Champignons can be grown for humus because they

Champignon and all saprophytic mushrooms feed on ready-made organic and mineral substances, which, with the help of the mycelium located underground, it extracts from semi-decomposed plant and animal remains. The fruiting body of the champignon, which we eat, is a reproductive organ, since the spores of the fungus are formed here - as it were, its seeds, and from them, under favorable conditions, multicellular filaments germinate - hyphae, which create mycelium in the soil. This is how a closed cycle of fungus development turns out: spore - mycelium - fruit body - spore.

However, champignon also has the ability of vegetative reproduction - from pieces of pre-expressed planting material - mycelium. This very important property is just used in mushroom growing, since in practice they usually resort to vegetative - more reliable and productive - reproduction.

Mass production of champignons is a well-established and well-established process. they can be bred not only in well-equipped industrial mushroom houses, but also amateurishly - in homemade mushroom, basements of houses, or even just in the beds.

Many people naively believe that it is enough to sow a ridge of cow dung in open ground without any cover, or even just scatter mycelium in a raspberry grove and champignons will begin to bear fruit from year to year. They believe and do so. Disappointment soon sets in, and the enthusiasts of these mushrooms turn into their opponents.
Is champignon culture beneficial? From 100 kg of straw and 100 kg of poultry manure, compost can be made for growing these mushrooms on an area of ​​3 m2. Their total collection per turn will be 45 kg.

Cultivating champignons, mushroom growers get the opportunity to use the heat generated by the overheating compost with a temperature of 45-60 ° C for 25-30 days to grow flower or tomato seedlings at the end of April and in May. After harvesting, the compost can be used for fertilization.

Champignons are a high-yielding culture. even with one turnover, mushroom picking will be 3-4 times higher than picking vegetables from the same area. Besides. mushrooms do not require a "place in the sun" - they grow without light. A strip of land adjacent to the northern side of the building is allocated for these mushrooms.

Rice. Semi-basement and shelters for growing mushrooms (dimensions are in cm):
a - the internal structure of the semi-basement (1 - wooden fasteners; 2 - overlapping from a plank; 3 - a layer of insulation; 4 - a layer of soil; 5 - an exhaust pipe; 6 - a damper);
b - shelter of ridges laid on the surface (1 - frame covered with tar paper or film; 2 - ridge; 3 - frame);
c - shelter of ridges laid in a trench (1 - groove for water drain; 2 - asbestos-cement slab; 3 - timber; 4- bricks; 5 - substrate)

At different stages of their development, mushrooms need different growing conditions. After planting the mycelium in the soil (compost), no watering of the ridge during the entire time (about a month) of the growth of the mycelium is inadmissible. During this period, only protection of the ridge surface from drying out and high air humidity (90 - 95%) are required. Any penetration of water into the compost. even in small quantities, it will almost inevitably lead to rotting of the compost and the complete or partial death of the mycelium.The optimum temperature in the ridge for the good development of the mycelium is 25 - 27 ° С, at temperatures above 32 ° С it dies. The carbon dioxide released by the compost does not need to be removed from the mushroom - it is necessary for the growth of the mycelium.

During the fruiting period, the optimal conditions for a good harvest are different: after the mycelium, growing, begins to emerge on the surface of the compost, a layer of a mixture called casing layer is laid on the ridge and watered so that it becomes moist, but not wet. In the future, during the entire period of fruiting, this moisture content of the casing layer must be systematically maintained, otherwise fruiting will not be complete - after all, mushrooms are 90% water. At the same time, the requirement remains that an excess of water does not form, which could seep through the casing layer into the compost to the mycelium, from which the mycelium will die. “It is better to underfill than to pour,” mushroom growers say. Air humidity is maintained high, not lower than 80%. The air temperature above the bed should be reduced to 15-17 ° C.

The air above the ridge during the entire fruiting period should be clean, free of carbon dioxide impurities by natural or forced ventilation. But at the same time, not the slightest draft, rapid air movement directly above the surface of the ridge should be allowed.

There is also a requirement for mushroom culture common to all phases of development. Temperature, humidity, optimal for the growth of mycelium or fruiting, must be constant.

Requirements for the regime in the champignonnice seem paradoxical. a lot of water on the ridge - and not a drop in the compost: vigorous air refreshing without moving it directly above the ridge: high (25 - 27 ° С) growth temperature of mycelium - and its decrease to 15 - 17 ° С from the moment of fruiting. However, such requirements are dictated by experience.

Of course, it is advisable to get mushrooms in the garden as early as possible, at least at the end of May. But for this, the mycelium must ripen from mid-April, when the average daily air temperature is still not high enough. During this period, natural heat is not enough, but during the fruiting period, when the optimal temperature for the mushroom ridge should not be higher than 17 ° C, the outside air is usually too hot.

All these difficulties can be overcome. The mushroom growers' ally in this is the mushrooms themselves.

The main difficulty in cultivating champignons is the need to strictly observe all the required conditions. These mushrooms need a substrate with high nutritional properties, are vulnerable to infections, and are picky about humidity and temperature. The classic technology for growing champignons at home may be too difficult for beginners, but the market offers many opportunities to simplify this procedure - a ready-made substrate, special containers with an established microclimate. But this mushroom has a high yield and is a valuable food product.

Premises preparation

Having decided to start cultivating champignons, a novice mushroom grower must imagine the whole process from start to finish, determine, assessing his capabilities, a suitable option with the placement of mycelium and preparation of the substrate and draw up a program of action. Planning is the first place to start, since growing mushrooms from scratch will require a lot of preparatory work.

Champignons can be grown both outdoors and indoors. The second method is more reliable, since it allows you to control the climatic conditions to which these mushrooms are quite demanding. In this case, a basement or cellar is ideal.

Room requirements:

• purity
• high humidity
• good ventilation
• the ability to adjust the temperature

On a note!

Champignons can grow in complete darkness. There will be enough lighting that will allow a person to perform work on caring for the mycelium.

Champignons are very vulnerable to infections and attacks of parasites, therefore, cleaning, treating walls with solutions against mold, measures to prevent or destroy insect pests are mandatory points for preparing a cellar or basement before each growing cycle. The floor and walls of the room must be concrete. It is desirable to whitewash the walls and ceiling with lime.

These mushrooms love dampness, and during the incubation period they will need especially high humidity. In view of this, it is preferable to grow them underground. The most effective solution would be to install equipment for regulating the microclimate, but you can also increase the humidity using handicraft methods - installing tanks with water, regularly spraying surfaces from a spray bottle.

But ventilation will have to be organized in any case - ordinary exhaust pipes will not be enough. Compost, which is used as a substrate for mushroom cultivation, emits carbon dioxide intensively. It has a bad effect on the "well-being" of mushrooms and is dangerous to humans. At the same time, mushrooms do not tolerate drafts.

The temperature required by mushrooms is not the same at different stages of their life cycle, so it should be possible to adjust this indicator.

See also: "How to grow oyster mushrooms at home from scratch: the easiest way".

A remedy from which plants grow by leaps and bounds! Just water your plants with it ...

Mycelium equipment

There are several approaches to organizing mycelium.

1. Cultivation in briquettes is the easiest way to grow mushrooms at home. It is only necessary to purchase a container with a ready-made substrate and place the mycelium in it. One such briquette can be harvested 4 times, after which it becomes unusable. A significant disadvantage is the inability to independently control the quality of the substrate.
2. Growing "in the garden" is a cheap and simple method, requiring only a room with suitable conditions. The floor in such a room is covered with plastic wrap, on which the substrate is spread in an even layer. The disadvantage of this approach is the high risk of infections due to the inability to carry out regular processing of the room. In addition, due to the location of crops at the same level, the infection will quickly spread throughout the mycelium.
3. Growing in bags is a very convenient way. The substrate is tamped tightly into strong plastic bags, after which it is poured with water. The mixture should be as moisturized as possible. Several holes are cut in the bag, in place of which the mycelium is introduced into the substrate. Stir the bags at a distance from each other so that the mushrooms have room to grow. It is especially convenient to place bags on racks.
4. Cultivating on shelves - saves space. The substrate is placed in boxes, which, after laying the mycelium, are placed on racks. The method is considered expensive due to the need to install a drip irrigation system. Irrigation with top-mounted sprayers is undesirable as it promotes the spread of infections from the top boxes to the bottom boxes.
5. Growing in containers is a simple but expensive method. The usual substrate is placed in specially equipped containers equipped with ventilation and moisture management systems. The method is suitable if there is no suitable room - in such a box you can grow mushrooms at home on the balcony.

Substrate preparation

A properly prepared substrate for growing mushrooms provides half the success of the business. As for the substrate, champignons are very demanding mushrooms. The ideal mixture should have an acidity of 7.3-7.5 pH, contain 2% nitrogen, 4% calcium, 1.5% each potassium and phosphorus, not more than 0.1% ammonia, and also include a large proportion of polysaccharides and proteins (it is due to them that the fruiting bodies of the mushrooms are formed).

Time and place

The procedure for preparing the substrate takes 22-24 days, therefore, first of all, you need to provide a suitable space for this.

The substrate should not be allowed to come into contact with the soil (this will help to avoid contamination with spores of other fungi and prevent the loss of nutrients), dry out in the sun or irrigated with rain. Based on this, it is best to lay the substrate on a concrete or asphalt site, protected by a canopy. If there are no such conditions, you can lay polyethylene on the ground, having previously tamped the soil. Polyethylene can also be used to cover the pile, but only from the top, without fixing the edges on the side, so as not to obstruct the flow of air into the mixture.

Important!

The working area should be larger than the planned heap so that there is room for the work to "interrupt" the compost.

The fermentation processes that will take place during the "maturation" of the substrate require a temperature of at least 10 ° C during the day. Therefore, in the middle lane before April, you should not start this procedure, in the southern regions it can be carried out already in March. When laying the substrate, it is important that the required temperature is maintained only for the first time. Subsequently, under the influence of the vital activity of microorganisms, the temperature in the compost heap can reach 70 ° C. At this stage, lowering the air temperature will no longer have an effect.

Substrate volume

To activate the fermentation processes, a certain amount of material is required. The compost heap must be at least 1.8 meters wide, and its total weight must be at least 2.5 thousand kilograms. Based on this, its length and height are calculated, depending on the shape of the site. For example, if the heap is two and a half meters long, then its height should also be 1.8 meters.

On a note. Not every mushroom grower needs such a volume of substrate - the remainder can be used to fertilize the garden. The substrate already used for growing mushrooms is also suitable for this purpose.

See also: "What fertilizers to apply in the fall under fruit trees and shrubs."

Required Ingredients

The basis of the substrate for growing mushrooms is a mixture of manure and straw in a mass ratio of 2: 1 or 1: 1. For a more intensive growth of mushrooms, components are added to the base that enrich it with nitrogen and carbohydrates.

• Manure. Horse manure is considered the most suitable for growing mushrooms, especially "straw manure", which is obtained if the animal ate not fresh herbs, but hay. It is allowed to replace horse manure with cow manure, but this impairs the nutritional properties of the substrate. As a last resort, you can use bird droppings as a basis, but this will not affect the yield of mushrooms in the best way. Whereas adding dry chicken manure to horse manure will be beneficial. In this case, the weight of the droppings should be 1/3 of the weight of the straw.

Interesting!

Horse manure contains about a quarter of the organic matter that mushrooms need to grow. The high content of nitrogen, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, as well as rare elements - manganese, copper, cobalt, molybdenum makes it an ideal substrate for mushroom cultivation.

• Straw. Wheat or rye is best and can be replaced or supplemented with corn cobs or cane stalks. Other available plant components can be added to the straw - sawdust, leaves, vegetable tops.
• Supplements. It will be useful for champignons to add bone, soy, pea flour, winter wheat grains, oil cake to the substrate.

You will also need water and stucco or alabaster.

Composting technology

The straw must be prepared in advance. To do this, having folded it in a heap, it is periodically watered with water, preventing it from drying out for three to five days. Water should be abundant, the total amount of water used should be 400 liters per 100 kg of straw.

Before proceeding with the laying, all components should be divided into 5-6 equal parts. This will distribute the layers of each component evenly in the compost heap.

Step-by-step instructions for composting:

1. The first is a layer of straw 30-35 centimeters high. The straw must be wet.
2. On it is a layer of horse manure (about 15-20 cm).
3. If it is decided to supplement the composition of the compost with chicken droppings, it is poured (it must be dry and crushed) on top of the manure layer.
4. After that, the pile is watered and compacted.
5. The next layer of straw is laid on top - and the whole sequence of actions is repeated anew.

It is optimal if the heap contains 5-6 layers of manure and straw.

Maturation of compost

The first days after placing the compost, it must be watered twice a day. The volume of water should be such that after watering the heap does not flow, but it should not be allowed to dry out.

On the sixth day, the compost needs to be "killed", that is, mix the mass with a pitchfork, placing the surface layers deep into the heap. Shake each portion thoroughly. During the cutting, plaster or alabaster is added, scattering it in thin layers. Dry areas must be moistened.

The second change is made on the eleventh day, and the third on the sixteenth. This time, you don't need to add gypsum or alabaster, just moisten the substance with water. In the intervals between interruptions, the compost heap continues to be watered twice a day.

The fourth cut is made on the twentieth day. This time, the compost is stirred, but not watered. After three days, the substrate will be ready for planting.

Important!

In horse manure, fermentation processes proceed as quickly as possible, but if poultry manure is used, it will take more time for the substrate to mature. In this case, the first time you need to interrupt the compost on the seventh day, the second - on the fourteenth, on the third - on the twentieth, and on the fourth - on the twenty-fifth. After that, the mixture is kept for another two days.

Signs of a finished substrate:

• dark brown
• uniformity of color
• uniformity
• fibrous structure
• looseness
• humidity - 66-69%

To check the degree of moisture, you need to squeeze a portion of the substrate in your hand. It is optimal if the mixture is wet, but does not stick together into a lump and water does not flow from it when squeezed. If there is an excess of moisture, the heap of compost needs to be dried a little, spread in a thinner layer, and interrupted again.

Planting and caring for mushrooms

The most labor-intensive are preparatory work, caring for the mycelium will require much less effort - the technology of growing champignons is very simple.

Sowing

For sowing, either grain spores or compost mushroom mycelium are used. One square meter of mycelium will require 400 grams of spores or 500 grams of compost mycelium.

Attention!

The shelf life of champignon grain spores is six months at a temperature of 0 to 4 ° C. Compost mycelium - a year at zero temperature. At room temperatures (about 18-20 ° C), it should be stored no longer than 20 days.

The substrate temperature when planting should be around 25 ° C. It is covered with a layer of about 30-40 centimeters. Spores can simply be scattered over the surface of the substrate. In this case, the sowing is covered with another layer of substrate. The thickness of this layer should be 4 centimeters.

The compost mycelium must be immersed in the substrate to a depth of 5 centimeters. For this, the indentations should be at a distance of 20 centimeters from each other, it is optimal to arrange them in a checkerboard pattern. A small portion of mycelium (about a handful) is placed in each.

Incubation

At the first stage of growing mycelium, it is necessary to ensure the temperature of the substrate in the range of 21-27 degrees and the air humidity of 80-95%. It is important not to allow the substrate to dry out. To preserve moisture, the surface of the mycelium is covered with paper or cloth. Watering is carried out through this cover by spraying.

After 10-12 days, the substrate should be sprinkled with a layer of soil about 3 cm thick.Typically, the casing layer is prepared from soil, peat and chalk mixed in a 4: 5: 1 ratio. Over the next 5 days, you should maintain the same conditions and continue to moisturize the mycelium by spraying.

Forcing mushrooms

5 days after filling with soil, you need to establish a stable air temperature of 12-17 ° C. The active growth of the fruiting bodies of mushrooms begins. The room at this time should be well ventilated, but drafts should not be allowed. Watering is done in the same way.

The final maturation of the mushrooms will occur in 2-2.5 months. One mycelium can give up to 7 harvests, which in total will give 10-11 kg from 1 m2 of mycelium. If the substrate is prepared with high quality, this figure can go up to 15 kg. At the same time, two-thirds of the total harvest will fall on the first three ripening waves. The periods between harvest waves will be about a week.

Important!

Compost mycelium - gives a lower yield compared to grain mycelium (spores) of mushrooms.

Mushroom picking

You need to pick mushrooms before they start to overripe. Darkened mushrooms with brown plates and a flabby cap are no longer edible. The mushroom must still be in the film that connects the cap and leg. The most appropriate time is when the film is already stretched, but not yet torn.

The mushrooms need to be twisted out of the substrate, and the places where they grew should be sprinkled with the same soil mixture that was used to cover the mycelium during the incubation stage. After that, these places need to be watered moderately.

Mushroom harvesting, Video

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

In connection with the construction of broiler factories and large poultry farms, it became possible to use fresh or dried poultry manure mixed with straw to prepare champignon compost. The scheme for preparing such a compost is almost the same as when using cow or horse manure, except that no mineral fertilizers and chalk are applied. In such a compost, only gypsum and alabaster need to be added at the first interruption. The ratio of straw to poultry manure is the same, that is, 100 kg of poultry manure and 250-300 liters of water are taken per 100 kg of straw. With this method of composting, the straw should be pre-soaked for two or three days, after which the pile should be laid and 3-4 cut.

Any straw can be used for the preparation of mushroom composts, however, the best results are obtained using wheat straw or winter rye.

The correct course of the compost preparation process is judged by the temperature of its combustion. Already on the second or third day after laying the stack, the temperature inside it at a depth of 25–30 cm from the surface should reach 55–70 ° C and be maintained at this level throughout the composting period.

Good results are obtained if, instead of 3-4 interruptions, the compost is pasteurized, which will significantly improve its quality. Pasteurization of the "green", under-composted substrate consists in keeping it for 12 hours at a temperature of 58-60 ° C, and then gradually decreasing it within 7-8 days by 1-1.5 ° C per day and thus bringing it to 46–48 ° C. After that, by strong ventilation, the substrate is cooled to 24–26 ° C. The finished compost is dark brown in color and has no ammonia odor at all.

In the commercial (industrial) production of champignons, the substrate is pasteurized in bulk, loading it into special chambers or pasteurization tunnels. Under conditions of amateur cultivation, "green" compost can be placed in boxes or plastic bags with a capacity of 5–15 kg and pasteurized by supplying steam to a film greenhouse. It is possible to use different devices here. It is only important to maintain the required temperature for the specified time.

However, in amateur cultivation, pasteurization of the compost may well be replaced by two additional interruptions.

We dwelled on the compost preparation technology in such detail because it is at this stage that the foundation for the successful cultivation of mushrooms is laid. Incorrect, hasty and careless composting usually results in failure.

Composting and planting mycelium. The finished compost, as already mentioned, is placed in ridges or placed in boxes or on racks and lightly compacted. Normally laid and compacted compost, when pressed by hand, slightly bounces. The height of the compacted compost layer should be 25–30 cm, which will require approximately 100 kg of compost per 1 m2.

Recently, plastic bags have been used to grow mushrooms. They should hold at least 10-25 kg of compost, and the height of its layer in the bag should be at least 25-30 cm. 2-3 days after filling, when the temperature of the compost in the beds or boxes has dropped to 23-27 ° C (optimal temperature - 24-25 ° C), the mycelium is planted.

A high yield of mushrooms can only be provided by a high-quality sterile mycelium grown at a specialized enterprise. For planting, the mycelium can be used only once. It is advisable to purchase it in the warm season, so that it does not freeze during transportation. The shelf life of mycelium at a temperature of 0 to 4 ° C is 6 months, and at a higher temperature (10–18 ° C) - no more than 20 days.

Compost mycelium can be stored at about 0 ° C for about a year. This mycelium is not as productive as grain, but it is less susceptible to external conditions (temperature, humidity and their changes). In addition, the compost mycelium is better stored and does not lose its qualities longer. Grain mycelium is produced in plastic bags, and compost - in glass jars.

The consumption rate of the grain mycelium is 0.7 l (500 g) per 1 m2 of the planting area. For 1.5 m2, 700 g of compost mycelium is enough.

Landing method. Raise the compost with a peg or hand and place a piece of the compost mycelium the size of a matchbox or a handful of grain mycelium into the formed hole to a depth of 4–5 cm. Then the mycelium is covered with compost from above and lightly pressed against it. Planting sites are staggered at a distance of 20–25 cm. The grain mycelium can be simply scattered, taking into account the rate of its consumption per 1 m2, over the surface of the garden bed and then covered with a layer of compost of 4–5 cm, slightly compacting it.

At this time, the room should be very humid so that the planted ridges or boxes do not dry out. If their surface dries up, cover the ridges with absorbent paper or burlap and carefully moisten this shelter from a watering can with a fine strainer or from a hose with a spray. In this case, the water should not get on the mycelium.

The room temperature during this period should be 23–25 ° C, and the temperature in the compost should be 23–27 ° C. If the temperature in the compost exceeds 27 ° C, the beds need to be cooled by ventilating the room well. If the temperature is below normal, they should be covered with dry burlap or straw mats and the room temperature should be increased by 2-3 ° C. 7-12 days after planting the mycelium, it should already grow well, which is checked by slightly lifting the compost at the planting site. With normal survival and growth, by this time the mycelium should grow in the form of white cobweb threads 5–8 cm around the planting site.

Covering compost with cover soil. After 12–20 days (depending on the growth rate of the mycelium), the surface of the boxes or plastic bags is covered with a casing layer - a layer of moist earth 3-4 cm thick. Without this casing layer, fungi will not form. The following mixtures can be used as cover soil:

a) 9 parts of peat and 1 part of chalk;

b) 5 parts of peat, 4 parts of garden or turf soil, 0.5 parts of chalk;

c) garden or sod soil and 3% (of its volume) chalk.

Chalk is needed to create the acidity of the soil that is optimal for fruiting mushrooms.The approximate consumption of cover soil per 1 m2 of the ridge is 3-4 buckets with a capacity of 10 liters. The applied topsoil is slightly compacted.

The room temperature should be reduced to 14-17 ° C 3-5 days after the top coat is applied. Under all conditions, it should not exceed 20 ° C: at a higher temperature, mushrooms will not grow. The soil on the ridges should always be moist. When dry, a crust forms on it, which prevents both the growth of the mycelium and the access of air to it. Therefore, you need to regularly moisten the ridges, very carefully watering them from a watering can or a hose with a fine strainer or spray. The stream of water should be weak, since moisture should remain in the casing layer and in no case penetrate into the compost: this will lead to the death of the mycelium and can drastically reduce or even destroy the entire crop.

Culture care. In 15–20 days after backfilling the casing layer and, accordingly, in 27–40 days after planting the mycelium (depending on the air temperature in the room), the first mushrooms will appear. First, champignons grow in nests of 5–8 or even 20 pieces. When the mycelium grows throughout the ridge, the mushrooms will grow evenly over its entire surface.

From the moment the mushrooms appear, the room must be thoroughly ventilated, however, avoiding drafts and, in general, intensive air movement. To maintain a constant air humidity of 85–90%, you can humidify the floor of the room, if it is cement, or place containers with water.

Harvesting. Mushrooms should be picked carefully so as not to damage the fruiting body and mycelium. To do this, the mushrooms must be carefully twisted out of the soil.

Places where plucked mushrooms grew should be immediately sprinkled with cover soil (a small amount of which should be left after backfilling the beds). The earth is also useful if a dense white crust from the mycelium (stroma) forms on the soil surface with a lack of fresh air. This crust is carefully removed, and the place is sprinkled with a casing mixture. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the flow of fresh air.

Moistening the ridges and air, ventilating the room, picking mushrooms and adding to the collection sites is the care of the mushroom culture during the period of their fruiting.

Fruiting of mushrooms indoors, depending on growing conditions, lasts 2-4 months. During this time, according to the described method, it is possible to collect from 4–6 to 10–15 kg of mushrooms from 1 m2, and with very good care, even more. Champignons bear fruit in waves. After the appearance of a significant number of mushrooms, a decline occurs when they appear in single specimens or disappear altogether. A week after the end of the first wave, which lasts 3-4 days, the second wave of fruiting begins. There are up to seven such waves. Usually the first 2-3 waves are the most productive, when up to 70% of the crop is obtained.

Champignons are harvested at such a stage of maturity, when the film connecting the edges of the cap with the stem and covering the pink plates of the mushroom is stretched, but has not yet broken. You can also collect more mature mushrooms with a torn film, but if their plates have become dark brown, and the mushroom itself is flabby, it is no longer possible to eat it: like any overripe mushroom, it can cause poisoning.

In a heated room, champignons can also be grown in the autumn-winter period (since no light is needed for their development), thus obtaining up to three harvests a year.

It should be remembered that with repeated cultivation of champignons in the same room, the mushrooms are damaged by various insects (mainly fly larvae), mites, as well as bacteria and microscopic fungi, which accumulate there when the premises are reused and can cause massive fungal attack.

It is impossible to use any chemical preparations to combat them, since these substances can accumulate in mushrooms, making them unsuitable for food.Therefore, preventive measures are very important to combat mushroom diseases and pests.

At the end of the collection of mushrooms, you need to lay the used soil as far away from the mushroom as possible; the room should be washed, dried well and ventilated. If during fruiting diseases or pests of champignons were noticed, then before reuse the room should be disinfected - spray it with a 2–4% solution of bleach or smear it with milk of lime, for which quicklime is diluted in water at the rate of 1 kg per bucket of water. After disinfection, the room must be well ventilated before placing new mushroom composts.

Growing mushrooms in the open field. Champignons can also be grown outdoors, but in this case, the harvest largely depends on the vagaries of the weather. In the spring, as soon as the snow melts and the ground warms up, you can start growing mushrooms in the shady areas of the garden. The place should be chosen dry and protected from the wind. The beds can be made both on the surface of the soil and at depth, which will better retain moisture and maintain a more even temperature.

Surface beds are made with a width of 1-1.5 m with an arbitrary length. To deepen the ridges, a ditch 60–90 cm wide and 30–40 cm deep is dug. A layer of broken brick, crushed stone, etc., 8–10 cm thick, is poured on the bottom, and compost prepared by the method described above is placed on top and compacted. To protect the ridges from rapid drying out and heavy rains, you can make light sheds or cover the ridges with straw mats placed on a stand made of light slats. You can simply cover the ridges with a 15-centimeter layer of straw, which is removed only for the time of planting the mycelium, filling the casing layer of the earth and harvesting. In this case, care must be taken to ensure sufficient air access to the ridges. When stroma appear, the straw must be removed for a while. Such beds are moistened as needed with the same precautions as when caring for a fruiting mushroom culture.

The first mushrooms in the open air should appear 1–1.5 months after the mycelium is planted. Fruiting lasts about 4 months, but in hot weather the yield of mushrooms decreases and fruiting may even stop altogether. However, with the onset of cool weather, mushrooms reappear.

It should be remembered that champignons are a perishable product, so they must be processed immediately after harvest. Their shelf life should not exceed a day, but if the mushrooms are frozen in a freezer at a temperature of -18 ° C, they can be stored for up to a year. Mushrooms are used fresh, dried, pickled.

Only general principles and basic technological methods of mushroom cultivation are presented here. These techniques may vary depending on the conditions. For example, some mushroom growers fill up the casing layer immediately after planting mycelium: it prevents the compost from drying out when it is difficult to maintain the required air humidity, and does not allow the compost in the garden to cool down when the air temperature is not high enough.

Here the mushroom grower is provided with sufficient scope for creativity in this fascinating business. However, in any case, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the basic conditions (temperature, humidity, aeration).

Throughout the cultivation of mushrooms, it is recommended to keep records, noting the timing of agrotechnical measures, the features of their implementation, the temperature and humidity of the air and substrate. This will allow accumulating and generalizing experience, identifying some mistakes and avoiding them in the future.

At the end of the fruiting of mushrooms, the compost can be used as an excellent organic fertilizer for vegetables, fruit and berry and ornamental crops. It is not inferior in its properties to horse manure and contributes to the good development of green plants.

Champignon varieties.There are three groups of champignon varieties that differ in the color of the cap: white, cream and brown. White and cream varieties are usually more productive, but less resistant to adverse conditions (fluctuations in temperature and humidity) and disease. Brown varieties are less susceptible to diseases and better tolerate adverse conditions, but less productive. Based on this and his capabilities, the mushroom grower must decide which variety to choose.

How to propagate a mushroom mycelium (from the experience of Russian mushroom growers). The mushroom planting material - sterile mycelium - is often in short supply, especially during the planting season. But the mushroom growers who supplied Moscow with fresh mushrooms at the end of the 19th century had no idea about the sterile mycelium produced by the factory, and at the same time they collected considerable harvests. Therefore, we will try to turn to the experience of Russian gardeners who successfully grew champignons without a sterile mycelium. True, they did not receive 20 kg from 1 m2, as now, but they could do half the yield, and this is also a lot and may well satisfy an amateur mushroom grower. There will be enough mushrooms for your family, and if you wish, there will be something left for sale. Such a harvest fully justifies the investment and labor costs.

The experience of amateur mushroom growing is summarized in the book by PI Kamenogradsky with a rather eloquent title: "Profitable mushroom growing" (St. Petersburg, 1907). There were several ways of harvesting and using wild-growing mycelium. Let's dwell on three of them, which to a large extent guarantee a mushroom harvest.

The first way. Noticing in the summer where champignons grow (usually near livestock farms, on pastures, dumps, heaps of manure), in September they remove 1–2 cm of the top layer of the soil and select from under it dense pieces of soil, permeated with white filaments of mycelium with a characteristic pleasant mushroom smell ...

Such pieces of at least 10 x 10 cm in size (up to 30 x 30 cm) are slightly dried in a cool shady place and stored in baskets or wooden boxes (in the latter case, the pieces of mycelium are laid out in one layer) in a dry, cool room at a temperature of no higher than 5 –7 ° C. In spring, mycelium can be used to grow mushrooms, preferably outdoors. Before planting, the mycelium must be carefully sorted out, rejecting pieces with thick threads (strands) and a faint smell. The method was tested by the author of this book. The yield, however, turned out to be low - 2-3 kg per 1 m2 per season. In closed rooms, such a mycelium develops even worse, although there are exceptions.

Second way. The mycelium collected according to the first method is propagated in a greenhouse, greenhouse or basement in boxes with compost, prepared in the same way as for growing the mushrooms themselves. In this case, the compost is best made from horse manure. The compost layer in the boxes should be about 60 cm. Pieces of harvested mycelium (preferably fresh) are brought to a depth of 10 cm with a distance of 25–30 cm between them. To prevent the substrate from drying out, moist humus soil is poured on top with a layer of 5 cm. Two weeks later, on the surface the soil begins to appear mycelium in the form of a white bloom. The room temperature at this time should be 20–25 ° C.

When the main thickness of the substrate is permeated with white thin threads (you can find out about this if you carefully dig out the substrate in separate places), the pieces of mycelium are removed and dried in a shady place. They are then placed in baskets and stored in a cool dry place until planting. Such a mycelium is more productive than wild, non-propagated. It is suitable for growing champignons indoors, but a guaranteed mushroom yield is obtained if you use it fresh, that is, immediately after breeding.

The famous Russian gardener of the middle of the 19th century used this method of propagation of the wild mushroom mycelium. EA Grachev, but he prepared the substrate differently.For this purpose Grachev used greenhouses set up on dry sandy places; the bottom of the greenhouses consisted of fine sand with an admixture of chernozem or greenhouse humus. Such a soil, according to Grachev, is the closest to the natural growing conditions of mushrooms. At the bottom of the greenhouse, half-rotted straw manure was laid in a layer of 30–40 cm, on top a layer (about 18 cm) of fresh hot manure, and on it was a layer (18 cm) of ordinary greenhouse soil. The wild-growing mycelium was placed in this substrate on straw manure. The greenhouse was usually laid in June.

2-3 weeks after laying, white filaments of mycelium appear where the straw manure touches the bottom of the greenhouse, then it spreads over the entire layer of manure, and after 5-6 weeks the mushrooms themselves appear.

Having collected the mushrooms once or twice (this usually occurs in August), but no more than three (three fruiting waves), the soil is removed, and the compost sprouted by the mycelium is selected in large (30 x 30 cm) pieces, slightly dried and folded into baskets, transferred stored in a cool place. It is necessary to select pieces with thin filaments of mycelium, which have a bluish-whitish color. Such a mycelium can be used immediately, fresh, but it is better to keep it for 2-4 weeks to dry out a little: in this case, it gives the best result. Mycelium with thick yellowish filaments (older and depleted) is discarded.

You can, after drying, lay the mycelium for storage. For both short and long-term storage (up to 6 months), the room temperature should not exceed 5–7 ° C heat (optimal - about 2 ° C). It is recommended to cover the baskets with matting, in this case the evaporation of moisture from large pieces is slow; outside they are dried, which protects the mycelium from rotting, so it can be stored for up to six months. Storage conditions have a significant effect on yield.

Some amendments should be made to the application of the Grachev method. From the point of view of modern knowledge about the culture of champignons, it is more expedient to collect mushrooms in greenhouses where mycelium is grown up to two times: fruiting depletes it, and the last forcing (growing) of mushrooms is not so effective. It is enough to collect the mushrooms once to make sure that we have a good fruiting mycelium. When the substrate is almost completely penetrated by the mycelium threads, it is harvested. It is better to remove the emerging small mushrooms immediately.

Third way. The so-called artificial, or cultural, mycelium is harvested from fruiting ridges, originally planted with sterile grain or compost mycelium. After two or three waves of fruiting, the soil layer is carefully raked up and pieces of compost penetrated by the mycelium are removed, choosing areas with especially dense threads. They are dried and stored in the same way as with other methods of harvesting mycelium. This mycelium has both advantages and disadvantages. In comparison with the wild one, it is fully acclimatized for growing in artificial conditions.

At the same time, the cultural mycelium, unfortunately, is rapidly degenerating. After two or three uses, yields begin to decline, and the mushrooms themselves become smaller. In this case, experienced mushroom growers advise adding fresh wild mushrooms to the cultivated mycelium and growing them in greenhouses together in the second way.

In conclusion, it should be added that with such a cultivation of champignons, it is difficult to guarantee a significant harvest. The mushroom grower here takes a certain risk, and yet his work will be rewarded, albeit a small one, with a harvest of mushrooms in his own garden or in his personal plot.