There are peculiarities of growing mushrooms in an artificial environment. However, chanterelle mushrooms are extremely demanding, and growing them at home is a process that can only be realized if you understand your own land plot as “home”. Taking into account all the nuances and subtleties of the cultivation of these mushrooms, impressive results can be achieved.
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choice of planting material for growing chanterelle mushrooms
The choice of material for growing chanterelles at home should be based on where the harvesting for sowing comes from. That is, if the mushrooms were taken next to a birch, then they should grow not far from such wood.
Also, for planting, you will need the chanterelles themselves:
- excavated mycelium;
- spore infusion;
- mushroom caps;
- top soil from under a tree infected with fungi.
As a rule, one of the types of planting material is chosen. Experienced mushroom growers are advised to choose the option of dug soil. However, you will have to wait a long time for the harvest, since the land requires careful preparation, which takes up to 1 year.
Growing chanterelle mushrooms with spores or mycelium
It is not possible to grow mushrooms in a summer cottage, including in a greenhouse, all year round, but this is the best way to get a crop of predictable quality. Such mushrooms will not be contaminated with toxins and other harmful substances. Moreover, the greenhouse allows you to get a sufficient amount of mushrooms for 8-10 months a year, if properly equipped.
Choosing from two ways of how to grow mushrooms at home, you need to study the intricacies of each. The use of spores or mycelium is a choice the grower makes based on the conditions at hand.
Spore methods of sowing chanterelles
Seedlings are made from spores for planting chanterelles. They take large mushroom caps, wash them thoroughly, and grind them, pouring rainwater for a day (100 g of sugar per 10 liters of liquid). Filter through a fine sieve after 24 hours, leave water for irrigation.
Further, the strained pulp is used for planting:
- Chanterelles are planted in spring or at the very beginning of June, for 3-5 days the soil is moistened with the remaining solution.
- On the day of planting, an infusion is prepared from 1 liter of water and 100 g of oak bark.
- Next to the selected tree, a recess is made 20-30 cm in diameter up to 70 cm.
- Pour a solution of oak bark into it and wait until it is completely absorbed.
- At the very bottom, the seed is laid, distributing it over the hole, covered with earth and moistened.
It is important to maintain the humidity until winter within 40-45%, and by the first snow the hole is covered with moss or straw.
Sowing chanterelles with mycelium
The preparation of the mycelium begins in the fall. They find in the forest a fertile mycelium growing on a tree, which is also in the summer cottage. Dig the mycelium along with a part of the earth. The resulting sample is kept until spring in bags along with the earth.
It must be stored in a cool room, or in a shed, not tying the packaging too tightly. This exposure is necessary for the destruction of dangerous microorganisms. But the mycelium should not be allowed to freeze. The optimum temperature is from +8 to -2 degrees.
In winter, the mycelium is planted in pits, as with spores, not forgetting to take all the forest land with the mycelium. The first harvest in this case, as in the case of spore sowing, will be in a year.
How to properly sow mycelium chanterelle mushrooms at home?
Considering in detail the technology for collecting and processing mycelium, it is necessary to study the following steps:
- Collecting mycelium. It is held in early spring or at the very end of summer. Using a shovel, cut up to 15-18 cm of the topsoil on which the chanterelles grow. It is better to choose an area where there is little living grass, but a lot of forest cushion of dead leaves. The diameter of the finished mycelium is 20-30 cm.
- Mycelium processing. To improve the quality of mycelium, the soil with mycelium is placed in a wide container or in a cotton bag. Leave it for a year, after which the original material will decrease in size and be freed from pathological microorganisms.
- Sowing mycelium. Around the donor tree at the beginning of June, make 3 holes of 12 cm in diameter with a depth of up to 25 cm. Put forest soil there, pour 1 liter of water, cover it with moss and foliage on top. In the ground, chanterelles will form mycorrhiza, but it is important to maintain sufficient moisture.
In hot weather, it is necessary to water the mycelium every 7-8 days with 45-50 liters of water per tree.
Nuances of home cultivation of chanterelles
To grow chanterelle mushrooms to be a profitable and interesting activity, you need to understand the peculiarities of their growth. So, being located on a tree, they give it part of the nutrients, but they receive moisture and certain elements by the roots. This kind of symbiosis helps both participants in the process.
Important! Healthy mushrooms have a bright orange or yellow cap with carved edges. Its diameter reaches 10 cm, and the length of the leg is 7 cm. There are no differences in color between the leg and the cap.
The best tree for growing is pine, but we must not forget that the planting material in this case must be taken from the pine. Also, chanterelles get along well with oak, fir, beech and spruce. The saturation of the soil with nutrients is not very important.
Full care comes down to timely watering since the chanterelle will grow well on the right tree without any additional feeding.
But what if there is no suitable tree on the site? In this case, you can do this: in the forest, they find a young individual of oak, pine, alder, or other tree species, dig it up together with the surrounding land and plant it in the country. It is important that the individual is already infected with chanterelle spores.
necessary condition for chanterelle mushrooms growth
Growing chanterelles is complicated by the fact that these mushrooms definitely need a healthy tree that matches their appearance. In the process of growth, the mycorrhiza forms mycorrhiza – it binds to the root system of the donor tree, receiving nutrients and water from it.
If there is no tree, and the summer resident decided to plant a young individual on his own plot, you must remember about the conditions that chanterelles “love”:
- they need a shady area, and from the forest they need to grab a couple of bags of coniferous litter;
- drying out or waterlogging should not be allowed;
- one should not expect a harvest earlier than next year after planting.
Rotating chanterelles on an industrial scale is a simple procedure if you master the technology and have a sufficient number of trees on your own plot. However, breeding chanterelles at home on a small dacha farm must be approached soberly: it is realistic to supply a family with them or sell a couple of buckets after harvesting, but it will be problematic to conclude contracts for supply to restaurants in the city.
Prepare the substrate for chanterelle mushrooms
Many novice mushroom growers are concerned with the question of growing chanterelles at home: take a substrate in a store or do it yourself? If a person asks such a question, then he initially does not understand the intricacies of breeding these mushrooms.
Important! Chanterelles will not grow in the substrate, as well as on artificial stumps, they need adult, healthy trees for symbiosis!
Chanterelles will grow even in the poorest soil when placed on a suitable tree – the one that matches their donor.
If you deal with mushrooms as a business, then another question may arise – how to harvest mycelium. This part can be bought in the store if you are sure of its quality. This frees up a sufficient amount of time – no need to walk through the forests and look for workpieces. However, it is important to follow the instructions strictly.
Growing technology from store-bought mycelium looks like this:
- A layer of earth is brought from the forest, taken from a tree, the species of which is indicated on the package.
- Next to a tree on a plot (of a similar breed), pits are prepared and mycelium is placed there.
- Cover with a layer of substrate brought from the forest and watered.
When planting in this way, in the future, it is enough to monitor the humidity.
Growing chanterelles at home – in flower pots or cellars – is not possible. These mushrooms require a natural, living tree, not a harvest. For their cultivation, garden and summer cottages are suitable, where trees of the required species are present.
