How to properly grow mushrooms at home?

Growing mushrooms in a private household, in dachas and even in apartments is becoming fashionable today. Firstly, in the store, mushroom products are not sold at a low price. Secondly, the homemade mushroom, grown without the use of unknown chemicals, is environmentally friendly and safe for consumption. Thirdly, mushroom growing can be made a profitable business, or at least a good source of additional income. Fourthly, it is a very interesting and exciting hobby. Take a substrate, put mycelium in it, create conditions. And it starts to grow like mushrooms.

Growing champignons at home for beginners

Before you start growing mushrooms

You need to think well and weigh your desire and capabilities on two scales. If they are at about the same level, it is worth the risk. Information for beginners: growing mushrooms at home is a more laborious process than growing oyster mushrooms. But less long-term and more effective than growing porcini mushrooms.

It will take certain costs for the purchase of materials, arrangement of the premises, as well as patience and certain skills. Provided that you already have a suitable room and you only need to create favorable conditions in it.

Premises

It should be moderately cool, such as a cellar or basement. If neither one nor the other is not present, it is difficult to advise anything. Perhaps a garage or greenhouse will do (during the cold season). In spring and early summer, before the onset of extreme heat, mushrooms can be grown without a room at all. The main thing is that the air temperature is not higher than + 20 ° С. Indoors, in the case of year-round cultivation, the temperature should be constantly maintained in the range of + 12 ° C ... 18 ° C, and the humidity should be in the range of 65-85%.

Premises for growing mushrooms

Substrate

The most important item on the list of prerequisites for the successful cultivation of mushrooms is the substrate (or, as it is also called for its composition, compost). The following composition is generally recognized as a fruitful compost option.

1. Horse or cow dung (or pork or bird droppings, which can be taken, but not desirable).
2. Straw.
3. Urea.
4. Superphosphate.
5. Gypsum.
6. Chalk.
7. Alabaster flour.

Substrate for growing mushrooms

Table. The proportions of the components for making compost from mullein or horse manure.

Table. The proportions of the components for the composting of poultry manure.

By the way! To cover a one square meter area with mushroom compost, you need compost made from 40 kg of straw base (the rest of the components, according to proportions).

Video - How to disinfect mushroom substrate

How to prepare compost

It is better to carry out this procedure in the air or, in extreme cases, in a regularly ventilated area. During the maturation of the compost in a heap, where the straw is layered with manure and watered with water, the heat can rise to + 70˚C. There is an intensive release of carbon dioxide, water and ammonia vapors into the atmosphere. Of course, a person should not breathe this mixture for a long time.

It is good to place the compost place in the sun (the higher the temperature inside this “puff cake”, the faster and better the compost will ripen). But it is worth providing shelter from rains, since heavy rain can wash out of the compost all the useful components necessary for the growth of future mushrooms.

Compost pit for preparing the substrate

Advice! If it is not possible to protect the compost heap with a canopy from atmospheric precipitation, cover it with roofing material or a thick film before the rain. Be sure to lift the film from the sides, leaving the sides open.

The straw for the substrate must be fresh, dry, free from mold and other defects. Before starting laying, the straw is soaked in a large tank of water for a day. If there is no such reservoir, spread the straw on polyethylene and water it abundantly several times a day, preventing it from drying out.

Laying the compost heap

Straw and manure prepared in this way begin to be laid in layers.

The first layer is straw. Then - manure or droppings.

Each layer of straw is sprinkled with ammonium nitrate, urea in the proportions indicated in the table.

Each layer of straw is watered abundantly with water.

In total, there should be at least 3-4 layers of straw and, accordingly, the same amount of manure.

You need to finish the laying with straw.

Water once again to keep the moisture content of the compost heap constant.

The heap must be at least one meter high. The length and width are arbitrary.

Preparing compost for cultivation
champignons

For a week, the multi-layered structure is basking in the sun. Then comes the moment of the first shaking up. The procedure is carried out with a pitchfork. Shaking up a compost heap is not easy. But they cannot be neglected, since for the speedy composting inside it is necessary to provide oxygen access.

During the first shaking, plaster of Paris is added. It will improve the structure of the compost.

The second shaking is carried out without waiting for the next week, 3-4 days after the first. This time superphosphate and chalk are added.

Important! If the pile is slightly dry in the sun, it is watered abundantly with water. It is impossible to dry out the compost, its formation will stop.

The third and fourth shaking is carried out in four consecutive days. After three weeks, the compost heap will lose its strong ammonia smell and will turn into a pleasant chocolate color. The straw in the compost will become soft and tear with your fingers.

Ready-made compost for growing mushrooms

High-quality compost substrate, completely ready to use, does not stick to the palm, bounces in the fist when squeezed, leaves a wet but not dirty mark on the skin.

Advice! If you overmoisten the pile, and moisture literally flows out of the compost during compression, it should be decomposed to dry (but not dry, but only reduce the humidity to 60%), adding half the rate of chalk.

The finished substrate is filled in racks, boxes or other containers where mushrooms will be grown. The temperature of the substrate must be lowered before the introduction of the mycelium.

Germination composting process

Preparation of the substrate for further planting of the mycelium

If you plan to grow mushrooms in a room specially designated for this enterprise, for example, on the earthen floor of the cellar, the compost is poured directly onto the floor, in a layer of 70 cm, forming beds with an area of ​​½ m² or 75x75 cm.

1. If in the basement you have equipped racks on which future mushroom crops will grow neatly, they must be equipped with bumpers, and then you can put the compost directly on the racks, with a layer of 45 cm.
2. If cultivation is supposed to be in boxes that can be stacked in the same basement or cellar (no more than two meters stack height), because the mushrooms do not need light for development, the compost is poured into boxes. Backfill layer - 25 centimeters
3. If you grow mushrooms in an open or greenhouse ground, the compost is rammed directly onto the surface of the ground, 25-30 cm high. The beginning of the laying is early spring, when the ground thaws. Sheds are made over the open ridge to protect from precipitation and sunlight that is too intense for shade-loving champignons.
4. The compost is well compacted by hand, the surface is carefully leveled.

Racks for champignons

Mycelium

After the preparatory work, the most important moment comes - planting the mycelium. Mushroom mycelium can be planted at a soil temperature of no higher than + 28 ° C at a depth of 5 cm.Check the temperature with a thermometer. This is important because exceeding even two degrees will kill the mycelium.

The planting material for growing champignons, like other cultivated mushrooms, is a sterile mycelium, which is grown in special laboratories. Champignons for cultivation in culture are selected in two varieties:

• double-sided white;
• double-cornered brown.

Champignon mycelium

There are no significant differences in their taste and nutritional value. The only difference is in the color of the mushroom, according to the name, white or brown. Sell ​​mycelium or mycelium in bags or jars. Packing is usually 1-2 kg. The mycelium of both varieties is grown in two ways - on manure and on cereals.

The first, dung mycelium, will be needed for planting 500 g per m² of area. Grain - not less than 100 g.

Planting mycelium

The dung mycelium is a fairly monolithic lump, which, before planting, must be divided by hand into small pieces, half a matchbox in size.

1. The mycelium prepared in this way is laid out on a large tray in one layer. In the ground, a part of the upper layer is lifted with a wedge-shaped peg so that a piece of mycelium can be laid there.
2. Planting is staggered with a cell distance of 20 cm.
3. Part of the mycelium is covered with a substrate, no more than 3 cm thick.

Compost overgrown with mushroom mycelium

Grain mycelium is an ordinary grain on which the spores of the fungus are planted. It is sown in the same way as you would sow any cereal.

1. The top layer of compost, 3 cm wide, is removed from the ridge or box.
2. "Mushroom grains" are randomly scattered over the surface.
3. The compost is poured back and slightly pressed down so that there is no void between it and the grains.

Grain mushroom mycelium

By the way! Wild mushroom mycelium is also suitable for growing homemade champignons. If you find a place where mushrooms grow, take a closer look at the soil. A land riddled with a web of whitish-gray mushroom spores is a good starting point for your mushroom plantation.

Champignon plantation care

After you have landed, the room temperature is kept high. This is a prerequisite - the germination of mycelium will not begin at below + 24 ° C and above + 26 ° C. At this time, at the initial phase of mycelium growth, do not expect immediate "shoots". Champignons are not vegetables. They grow deeper into the soil, gaining ground and forming the future harvest. At low temperatures, growth is insufficient, at high temperatures - weak formation of the fruiting body.

Rules for harvesting champignons at home

The moisture content of the compost must be constantly maintained in the range of 55-60%. As soon as it dries up, the mycelium "freezes" and stops growing. The compost is moistened superficially, from the sprayer, so that the water does not flood the mycelium, otherwise it will become moldy and die

It will take 12 days to grow deep into the mycelium. After that, the temperature in the room will definitely decrease. Either the heating is turned off, or the transoms and ventilation openings are opened - all methods are good to reduce the temperature to + 18 ° С… 20 ° С.

By this time, it is necessary to prepare the soil for backfill. Up the mycelium will no longer grow on compost, but from nutrient soil of the following composition:

• sod land;
• loam;
• sandy loam;
• fine-structured peat soil.

Any of the listed structural types will work. The main thing is that the soil is not heavy. To add "airiness" and ensure the penetration of air to the spores of the fungus, the soil is sieved on a coarse sieve.

Agricultural practices and terms of their implementation when growing mushrooms

Before backfilling, the soil is moderately moistened. And cover them with a layer of compost 3-4 cm.

Further, caring for the mushrooms is simple.

Maintaining the temperature within the specified limits. - + 16 ° С ... 18 ° С, plus - minus two more permissible degrees.

Maintaining humidity in the range of 65-85% (air) and not higher than 60% - of the earth layer.

Daily intensive ventilation of the room to remove accumulated carbon dioxide.

You can collect the first homemade mushrooms from your own plantation already on the 35-40th day. One fruiting cycle lasts about two months.

Agricultural practices and terms of their implementation when growing mushrooms (continued)

Despite all the seeming difficulties and conventions, the cultivation process, starting from the moment the compost is prepared, takes no more than four months. For two months of fruiting, the crop can be harvested 6-7 times. From 5 to 10 kg of mushrooms are collected from a meter of a square ridge. The next crop ripens after 5 days.

Harvesting champignons

Important! Mushrooms must be collected at a stage when the film between the stem and the cap is not damaged and connects them tightly. Opened mushrooms with darkened (for white varieties) plates and damaged film, the remnants of which can only be seen on the stem, it is better not to eat

Champignons are not cut with a knife when they are collected. The mushrooms are twisted with a gentle movement of the hand. The holes formed after collection are sprinkled with soil and slightly moistened.

Video - Growing champignons at home (part 1)

Video - Growing champignons at home (part 2)

Video - Harvesting champignons

Champignons are quite common mushrooms. They are massively grown for use in the food industry, particularly in cooking. Entrepreneurs build their business on their breeding, which brings good income. But experienced farmers prefer home-grown mushrooms. Read about this in the article.

What is included in the soil?

Is it possible to grow champignons at home? Of course, this is within the power of a farmer or owner of a private backyard without any experience. The main thing is to stock up on knowledge in this matter and clearly follow the instructions. The most time consuming process in mushroom cultivation is soil preparation. For a mycelium area of ​​three square meters, 100 kilograms of herbal ingredients will be required, which include the following:

• Straw.
• Cereal grains, you can use rye or wheat.
• Fallen leaves of plants.
• Tops from tomatoes or potatoes.

In addition, the composition of the soil should include:

• Horse or cow manure in the amount of half a centner.
• Water - 300-400 liters.
• Urea and superphosphate in an amount of two kilograms each.
• Plaster - seven to eight, and chalk - five kilograms.

You can prepare a different formulation using poultry droppings. Other ingredients and their quantity are taken here:

• Litter and straw - centered.
• Water - 300 liters.
• Gypsum, alabaster - as in the previous composition.
• Urea is two kilograms.

Composting process

First you need to make a collar with the same dimensions (one and a half meters) in width, length and height. It is with this ratio of parameters that combustion will properly occur. The compost will mature in two to three weeks.

How to grow mushrooms at home? First, you need to plant them in soil, which is prepared as follows: all components of plant origin and straw must be soaked for a day. At the same time, they and manure should be laid in layers, and the straw should be watered abundantly. The components contained in the pile must be thoroughly mixed and moistened once a week to ensure proper combustion. At the first mixing, crushed lime is added to the compost. Second time - superphosphate. Then mixing is carried out with the addition of crushed gypsum or alabaster. Each time after mixing, the resulting stack is covered with foil.

It should be borne in mind that during the preparation of the soil, an unpleasant odor will be emitted, similar to ammonia and carbon dioxide. Therefore, it is better to do cooking on the street. But at the same time, protection from sunlight and precipitation is needed. If you organize the process indoors, it should be well ventilated.

How to grow champignon mushrooms at home? To do this, you need to take into account important points, without which this process is impossible. First of all, a stock of compost is made, since it is necessary in a large volume to grow mushrooms. During its preparation, the temperature can reach from 53 to 70 ° C. When the combustion process is over, the thermometer will drop to 21-25 ° C, and the unpleasant odor will disappear. The finished soil has an elastic structure and a brown color. It does not stick to your hands, the straw can be easily torn apart.

How to lay out the compost correctly?

When the preparation of the soil is completed, they proceed to another procedure - laying it. First you need to select containers in which the mushrooms will be grown. They can be racks, wooden boxes, plastic containers, bags. The compost mass is laid out in prepared containers in a layer, the height of which should not exceed 22 cm.

Mycelium types

The seed of mushrooms is called mycelium. It is grown at home or in laboratories. There are two types of mycelium:

• Compostable - this type of seed is stored for a long time at zero temperature, for about a year. For an area of ​​one square meter, 500 g of mycelium will be required.
• Grain - this composition is more effective than the first. Seed material of this type germinates better and gives large yields. Its consumption for the same area is less, only 330-350 g. But this mycelium has a significant drawback: a short shelf life. Only half a year its properties are preserved. Keep the seed in the refrigerator.

How to grow mushroom mycelium at home?

If the mushrooms are grown commercially, it is better to buy planting material. But some are embarrassed by the conditions in which it was grown, and therefore they do it on their own. To obtain the material, you need to sow spores or isolate it from the fruit bodies, and then place it in a specially prepared medium: wort agar. Its preparation is carried out according to the following technology:

• First you need to mix beer wort (one liter) and agar-agar (20 g) with boiling water.
• After dissolving the ingredients, the composition is poured into test tubes for a third of them. Then the containers are plugged with cotton swabs and placed in an autoclave with a temperature of 101 ° C and 1.5 atmospheres for 30 minutes.
• The test tubes are placed not straight, but obliquely, so that no more than 3.5 cm remains to the plugs. Now it remains to wait until the wort hardens.
• After that, spores or a piece of the fruiting body must be added to the test tubes, while maintaining sterility.
• Containers should be kept in a thermostat or dark room at a temperature of 24 ° C until they are overgrown. In a couple of weeks, the nutrient medium will be assimilated by the myceliums. This means that they are completely ready for landing.

Usually this composition is used by mushroom pickers to grow mycelium at home, although there are also substitutes: oat agar, carrot agar.

Correct mushroom cultivation technology

Mushrooms can be grown at home using mycelium. To do this, you need to plant it correctly, and in the room you need to correctly select the temperature and humidity mode. If these conditions are met, the first harvest can be obtained in a year.

If grain mycelium is the planting material, grooves 30 cm deep and 50-60 cm wide should be made in the soil. The distance between the pits should be 20 cm. In order for the temperature to normalize, you need to leave them for two to three days and only then lay the mycelium. A checkerboard pattern is used to locate the body of the mushroom.

If compost mycelium is used for planting champignons, the technology is different. The bottom of the small pits is covered with drainage. Compost is placed on top, in which the mycelium is placed. After that, the planting material is closed by it. Subject to all the rules, taking into account the high-quality mycelium, after seven days, you can expect the appearance of new branching threads.

After 21 days, you need to lay out moist soil on top of the beds 25-30 cm thick. If the layer is larger, the bodies of the mushrooms will be blocked, their germination will not occur soon.

In order to maintain the temperature regime in the room where the mushrooms are grown, it is necessary to temporarily install sheds or cover the ground with straw. If a white bloom appears on the compost, it means that it needs to be moistened. After watering the soil, the canopy or straw is removed.

The first harvest will not take long, only 45 days. You need to pick mushrooms as soon as they ripen, since the yield period is short, only three to four days. The next fruiting period should be expected in three to four months. The harvests of the first waves are the richest.

Champignons in bags

How to grow champignon mushrooms at home? There are many possibilities for this. Each courtyard has outbuildings and basements. They are adapted for growing mushrooms. However, you can grow mushrooms at home in plastic bags. This method has been used in many countries for a long time. It allows you to get large volumes of mushroom harvest.

Bags can be made by yourself from a transparent polymer film of various capacities. For growing at home, 25 kg are more suitable. But the main criterion for choosing bags is the convenience in performing work on growing mushrooms. And for it to be successful, you need to correctly arrange the bags in the room. This is done in a variety of ways, but the most common are the following:

• According to the principle of chess arrangement. With this method, the usable area is not used only by 10%.
• Parallel bag placement. In this case, the area loss is even greater - 20%.

This can be compensated for by deep bags, which are filled with more substrate. And the space between the unusual beds is used for air circulation. There are different options for how to grow mushrooms at home. If everything is done in compliance with the technology, you can achieve an excellent result.

Harvest in bags

The mushroom picking time is the most enjoyable time. The mushrooms ripen four months after planting the mycelium in the soil of the bag. When harvesting, you need to be very careful: you cannot cut off the mushrooms with a sharp blade or other object, they need to be twisted. After that, the mycelium is sprinkled with a nutritious substrate and watered using a spray bottle. It will bear fruit for two weeks.During this period of time, the mushrooms are harvested in two to three days. It is advisable to use fresh, not frozen mushrooms for food. Mushrooms with light plates inside the cap are useful. If the mushrooms are old, then they will have a brown color, as these mushrooms accumulate toxic substances that can be poisoned.

Benefits of growing mushrooms in bags

These mushrooms are unpretentious, they can grow in an open-air garden bed or indoors. But experienced mushroom pickers prefer to grow them in bags, since this method has a number of advantages:

• Pests and various diseases do not spread to the entire area, since if the need arises, you can always remove a specific bag from the room.
• Thanks to the mobility of the unusual bag-shaped beds, mushrooms can be grown seasonally and continuously.
• During placement, bags can be placed in several tiers on special stands. This will save space. This is especially important when growing indoors.
• The cost of polyethylene bags is lower than plastic containers. This is important when growing mushrooms in large quantities.

The disadvantage of this technology is the use of manual labor. But if the scale of cultivation is small, it is not burdensome.

Champignons in the basement

It is convenient to grow mushrooms in such a place, since there is a stable microclimate in the basement located under the ground. Here, the labor costs for creating optimal conditions for cultivating champignons are much less than, for example, in greenhouses. It is not difficult to grow mushrooms at home in the basement, the main thing is to monitor the temperature and humidity conditions. During the incubation period, the air humidity should be 75%, not lower. If the basement is dry, use a humidifier. It is important to know that spores are activated at a higher temperature - from 24 to 28 ° C, and fungi germinate when it drops to 16 ° C. The basement must meet the following requirements:

• Have concrete walls.
• Wooden flooring is strictly prohibited. The floor needs to be concreted, in extreme cases - to cement it.
• There must be ventilation in the basement.
• To prevent fungi from damaging insects that can enter the basement, the ventilation holes are closed with nets.
• Walls with ceilings should be disinfected. For this, you can use lime.
• If the basement is large, it must be divided into zones: for the incubation period and for obtaining fruit bodies.

How to properly grow mushrooms at home in the country?

Growing mushrooms in this way is much more difficult than, for example, in a basement. Here, the choice of a site for planting mycelium is of great importance. How to grow mushrooms at home? To do this, you need to find a place that is always in the shade, and the soil never dries up. A canopy is being erected over the site or a darkened greenhouse is erected at this place. How mushrooms are grown at home (photos are presented in the article)? The mycelium is planted using standard technology. For champignons, an important condition for growth is the correct temperature and humidity. These indicators should be maintained, especially since the mushrooms categorically do not tolerate heat. The choice of substrate is equally important. It should contain large amounts of nutrients and small amounts of carbon dioxide. The best option is land, which must be brought from the forest in advance.

Growing champignons in an apartment

This method is suitable for those who do not have a summer cottage or vegetable garden. The main task for such cultivation of mushrooms is to create optimal conditions under which they will grow and bear fruit normally. An example of how to grow champignons at home is presented step by step below:

• The first thing to do is to isolate any room in the apartment for growing mushrooms from those rooms in which people live.
• Measure moisture.It should be high, about 90%. If its readings are lower, you need to install a humidifier.
• To maintain the optimum temperature, the room is equipped with heaters and ventilation. With their help, the temperature regime will be maintained. It should be borne in mind that mycelium germinates at 20 ° C, and fruiting bodies - at 15 ° C.
• After preparing the room, the selected containers are filled with the substrate.
• Mycelium is planted in them, covered with a film on top, which must be removed after the appearance of the fungi.
• The soil is constantly moistened, it must not be allowed to dry out.
• When the time comes, the mushrooms should be harvested.

Champignons today have become the kind of mushroom that is available for growing at home. The time between planting the mycelium in the substrate and obtaining the first fruits is minimal. No special conditions are required for mushroom cultivation. It is enough just to provide a cool room with high air humidity. A basement or cellar is fine.

Champignons can be grown both for personal use and for sale. But it is important to know that the substrate for their growth when wet exudes a rather strong odor. It is not advisable to keep it in a residential area.

Where and on what do mushrooms grow?

The very first and most important step in the successful cultivation of mushrooms is the correct preparation of the substrate. It must be prepared with high quality in compliance with all stages.

The mushroom substrate consists of:

• 25% compost (wheat and rye straw)
• 75% horse manure

There is experience in growing champignons based on chicken manure or cow dung, but you should not expect a high yield in this case.

The substrate is prepared in an open space on the street or in a well-ventilated room, since ammonia, carbon dioxide and moisture will be released during its fermentation. Additional additives per 100 kg of substrate are:

• 2 kg of urea
• 2 kg superphosphate
• 5 kg of chalk
• 8 kg of plaster

As a result, we get almost 300 kg of the finished substrate. With such a mass, you can fill a mycelium with an area of ​​3 square meters. m.

If a decision is made to prepare compost based on chicken manure, then the proportions will be as follows:

• 100 kg of straw
• 100 kg of litter
• 300 l of water
• Gypsum
• Alabaster

The procedure for preparing the substrate is as follows.

1. Straw is soaked in a large, spacious container.
2. The straw is laid in alternating layers with manure. There should be 3 layers of straw and 3 layers of manure.
3. Straw in the process of laying in layers is moistened with water. Three layers of straw (100 kg) will take about 300 liters.
4. During the laying of the layers, urea (2 kg) and superphosphate (0.5 kg) are gradually added in small portions.
5. Mix thoroughly.
6. Add chalk and the remainder of superphosphate, gypsum.

The resulting substrate is left to undergo the decay process. In this case, the temperature in the mixture will rise to 70 degrees. After 21 days, the compost will be completely ready for further use.

Planting material

When purchasing planting material, you should not save. Therefore, they acquire only the highest quality mycelium (mycelium). It must be grown under special laboratory conditions. Today mycelium producers present two types of planting material:

• Compost mycelium
• Grain mycelium

Grain mycelium is produced in plastic bags. Store it for about 6 months at a temperature of 0 to 4 degrees. Grain mycelium is used at the rate of 0.4 kg per 100 kg of substrate (mycelium area is 1 sq. M).

Compost mycelium is sold in glass containers. Its shelf life depends on the temperature. At zero degrees, it can last for about a year, but if the temperature is at 20 degrees, then the mycelium must be used within 3 weeks. Compost mycelium is used at the rate of 0.5 kg per 1 square meter of substrate. Its yield is much lower than that of grain.

A properly prepared substrate will surely spring when pressed.Before placing mycelium into it, it must undergo a pasteurization (heat treatment) process. After heating, the substrate cools down to 25 degrees. A mycelium of 1 square meter is laid with about 100 kg of substrate with a layer of about 30 cm.

Planting mycelium and caring for mycelium

They take a piece of mycelium the size of a chicken egg and burrow it into the substrate by about 5 cm. Each portion of mycelium is placed at a distance of 20 cm from each other. A staggered arrangement is used for landing.

Another method involves uniform distribution (dusting) of the entire surface of the substrate with mycelium. You also need to deepen by no more than 5 cm.

Further actions are to provide the necessary conditions for the engraftment and germination of the mycelium. Air humidity should be kept at around 90%. The substrate must also be kept moist at all times. To prevent it from drying out, the myceliums can be covered with sheets of paper. Watering the substrate is carried out through the paper. An important condition for mycelium engraftment is a constantly maintained substrate temperature at a level of 22 to 27 degrees. Any temperature deviations from the norm must be adjusted immediately.

The germination time of the mycelium is approximately 7 to 14 days. After this period, the substrate needs to be sprinkled with a casing layer of soil about 3 cm. It is prepared independently from one part of sand and nine parts of peat. About 50 kg of casing layer will be consumed per square meter of mycelium.

The covering layer is kept on the substrate for three days, then the air temperature in the basement or cellar is reduced to 15-17 degrees. The cover soil is moistened with a spray bottle, and the room is constantly ventilated. Drafts are not allowed.

Harvesting

The process of self-cultivation of champignons in a cellar or basement is not too complicated and time-consuming. The period from planting to harvesting the first crop is 120 days. Only those mushrooms in which the plates under the cap are not yet visible are suitable for eating. Those mushrooms that are large are overripe, and dark brown plastics are forbidden to be used for food. They can cause poisoning.

The mushroom must not be cut, but carefully plucked with a twisting motion. The resulting depression is sprinkled with a covering substrate and moistened.

The mycelium will bear fruit for about 2 weeks. The number of crops harvested during this period is 7. Up to 14 kg of crop is harvested from one square of the area.

Growing mushrooms in bags

For growing champignons in large volumes for sale through retail chains I use polymer bags. This method has received its recognition in many countries. With its help, a large harvest is obtained.

1. For the manufacture of the bag, a polymer film is used. The capacity of each bag varies from 25 to 35 kg.
2. The bags should be of just such a volume so that it is convenient to work with them. In addition, the correct arrangement of the bags affects the number of mushrooms grown. They are usually staggered or parallel.
3. So when installing bags with a diameter of about 0.4 m in a staggered arrangement, only 10% of the usable area will be lost, while their arbitrary installation gives losses of up to 20%.
4. The height and width of the bags may vary. You need to proceed from their conditions and convenience of work, as well as the physical capabilities of the basement (cellar).

The method of growing mushrooms in bags is less costly, since they do not require specially mounted shelves or containers to place them. If it becomes necessary to use the area of ​​the room as efficiently as possible, then a multi-tiered system can be created for the location of the bags. The advantage of this method also lies in the speed of dealing with emerging diseases or pests.The infected bag can be easily removed from healthy neighbors and destroyed, while if the mycelium is infected, it will have to remove its entire area entirely.

It is important to remember that growing mushrooms is a rather laborious process. If champignons are grown for sale, then it is impossible to do without the use of agricultural machinery to facilitate the work of the workers.

Experienced mushroom pickers can list a large number of methods they have tested for growing mushrooms on their own in a basement (cellar). Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main thing is adherence to the cultivation technology, strict adherence to all instructions and requirements. The result is the achievement of the desired result and obtaining a rich harvest of mushrooms.

How to grow mushrooms at home (at home)

Mushrooms are not only a healthy and nutritious product, but also very tasty. Therefore, since ancient times, they have been used to prepare various dishes. Soups, stews, salads, pates, snacks and much more are made from mushrooms. Of course, you want to pamper yourself with such delicacies all year round. Then home-grown mushrooms come to the rescue. This option is suitable for those who do not like to go to the forest, stock up for the winter, or simply prefer to eat fresh. Since champignons are the most common mushrooms, in this article we will consider the question of how to grow champignons at home.

Useful properties of champignons

Excellent aroma, piquant taste - this is how you can describe champignons in a few words. However, these mushrooms are distinguished not only by their excellent taste, but also by useful properties. So, what are mushrooms rich in, what is their composition?

1. Protein. An important component through which cells are renewed and built.
2. Various amino acids. They have a beneficial effect on many functions of the human body, which include thought processes and memory. It turns out that if you know how to grow mushrooms at home, you can provide yourself with a year-round supply that makes our head work.
3. Vitamins A, B, C, D.
4. Phosphorus. Since mushrooms are rich in this element, they can easily replace fish if you don't like it.

You can also use the juice of these mushrooms as an antiseptic for quick healing of cuts, wounds and ulcers. These are the most basic beneficial properties that champignons have.

Conditions for growing mushrooms

The technology for growing champignons presupposes the observance of some important conditions.

1. Lack of sunlight.
2. Moderate warmth. It is important to observe the temperature regime, the drops are extremely undesirable when growing mushrooms.
3. Uniform and good ventilation.
4. High humidity.
5. A specific microclimate required at every stage of mushroom growth.

To meet these conditions and successfully grow mushrooms, special equipment may be required. We will return to this issue later, but for now we will consider the places most suitable for growing mushrooms.

Places for growing mushrooms

As mentioned above, several conditions must be met in order to achieve successful year-round mushroom cultivation. At home, a basement, cellar, balcony or garage can be a suitable place, while mushrooms are planted in boxes or pallets.

Champignons are very unpretentious mushrooms, so they can be grown even outdoors in garden beds or in greenhouses. But in this case, it will be possible to harvest the crop only in the warm season.

How to grow champignons in the garden?

It is good to grow mushrooms in the garden, since they will be in the fresh air. But in the open field it is more difficult to create the necessary conditions for champignons, and this must be taken into account, therefore it is better to cover them with a tarpaulin or make a canopy, a greenhouse. It will be great if there is the most humid and shaded place on your site.Compost is spread on the garden bed, and then everything is done the same as when growing mushrooms at home.

Inventory for growing mushrooms

1. Mushroom mushrooms. Of course, nothing will work without her. Therefore, you first need to decide where to buy the mushroom mycelium.
2. A place to grow. The options have already been listed above. Most often, the basement is preferred, since it is there that it is easiest to create suitable conditions.
3. Shelving. They can be anything: iron or wooden. It doesn't matter: the boxes of mushrooms won't be heavy.
4. Capacities where mushrooms will be planted. For this, you can use, for example, boxes, pallets, baskets.
5. Fans. Suitable for ventilation and temperature reduction.
6. Hygrometer. Needed to monitor the humidity in the room. The optimal indicator is from 50 to 80 percent.
7. Thermometer for temperature control. It should be between 12 and 20 degrees Celsius.
8. Substrate. Let's consider how to compose it correctly.

Substrate for growing mushrooms

This is considered the most difficult stage in mushroom cultivation. A poor harvest may result if the substrate is not compiled correctly. So how should you compose it?

For the substrate, you will need mushroom compost, which includes: manure and straw from rye or wheat. Horse manure will yield high yields, but cow or bird droppings can also be used. It will be a plus if you add fallen, not rotten leaves and some organic waste, since mushrooms are very "gluttonous". Also, beet tops, sunflower seed shells, urea, chalk, gypsum, bone meal, bran and superphosphate are used as nutritional components. When compiling the substrate, the following proportion is observed: 75% manure and 25% compost.

How to grow champignons at home in a small area of ​​1.5 square meters? You can use the following compost formula.

1. Straw - 50 kilograms.
2. Urea and superphosphate - 1 kilogram.
3. Gypsum - 4 kilograms.
4. Chalk - 2.5 kilograms.
5. Manure - 150 kilograms.

In total, a little more than 200 kilograms of substrate will turn out.

The straw must first be soaked for a day, then lay it in layers with manure. It is better to moisten each layer of straw with urea and superphosphate. Then everything is mixed and other nutritional components are already introduced. The substrate should now be infused for about 20 days. We can talk about complete readiness when the unpleasant smell of ammonia disappears.

It is not necessary to stick to this formula, there are other recipes for how to grow mushrooms at home.

When compiling the substrate, you need to be prepared for the fermentation process to begin, which is accompanied by the specific smells of ammonia and carbon dioxide, so it is better to do this not indoors, but in the fresh air. The compost should be covered with a canopy to protect it from rain and sunlight.

Planting mushroom mycelium

At home, it is better to grow sterile myceliums obtained in laboratories. They take root more easily and multiply faster. Mushroom mushrooms come in different varieties, one type is consumed more, the other - less. So, for 1 square meter of substrate, 400 grams of grain mycelium will be required, and manure - 500 grams.

When you have decided on the amount of consumables and bought it, you can proceed to direct disembarkation. First, you should measure the temperature of the substrate, the most optimal for the mushroom mycelium is considered to be a mark of about 25 degrees.

So how to grow champignon mushrooms? The holes are recommended to be staggered at a distance of 20-30 centimeters from each other. The mycelium needs to be broken into small pieces and planted to a depth of 5 centimeters. The grain variety can be simply laid on the surface.

Care for mushroom mycelium after planting

After replanting the mycelium, the conditions mentioned above must be observed. This is high humidity and moderate heat. Moreover, these conditions must be met not only indoors, but also in the substrate. To keep it constantly moist, you can cover it with a newspaper and spray it from time to time - then the compost will not be dry.

After about a week, the mycelium will begin to grow, then the substrate should be sprinkled with soil on top by 3-4 centimeters. The technology for growing mushrooms suggests that during this period it is necessary to slightly lower the temperature of the substrate to about 20 degrees, and indoors - to 12-17 degrees. Do not forget about good ventilation in the room, however, drafts should not be allowed. In principle, that's all the care of the mycelium.

Harvesting champignons

It is not enough to know how to grow champignons at home; harvesting also has its own nuances.

With good care, champignons bear fruit in waves for up to two months, during which time you can get mushrooms many times. You can start harvesting the first crop after 30 days.

Champignons are not cut like wild mushrooms, but are twisted out of the substrate. Then the empty hole is sprinkled with earth and moistened to create conditions for the emergence of a new crop. Not all mushrooms are picked, but only "ripe" ones - these are those that have a stretched white film under the cap that connects the leg and the edges of the cap, and the plate has a pale pink color. It is not recommended to eat champignons with brown plates. If the film is broken, then the mushroom is considered old. This should not be allowed, as it greatly depletes the mycelium.

Growing champignons - a business idea

The cultivation of champignons was popular in the 18th century in European countries and not only, most often in Italy, France, America, Germany, Sweden, England and Belgium. In Russia, home production of these mushrooms began only in the 19th century, because our forests are already rich in edible gifts of nature.

Today mushroom cultivation is a profitable business. If you make simple mathematical calculations, then in one year you can get up to 6 harvests. Of course, there will be additional costs for equipment, electricity and heating. But in general, you can get a good income from the sale of champignons, you just need to know to whom to constantly sell the harvest.

It is not surprising that today such a niche as mushroom cultivation is already occupied by entrepreneurs, because these mushrooms bear fruit abundantly, they are easy to grow, and the necessary raw materials (in fact, waste) can be purchased almost for free. Of course, you can try to break into this business, but you will have to work hard to get a solid profit from it in the first months.

Now you know how to grow mushrooms at home, and what equipment is required for this. You can start production on a large scale, or you can plant these mushrooms for yourself, for your soul, to feast on them all year round. In any case, growing champignons is not difficult and even interesting.