If you decide to start growing mushrooms, then you need to start with the acquisition of mycelium.
You can buy it in a store and not waste time and effort on growing, but in this case, there is no guarantee that the mycelium was produced under sterile conditions, and this factor is decisive for its further development and fruiting.
Growing mushroom mycelium at home is a guarantee of quality. However, it is necessary to acquire special equipment, as well as prepare several rooms in which the mycelium will develop at different stages.
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Mycelium Growing Methods
There are two of them – spore and tissue. The first option allows you to get pure mycelium of the highest quality, but it is quite difficult to implement. To obtain spores, it is necessary to isolate the aqueous suspension of the fungus and place it in a nutrient medium. In the second case, you can pinch off a small piece of tissue from the body of a mature mushroom and also place it in the substrate.
growing mycelium from spores
The French were the first to master the method of obtaining spores and growing sterile planting material from them back in the 19th century. If you take the cap of a mature mushroom and put it with its bottom side on a clean sheet, then on the latter there will be “paths” formed by clusters of spores that form between the plates. In the air, they quickly die, but if they are placed in a nutrient medium, they will begin to actively develop.
In order for the mycelium to turn out to be healthy and bear fruit well in the future, special conditions are necessary. When receiving spores, it is important to maintain maximum sterility and try to keep them outdoors as little as possible. To do this, take a sterile Petri dish, bring it to the underside of the mushroom cap and gently shake out the spores. Germination is carried out with strict observance of the temperature regime and constant monitoring of the preservation of sterility. The sprouted spore mycelium is grafted and placed in a substrate prepared from wet, sterilized grains of wheat, rye or millet.
growing mycelium from tissue culture of Mushroom
This method of reproduction is more ancient. It was widely used before the discovery of spore cultivation technology. A small piece of mushroom pulp from the middle is taken as the mother base, this reduces the possibility of infection. But for greater certainty, it is disinfected before being placed in a nutrient medium. Then everything is normal: the tissue is placed in the substrate, the desired temperature of +25 ° C is provided, and the mycelium is allowed to grow.
Steps of tacking mushroom tissue for mycelium growing:
- Choose the best quality mushroom and break it into two parts.
- With sterile tweezers or a loop, pinch off a small piece from the middle of the leg.
- Dip the material in hydrogen peroxide for just a moment.
- Place the mother tissue in the tube and stopper tightly.
To exclude the possibility of penetration of harmful microflora, perform all manipulations on the burner.
Preparing Mycelium growing equipments
The main factor of a successful enterprise is absolute sterility. If during the propagation process a mold fungus enters the environment where the mycelium develops, the entire batch will be spoiled. Inventory, equipment, utensils, and even your work clothes are subject to disinfection. The table on which the work will be done must be covered with glass and thoroughly wiped with alcohol. The premises where the dishes with seedlings will be kept should also be systematically disinfected.
Preparing Mycelium growing Jar
Dishes should be glass with tight-fitting lids. Test tubes and special jars with a volume of 1-3 liters are best suited, which can be sterilized in a pressure cooker or boiled. There should be a hole in the lids of the jars.
If you plan to grow champignons on an industrial scale, you will also have to purchase special plastic bags with holes for air exchange. To create an obstacle to the penetration of microbes, the holes are sealed from the inside with special filters that are effective against pathogenic microflora but do not affect air circulation in any way.
How to grow mycelium on agar?
At home, the nutrient substrate for growing mycelium is usually prepared on the basis of agar. Its main advantage is the ideal surface on which it is easy to notice any unwanted particles and remove them in time.
growing mycelium on Wort agar
To prepare it, take 20 g of agar and one liter of beer wort, mix thoroughly and heat (stirring constantly) until the agar is completely dissolved. Fill the sterilized test tubes with the mixture by a third using a disinfected funnel, close them with cotton swabs, and place in a pressure cooker, setting the temperature to +101 °C and pressure to one and a half atmospheres. Sterilization time – half an hour. Then place the tubes in an inclined position so that the mixture does not reach the stopper by about 1 cm. This is necessary to increase the surface area of the nutrient medium.
growing mycelium in Oat agar
In this case, you will need 15 g of agar powder and 30 g of oatmeal. Mix the powders well, and then dilute in 970 ml of boiled cooled water. Boil the solution for an hour (on low heat and with constant stirring), and then strain through disinfected gauze folded in several layers or a special filter. Sterilization in a pressure cooker and filling into test tubes are similar to the previous recipe.
growing mycelium in Carrot Agar
First, prepare the carrot extract. To do this, grate carrots on a grater, mix it with water in a ratio of 2:5, boil the mixture for about half an hour, and strain. Then take 400 ml of the resulting extract, mix it with 600 ml of water and 15 g of agar. Boil the resulting mixture again for 30 minutes. Further actions are similar to the previous descriptions.
grain spawn without pressure cooker
The absence of an apparatus will somewhat complicate the sterilization process, but it can be replaced with a double boiler. Sterilization technology is as follows:
- Install a test tube frame inside the pan.
- At the bottom, pour water to a level of 1-2 cm.
- Close the test tubes first with cotton swabs, and then with foil.
- Close the lid and turn on the machine.
- As soon as steam begins to escape through the valve, open it slightly and sterilize for 15 minutes.
- Keep the temperature at about 120 ° C, otherwise the workpiece will caramelize.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for 45 minutes to equalize the pressure.
- Remove the tubes and start seeding.
how to make grain spawn jars?
Now the formed mycelium must be sown in jars with compost (grain spawn). Once again, we emphasize the need to comply with the conditions of maximum sterility, which can be provided at home using a burner.
making grain spawn jars:
- Fill jars ⅔ full with compost (grain spawn), close with soft plastic lids, in which small holes are made in advance.
- Sterilize the dishes in a pressure cooker for 2 hours, then let it cool down to a temperature of +24 … +25 °C.
- Place the material from the test tubes into the cooled bowl with compost.
- Close the jar tightly with a lid.
Growing mycelium on cardboard and on grains
Most often, mushroom pickers grow mycelium on a grain or cardboard substrate.
how to grow mycelium on grain?
Suitable for cooking millet, barley, rye, oats. To prepare the nutrient medium, do the following:
- Pour dry grain with water in a ratio of 2:3.
- Add a few drops of 10% hydrogen peroxide.
- Boil the grain for about 30 minutes: it should soften, but not boil into porridge. Drain the liquid.
- Spread the porridge on a flat surface and dry it well, for example, with a fan. From above, the grain can be covered with a metal mesh, on which chalk and gypsum can be placed. These substances well regulate the acidity of grains.
- Banks can be filled with substrate only when it is completely dry. After that, they must be tightly closed and sterilized under pressure.
- Now you can sow and send the jars to the thermostat, setting the temperature to + 24 … + 25 ° С and humidity 60%.
- To prevent the grains from sticking together, the jars can be shaken periodically.
- If suspicious darkening appears inside, the jar urgently needs to be sterilized.
- As soon as the myceliums capture the entire fertile layer, they can be removed and planted in the soil or sent for storage in a refrigerator at a temperature of 0 … + 2 ° C.
how to grow mycelium on cardboard?
This material is used for several reasons:
- various microforms of life develop poorly on it, so it can not be sterilized;
- it is made from cellulose, which is a natural material and “likes” mushrooms;
- corrugated structure promotes air circulation, and also retains moisture well;
- availability.
Steps to growing mycelium on cardboard:
- Take a piece of corrugated cardboard without inscriptions and paints. Tear it into several pieces and soak in boiled water for about an hour.
- Remove the soaked pieces and carefully separate the corrugation layer from them.
- Prepare a suitable mushroom, divide it into many fibers and spread it on a layer of corrugations.
- Prepare a container for placing the cardboard with the mother material. Usually these are plastic containers, but they must have holes for drainage.
- Lay the cardboard in layers, pressing gently to force out the air.
- Cover the boxes with a bag to protect from drying out, and place in a dark, warm place.
- Open boxes daily to allow carbon dioxide to escape and oxygen to enter, and spray.
conclusions
- Growing mushroom mycelium at home guarantees the quality of the resulting planting material.
- Sterilization is a necessary condition for all methods of cultivation and at all its stages.
- The most common and proven types of nutrient medium are agars – wort, oat and carrot.
- In the absence of a pressure cooker, sterilization can be carried out using a steam pan.
