with sawdust, which is periodically sprayed with water. This material retains moisture very well.
3. Do not forget about ventilation: the greenhouse is either ventilated or provided with a fresh air supply system.

Tips for growing mushrooms in a greenhouse

The mushroom beds in the greenhouse are prepared in the same way as in other methods. It is best to add a little forest soil to the garden soil.

Fertilizers and care

The porcini mushroom is a capricious comrade. Fruiting does not begin immediately, but, at best, after a year and requires special attention. You should not give up, even if all the waiting times have already passed: continue to maintain the necessary conditions in the beds - it is quite possible that the mushrooms will begin to bear fruit 2-3 years after planting.

Watering the garden is best done with a sprayer. Pay special attention to this procedure during a drought or trying to grow boletus in arid regions. On average, the frequency of watering is once every 7 days with 5-6 buckets of water.

On average, the frequency of watering porcini mushrooms is once every 7 days with 5-6 buckets of water

If the bed is located under a tree, then water is poured onto the trunk of the plant.

Fertilizing a porcini mushroom plantation is very good with coffee grounds. It accelerates their growth and protects them from midges, mold and diseases. To prepare top dressing, the grounds are mixed with natural ground coffee and a mineral complex is added. Fertilizer is applied at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. per square meter of the ridge.

Fertilize porcini mushroom plantation very well with coffee grounds

If the soil on the site dries out very quickly, then a little hydrogel is added to the soil in the garden bed with mushrooms.

Video - Growing porcini mushrooms

It is not necessary to go to the forest for whites, they can be grown on your site. Consider two methods of reproduction: from caps and mycelium. Details on how to independently obtain planting material, planting, care and advice for beginners.

Growing from mycelium

This method is used in the absence of natural mushrooms. Having the Internet, finding mycelium is not difficult. You will also need compost and growing 8-10 year old trees. Planting events are best planned between May and September.

Near the selected tree (coniferous or deciduous), remove the top layer in a circle (10-20 cm). The diameter of the bare area should be 1-1.5 meters, the tree is in the middle. Put compost (1-2 cm) into the formed circle and put mycelium on it. It is advisable to observe the "checkerboard pattern" with an interval of 25-30 cm. Now we cover the planting with a layer of soil, which we dug up and watered abundantly. Use a watering can so as not to wash out the soil. For one tree, 3-4 buckets of water will be enough.

The next step is a shelter that will keep moisture in the ground. You can use straw, old fallen leaves, or grass cuttings. The layer is made thick enough (20-30 cm). Care consists of regular watering and maintaining moisture, at the level of the planted mycelium, not lower than 50%. To improve germination, it is recommended to periodically use Baikal EM-1 for irrigation or any microbiological additives to improve fertility.

At the end of autumn, insulation will be required. The area with mycelium is covered with moss, straw, spruce branches. The radius should be larger than the landing area (2 m). In the spring, the "veil" is removed. The first mushrooms appear a year after the mycelium has been planted. In one place, fruiting lasts 3-4 years. This period can be extended to 7 years if you occasionally water the ground with a solution of mycelium.How to get it, read on.

Growing from fresh hats

A good seed will come from mature mushrooms. Therefore, go to the forest and look for white hats with large and open hats in diameter (10-20 cm). At the break, the tubular flesh should have a slightly greenish tint. In your case, insect larvae and wormy mushrooms are also suitable. On the site, as in the first method, you will plant near a deciduous or coniferous tree.

Seed preparation

Take 5-10 mushrooms intended for sowing, place in a bucket and cover with water. After a day they will become soaked, and you will just need to knead the mushrooms with your hands in the same bucket with your hands until smooth. After filtering through a sieve, you will get a solution with spores and separated mushroom tissue.

Sowing

A place near the selected tree is prepared in the same way as in the previous case. Planting will be carried out by watering. Only not over the entire prepared area, but directly on the open roots of the tree. The solution with spores should be enough for 1 sq. meter turned out to be 2 liters.

After such a "sowing", spread the mushroom tissue, which remained after straining, on the roots and adjacent ground. Now it remains to cover the planting with soil, which was removed, and water. The earth needs to be well saturated with moisture, so at least 5 buckets of water will go to one tree. When watering, do not wash out the top layer, so use a watering can with a fine spray. Now cover with plant material to retain moisture. Care is the same as when planting mycelium with regular watering. For the winter, a shelter is created only in the first year after planting.

In a year, if the mycelium is born, you will harvest the first crop. The area of ​​one tree will give up to 5 kg of white ones. The interval from planting to harvest is exactly one year, so keep in mind that if the caps are planted in the fall, then the harvest must be expected only in the fall of next year. One mycelium will bear fruit for 3-4 years. To prolong growth, it will be necessary to plant in 2-3 years.

Tips for beginner mushroom growers

Planting activities in the southern regions are best carried out in May-early June, in the middle zone of the temperate climate, in August-early September. When collecting "planting" mushrooms, try to find them under the same trees near which you plan to plant. If you have a spruce or birch on your site, then you are looking in the forest under such species.

Soaking the caps should occur no later than 10 hours after cutting the mushroom. You can add a little alcohol (10 l - 3 tbsp / l) or granulated sugar (10 l: 50 g) to the water with caps. The mycelium takes root better if the soil is spilled with a tanning solution before planting: brew 80-100 g of black tea in a liter of boiling water. You can prepare a decoction of oak bark: for 3 liters - 100 g. 2-3 liters of tanning water are consumed per tree.

It is not recommended to lay mycelium at the end of September, since the probability of mycelium survival is too low. Depending on your region, you need to calculate the interval from sowing to frost of 1.5 months. In hot weather, watering is required weekly, 3-4 buckets per area with mushrooms.

Due to its rich taste and delicate aroma, the porcini mushroom is considered the most valuable trophy from the "quiet hunt". However, not all gourmets like to wander through the forests in search of prey, but this delicacy is not cheap. However, there is a way out! Let's find out how to grow porcini mushrooms on your own plot.

How to prepare seed yourself

To grow mushrooms at home, you need to stock up on seed. To cook it yourself, you need to find overripe boletus in the forest (dried and wormy will do).

To obtain seed, you need about 10 caps. At home, separate them from the stalks and prepare a container of water. Alcohol (3 tablespoons per 10 liters), potassium permanganate (1 g per bucket) and granulated sugar (50 g) can be added to the water. Knead the caps in your hands and add them to the water to make a homogeneous mass.It should be infused for about 10 hours. Then strain it. Spores of fungi are contained in water, cake is not needed. Use the caps collected in the forest within a few hours, otherwise they will deteriorate. You cannot freeze them.

To grow boletus at home, you can use the mycelium brought from the forest: having found an adult mushroom in the forest, cut off a layer of earth around it about 25x25 cm. At home, you can completely lay the mycelium in the prepared soil, or divide it into 8–20 pieces.

Buying ready-made mycelium

Growing porcini mushrooms at home is possible with the help of a purchased mycelium. The mycelium of the porcini mushroom can be either dry or already germinated, placed in a substrate. If you intend to purchase it online, choose trusted and reliable suppliers. When buying directly, pay attention: the sprouted mycelium of porcini mushrooms should be red in color with small yellow blotches. The presence of black and green areas, as well as a strong smell of ammonia, indicate that the product is spoiled.

In open areas, planting the mycelium of porcini mushrooms should be carried out under a forest tree. The first harvest can be expected next year. Fruiting from the mycelium lasts on average 3-4 years, but if useful microorganisms (for example, "Baikal EM-1") are added to the water for irrigation, this period can be increased to seven years and, moreover, the yield can be increased.

Selection and preparation of the substrate

To grow mushrooms in the garden, you can use a purchased substrate or cook it yourself. To do this, you need to mix straw, sawdust of deciduous trees, sunflower husks. Other sources recommend alternating layers: one from a mixture of dead leaves with sawdust, the second from the same mixture with the addition of soil. It is important that none of the components contain rot and mold. Before planting mushrooms, the substrate must be properly moistened, and it is recommended to use boiling water or steam - this will kill harmful bacteria at the same time.

Growing features

First, decide where you will grow your crop: in the basement, greenhouse or on the site. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

First, let's look at how to grow a porcini mushroom on the site.

The cultivation of porcini mushrooms in a personal plot assumes the presence of coniferous or deciduous forest trees there. Fruit mushrooms will not work - you need to plant porcini mushrooms in the country away from any cultivated plants, be it trees, shrubs or vegetables.

Remove the top layer of earth (about 15 cm) around the selected tree. It is desirable that the roots are exposed at the same time, but in no case should they be damaged. If using a spore infusion, pour it on the ground (approximately 350 ml per 25 cm2). Then cover again with earth and water abundantly - either along the trunk or with shallow irrigation. In this way, you can plant a porcini mushroom in the country in August-September.

To plant mycelium, make a 1.5 sq. m in diameter and 30 cm deep. Place the substrate in it, alternating it with the ground in 10 cm layers. The height of such a bed should be 20 cm above ground level. Plant the mycelium in the substrate in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of 30 cm between the bags. Carefully water the garden bed, cover it with a layer of fallen leaves.

Planting mycelium can be carried out from May to September.

Caring for planted mushrooms consists mainly of abundant watering. For the winter, it is recommended to cover them with a thick layer of foliage, spruce branches or straw.

When growing mushrooms indoors, it must first be sterilized with a 1% chlorine solution, otherwise pests may start, including various types of mold and parasitic insects.

Growing mushrooms in a greenhouse or in a basement implies creating a warm and humid microclimate, since it will not work to grow many porcini mushrooms in dry air.In order for the greenhouse atmosphere to meet these requirements, it is recommended to install several barrels of water or wet sawdust there.

The substrate for the premises is the same as for open areas. In the basement, bags with small incisions are filled with them. Sowing is recommended with mycelium. The bags should be placed no closer than 5 cm from each other.

During the incubation period (until the caps appear), the temperature should be maintained at + 23–25 ° C; a temperature of +30 ° C will destroy most of the myceliums of the grown crop.

Lighting is not required at this time. In the greenhouse, it is advisable to muffle it as much as possible, in the basement it is simply not to turn it on. Airing is not necessary, but the humidity should not be more than 90%, so that mold does not start. Also, for its prevention, disinfection is periodically done with a chlorine solution.

Growing mushrooms need different care: when the caps appear, the temperature is lowered to +10 ° C. Now the greenhouse or cellar should be well ventilated - oxygen is necessary for the normal development of boletus. Lighting is required for 5-6 hours a day. To grow porcini mushrooms in a greenhouse, it must be muted, without direct sunlight. It is advisable to spray mushrooms from a spray bottle 2 times a day: this will make their structure denser. The first crop can usually be taken in 20-25 days.

Moldy bags must be removed from the premises immediately. Mushrooms cannot be grown on them, but they can become a good fertilizer.

Please note: boletus can hardly take root without trees, and the first attempts to grow in the basement may be unsuccessful. But if you intend to start breeding porcini mushrooms in this way, choose the Dutch mycelium: in Holland, a boletus variety was bred, which grows most easily "in captivity".

But having mastered all the subtleties, indoors you can get a harvest of mushrooms all year round or even start growing porcini mushrooms on an industrial scale: since growing boletus is more difficult than champignon or oyster mushroom, it is much more appreciated.

Mushroom picker tips

Finally - small secrets of mushroom growing.

When self-collecting the seed, the boletus that grew near the type of tree that is on your site will take root better. When physically transferring mycelium, their appearance must necessarily match.

It is recommended to disinfect the substrate or soil with a solution of tannins 2-3 hours before planting. It can be made from cheap black tea: 50-100 g is poured into 1 liter of boiling water and brewed until it cools completely. Another option is oak bark. It will need 30 g per 1 liter of water. The bark should be boiled for an hour, adding water to the original volume as it boils. Each "mushroom" tree needs 2-3 liters of one of these solutions.

Video "Self-cultivation of porcini mushrooms"

From this video you will learn how to grow porcini mushrooms on your site.