Shiitake growing at home. Technology for growing shiitake mushrooms at home. An Extensive Natural Method of Growing Shiitake

Shiitake is an edible and medicinal mushroom with excellent taste and unique properties. This product came to us from Asia and became incredibly popular due to its piquant taste and medicinal properties. No wonder it is called the Buddha mushroom. In Japan, it is considered a symbol of longevity, and it is not difficult to understand why, because the mushroom is a real storehouse of trace elements such as copper, magnesium, B vitamins. Shiitake contains many antioxidants and anti-carcinogenic selenium, as well as lentinan and beta-glucan, which stimulate the immune system. system by activating certain proteins in cells that fight cancer.

Growing mushrooms

The tradition of growing shiitake on wooden logs originated in Japan. The methods and techniques used by the Japanese work great and therefore they should be adapted to our realities.

The main mistake of entrepreneurs who decide to grow shiitake is not understanding how important it is to recreate the conditions.

If you live in a humid, rainy climate, you have nothing to worry about, but if the weather is dry, you will have to take care of increased irrigation of your mushroom plots. Optimal conditions for good growth and obtaining a large harvest - precipitation 152-203 cm / year and average temperature from 4 to 26C. These are the conditions in which mushrooms grow in Japan.

Mushrooms have fleshy pulp and a spicy taste.

What to expect?

1. Growing mushrooms is a physically demanding job that requires a lot of strength. If you can mechanize some processes, it will make your life much easier.
2. You will have to devote a lot of time to your business. First of all, you need to thoroughly study the entire process. Then, you will need to process the logs, and when the militias are planted, you will have to devote a lot of time to caring for the mushrooms. At the same time, you must be prepared in advance for the fact that, even with every effort, you may not achieve the expected results. Unfortunately, in dry weather, even with abundant irrigation, the harvest may be small.
3. Shiitake are very unpredictable. For example, during the harvest you can get 20 kg in one week, 10 kg in the second, and 15 kg in the third. This unpredictability is normal for some crops, so be prepared to only make approximate yield predictions.
4. Picking mushrooms takes... time again! Under optimal conditions, mushrooms grow very quickly, and during this period your constant presence will be required, since the crop will need to be harvested every day if you want to get a quality product.

If you are going to implement a non-standard business idea for growing shiitake mushrooms, you should estimate how many mushrooms you want to collect. For own consumption (2-5 kg/year for a period) 15-20 logs will be enough.

If you want to get 15-20 kg/week, you will need to invest a lot of time and money, and prepare about 1000-1500 logs, and in general, the more the better. You will have to look after them throughout the summer, and if you do not have such an opportunity, hire a worker for this purpose.

Wood selection

Trees cut down in winter have large reserves of nutrients accumulated in the wood. While the tree loses its leaves, nutrients will be transported back into the tree sap and stored throughout the winter, ready to be mobilized again in the spring. Therefore, harvesting logs in the cold season allows these substances to be used as a nutrient medium for fungi.

It is preferable to cut down oak, elm, ash, and hornbeam a few weeks before the first buds appear. Maple, birch, and aspen can be cut a week before buds appear. This does not mean, however, that oak on which buds have already appeared can no longer be used. It's just not the optimal solution, but that doesn't make it unusable.

Growing mushrooms on logs

The second most important factor is the thickness of the bark. The logs should have thin, undamaged bark, since a thick layer of bark does not allow sunlight to pass through. You also need to choose hardwood with a small core.

Before planting mushrooms on logs, the logs should lie on the ground for one to two months. The moisture content of the wood should not be lower than 35%; if the logs are dry, they should be watered generously. In general, spring is a rather capricious time of year, so it is necessary to do everything possible to protect the logs from excessive wetting or drying out.

The logs are laid in a shady place protected from the wind. If the weather is dry, to avoid loss of moisture, the stacked woodpiles are covered on top with film, tarpaulin and a layer of branches.

Rules to follow when choosing wood:

• The harder the wood, the more suitable it is for growing shiitake trees.
• On soft wood, the mushroom harvest is much poorer
• The tree should have a small core and thin, intact bark

Wood varieties suitable for growing shiitake:

• Black maple
• Chestnut
• Alder
• Poplar
• Aspen
• Birch

It is not advisable to take acacia and nuts. Conifers are not used at all.

Planting mushrooms

15-20 holes are made in the trunk of the prepared logs to half the depth of the cut, into which the mycelium will be sown. Before planting, water the mycelia generously or soak them in warm water. Then the mycelium is introduced into the holes, and the top is covered with wax, resin or adhesive tape.

After the mycelium is introduced, the logs are stacked, and further care is reduced to watering the logs and harvesting. After the harvest is harvested, the myceliums should have 2-3 months of rest, after which the logs are soaked (initiated) and a new harvest can be expected.

The best temperature for mushroom growth is 12-24C, with a humidity of 35-50%. In hot weather, mushrooms grow with long thin stems and medium-sized caps. At lower temperatures, shiitakes grow much more slowly. Alas, warm weather is good for growing berries, for example, but not for shiitake mushrooms.

Mushrooms are grown on the same logs for five to six years, and from 1 square meter during this time you can collect 200 - 250 kilograms of mushrooms.

The harvest can be harvested in spring or autumn. Mushrooms grown in the spring are larger and tastier, and the spring harvest, as a rule, is always larger.

Growing mushrooms on sawdust

Recently, the method of growing mushrooms on sawdust and a substrate of crushed branches with the addition of grain bran or straw has become increasingly popular. Blocks are formed from this mixture, and shiitake mycelia are added to them. After the mushrooms germinate, the blocks are placed in a cooler room with a temperature of 16 - 24 C or under the open sky, if weather conditions permit. It is very important that the blocks do not dry out.

On blocks, the ripening period occurs in 3–6 months, which can significantly increase productivity, and therefore profit. To grow mushrooms, you can prepare the following substrate:

• Oak sawdust – 150 parts
• Cereal bran – 50 parts
• Gypsum or clay – 5 parts

Then the mixture is diluted with water, achieving a substrate humidity of 50 - 65%

Of course, the business idea of ​​growing shiitake mushrooms is quite a troublesome task, but the profit can be quite significant!

HACKED BY SudoX – HACK A NICE DAY.

After ten years of growing shiitake on pieces of wood, I decided to try to get mushrooms on a sawdust substrate using the so-called industrial, or intensive technology. It is faster: mushrooms appear not a year later, but two months after the mycelium is added.

Moreover, such blocks can be placed in any suitable room, even on a windowsill in an apartment or in a country house under a canopy. And grow mushrooms at any time of the year!

Making blocks for shiitake

To make blocks, I take 4 parts of fresh wood sawdust (oak, birch, alder), add 1 part of wheat bran (to feed the mycelium), 1% of the weight of the entire gypsum mixture (to improve the structure of the substrate and the desired acidity) and spill everything with water in volume , equal to the weight of the dry mixture. I mix thoroughly and package, without compacting, into plastic bags of 600-700 g each. I set it to sterilize for 3 hours at a temperature of +98...+100 degrees.

I do it this way: I lower the grate into a large pan, pour water to its level, put untied bags of substrate on the grate, cover with a lid (a thermometer is built into it) and turn on low heat. The resulting steam disinfects the sawdust. Afterwards, I turn off the heat and let the sawdust cool (I don’t remove the lid). A day later I repeat the procedure again.

How to colonize shiitake mycelium?

I populate the blocks with mycelium (I take grain mycelium) under sterile conditions in a home “micro-laboratory”. I made a sealed pencil case with glass on the top lid, a bactericidal lamp and an incandescent lamp (attached to the back wall), sleeves with elastic bands on the front wall for the hands (see photo).

Before the procedure, I wipe the inner walls of the chamber and bags with substrate with hydrogen peroxide, then turn on the bactericidal lamp for 30 minutes. I pour 3-4 tbsp into each bag on top. mycelium, having first scalded the spoon with boiling water (to be safe, I put it in a glass of boiling water, take it to the same box and take it out of the water in it, and when pouring the mycelium, I try not to touch the bag and the substrate with the spoon). After this, I shake the bags to distribute the mycelium more evenly and tie them.

Where to keep shiitake substrate?

Immediately after the mycelium has been colonized, packages with substrate should be kept in a dark place at a temperature of +22...+28 degrees.

This could be a container, a cabinet, or for me personally, an old, non-working refrigerator. The mycelium “colonizes” the substrate in 30-40 days. When white swellings appear, I untie the bags and place them in a bright room with a temperature of +15...+25 degrees, but avoiding direct sunlight. During this period, the first mushrooms begin to grow. As soon as they begin to rest against the walls of the bag, I make small cuts in these places so that the mushrooms do not become deformed.

I constantly monitor each block. If the mushrooms are dry, I put a clean plastic bag on the block or spray it with water to increase humidity (do not overdo it, otherwise mold will appear!). When the air temperature increases above +30 degrees, I take the blocks into a room with a lower temperature.

Second wave

After the first fruiting, I let the block rest for 15-30 days (I make sure that the substrate does not dry out during this time, otherwise the mycelium will die). Then I soak it in water at room temperature, dry it on fresh air or in a ventilated room (at a temperature of + 10 ... + 17 degrees - after such stress the mycelium “wakes up”) and wait for the next wave of harvest.

Shiitake: benefits

Shiitake helps with liver diseases. Reduces the risk of stroke and atherosclerosis. Inhibits the growth of malignant tumors, strengthens the immune system, helps with chemical poisoning, has antibacterial properties. Most effective method treatment: 1 tsp. Shiitake powder pour 100-150 ml of warm boiled water, leave for 15 minutes, stir. Drink with sediment on an empty stomach and 30 minutes before meals two to three times a day. You can drink it with water. The course of treatment is 3-4 months. Victor CHIKUENOK, fungotherapist, Beloozersk

TIP: Blocks usually last 3-4 fruitings and then become loose and fall apart. Then I make a new batch of blocks, and scatter the old ones on the beds - this is an excellent fertilizer.

In Asian countries, this mushroom is considered very popular and has been cultivated for several hundred years. It has a distinct taste, can be easily processed and has many beneficial properties.

You will learn how to grow shiitake mushrooms at home in this article. It describes the main methods of cultivating mushrooms, describes the cultivation technology in detail, and photos and videos will help you properly grow and harvest the crop.

How to grow shiitake mushrooms at home

You can grow shiitake at home different ways. For example, the mycelium can be placed in straw or placed on special racks in a greenhouse. But the fastest way to get a bountiful harvest is with intensive cultivation in bags (Figure 1).

The intensive method is carried out according to the following rules:

1. Prepare the substrate in advance using straw, corn cobs or any other waste Agriculture. Sawdust is used as a base, which is poured into a bag.
2. Substrate pasteurization- a necessary stage, since during the processing process all pathological microorganisms that can destroy spores are removed from the raw material. To do this, the bags are placed tightly in boxes and periodically watered with hot water. This process continues throughout the day.
3. At night, bags with substrate are hung so that the excess water drains away and you can start sowing the mycelium.
4. Sowing mycelium carried out in accordance with the amount of substrate. There should be 500 grams of mycelium per 10 kg of mixture. The spores are evenly placed in bags and sealed with a cotton-gauze swab.

The bags are hung in random order in a warm and humid room, and maintained optimal temperature throughout the entire growing season.

Peculiarities

Growing at home can be done not only in bags, but also with the help of other materials that are on the farm.

For example, mycelium is sown in ordinary sawdust or straw, to which other nutrients are added. However, it should be borne in mind that regardless of the type of substrate, it must be subjected to heat treatment (scalded with boiling water) in order to prevent the spread of pathogenic bacteria.

Conditions

When cultivating at home, it is important to maintain optimal temperature and humidity conditions. To do this, it is better to cover the substrate with the mycelium seeded with a film to maintain a normal temperature.

Mycelium germinates at a temperature of +20 degrees, but in the future the indicator can be reduced to 12-16 degrees. In this mode, the fruiting bodies grow quickly and change color as they ripen.

Technology

If you are interested in how to grow shiitake mushrooms at home, you should know that this process can be carried out in different ways, depending on what materials you have on the farm (Figure 2).

Among the best ways growing at home are:

1. Cultivation in bags allows you to save space while harvesting a fairly large harvest. The nutrient mixture is placed inside the bag and becomes infected with mycelium. After this, the bags are transferred to a room with suitable temperature and humidity, and the mushrooms are waited for ripening.
2. Growing in straw not much different from bag cultivation technology. The only difference is that only straw is used as a substrate, which is first doused with boiling water several times.
3. The bags can be filled with any sawdust, except for conifers, adding bran and other agricultural waste for greater nutritional value. Further planting of the mycelium is carried out in the same way as described above.

In addition, it is quite successfully cultivated on stumps, planting mycelium on wood according to the principle of oyster mushrooms.

Growing shiitake mushrooms at home: video

To better understand the principle of mushroom cultivation, we recommend watching the video. In it you will find all the necessary information about cultivating shiitake at home with minimal labor and time.

The easiest way to grow shiitake is on stumps. To do this, just choose a suitable piece of wood (oak, chestnut or hornbeam). Harvest hemp better in spring, when the buds have not yet awakened and sap flow has not begun in the tree (Figure 3).

For planting mycelium, choose only healthy wood that is not affected by lichens or fungi. The finished beams are sawn into small stumps 30-40 cm long and soaked in water for a day. After this they should dry out a little. So that the moisture content of the rock is 70%.

Mycelium is sown on the finished stumps, and the stumps are wrapped in polyethylene so that moisture does not evaporate from them

Peculiarities

In order for the mushrooms to grow evenly and the harvest to be plentiful, you need not just sprinkle the hemp with mycelium, but follow a certain sowing procedure.

To do this, holes are drilled in the wood at a distance of 1 cm from each other. The depth of each hole should be approximately 6 cm. The mycelium is poured into them, after which the wood is transferred to a room with a suitable temperature and humidity.

Technology

Growing on stumps requires more than just preparation planting material, but also compliance with a certain technology.

After planting the mycelium, the hemp must be transferred to a room with a temperature of +20 degrees. It should also maintain a sufficiently high humidity. As the mushrooms ripen, the temperature is gradually reduced, but the humidity remains at the same level. If you are afraid that moisture will evaporate from the stumps, you can wrap them plastic film.

The technology for planting shiitake mycelium on stumps is shown in detail in the video.

You can also grow mushrooms in a greenhouse. However, it should be taken into account that this structure of closed soil after mushrooms can no longer be used for cultivating vegetables due to large quantity dispute left in the air.

Cultivation can be carried out both on stumps and in bags or in specially equipped beds with substrate. The main thing is to maintain humidity and temperature conditions so that the spores germinate faster.

Greenhouse preparation

Before sowing the mycelium, you need to properly prepare the greenhouse. To do this, it is advisable to install metal racks inside with shelves filled with a nutrient mixture. The substrate will be sown in such containers (Figure 4).

In the future, the beds can be covered with film until the first fruiting bodies appear. Since after germination the air temperature decreases slightly, mushrooms can be grown without external shelters, but it is advisable to periodically inspect them in order to detect damaged fruits in time and remove them.

Preparing the bed

Preparing a greenhouse bed for growing is no different from preparing a substrate for growing in bags. A mixture of sawdust and straw is used as filler. If desired, it can be supplemented with bran or grain.

The mixture must be scalded several times with boiling water to remove pathological microorganisms and protect the mushrooms from disease. After this, mycelium can be sown in the garden bed.

When the harvest is harvested, it is advisable to treat the soil with boiling water, but if shiitakes have been cultivated in the same place for several years in a row, the substrate is simply disposed of.

Edible tree shiitake mushrooms have arrived to us from Asian countries, where they were eaten for centuries, appreciating their pleasant taste and healing properties. Today we have the opportunity not only to enjoy dishes with this mushroom in sushi bars, but also to growing shiitake at home.

Application of shiitake

In fact, this mushroom can be used as a component of various dishes, in eastern countries, for example, soup made from shiitake powder is common; extracts are also obtained from it, which are added to sweets and drinks. From useful properties mushroom can be called the ability reduce blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Wise Asians equate it in its miraculous effects to ginseng, pointing out that it has a beneficial effect on blood circulation, the nervous system and the condition of the body as a whole. Shiitake is the most popular among medicinal mushrooms (read also about the medicinal properties of chaga mushroom).

Growing mushrooms at home, Mushroom growing!

Scientist Chihara (Japan) was able to isolate lentinan from it, a substance that promotes the formation of perforin. And perforin is effective in the fight against cancer cells.

How to grow shiitake

As with the familiar oyster mushrooms, shiitake can be bred in an intensive or extensive way.

Intensive technology:

1. For the substrate you will need sawdust: oak, willow, beech, maple, etc., you cannot use only coniferous ones. The required sawdust size is about 3 mm, they can be mixed with wood chips. The substrate must be sterilized. You can place it in a bag and pour boiling water over it (85-95 ° C), let it cool for 10-12 hours and repeat. Prepare a container for growing, these can be plastic bags, bags of various sizes (from 1 to 6 l) . The substrate is mixed with mycelium in the proportion - per 10 kg of substrate 0.5 kg of mycelium, placed in bags, close them using a cotton-gauze stopper with a ring. Germination will take 1.5-2 months, while the room temperature should be 18-24 ° C. For fruiting to begin, such mushroom blocks are transferred to a cooler and a damp place, having previously freed it from the film. The harvest will appear within 3-6 months. For their growth, they will need lighting - up to 8 hours a day.

Extensive technology:

1. To grow shiitake mushrooms, prepare logs with a diameter of 7-8 cm and a length of about 1 m. It is best to cut them down in winter, but it is advisable to place mycelium in them in early spring Holes need to be drilled in the logs, at a distance of about 15 cm from each other, these holes are filled with mycelium. The filled logs are placed in a shaded and damp place. White spots will indicate that the mycelium has spread throughout the wood, but this will only happen in 16-24 months.

GROWING SHIITAKE

Growing shiitake using an intensive method can be carried out on various substrates, the basis of which is sawdust. hardwood trees - alder, willow, birch, oak, aspen and some other species. Sawdust from coniferous trees is not used. To improve the nutritional properties of the substrate, sawdust is mixed with bran or grains of cereal crops - barley, wheat, millet, rice. Here we present the composition of substrate mixtures, which, in our opinion, are most convenient for growing shiitake at home or in small industries :1.

For 40 kilograms of sawdust from deciduous trees, add 3 kilograms of rice or wheat bran and 1 kilogram of sugar. 2. Mix sawdust from deciduous trees with rice bran in a ratio of 4:1. The substrate mixture must be soaked in water and then subjected to heat treatment.

As with growing oyster mushrooms, heat treatment of the substrate for growing shiitake is necessary to suppress the growth and development of mold. In industry, the substrate is treated by pressure sterilization. At home, as in cases of growing oyster mushrooms, you can limit yourself to pasteurilization of the substrate.

True, in this case the yield of mushrooms is reduced, but when growing shiitake at home, this method of processing the substrate is quite suitable. The prepared substrate is placed in a container, poured with boiling water, then covered and kept in this form for 8-12 hours.

CULTIVATION OF SHIITAKE - INOCULATION

The next stage of growing shiitake is infection of the substrate with grain mycelium or inoculation. The substrate treated with boiling water is slightly dried to reduce its moisture content.

Mold develops in a waterlogged substrate. The humidity of the substrate before inoculation should be within 60-70%. You can check the moisture content of the substrate in the same way as when preparing the substrate for growing oyster mushrooms - by squeezing it in your fist.

At the same time, droplets of water should appear between your fingers. If the humidity is excessive, the water will flow in streams.

The prepared substrate is laid out in plastic bags at the rate of 3-7 kg of substrate in each bag, thus making a substrate block. Then you need to take a clean wooden stick with a diameter of about 3 centimeters and a length of about a meter and using this stick, make a hole in the middle of the substrate block to the very bottom of the bag.

Thus, a channel is made in the substrate block for introducing mycelium. After this, grain mycelium is introduced into the channel at the rate of 4-5% of the weight of the substrate. With this method of inoculating a substrate block, the rate of overgrowing of the block with mycelium increases. The mycelium is taken with hands wearing rubber gloves. Hands wearing gloves should be washed with soap, then, if possible, the gloves can be disinfected with 70% alcohol. After this, the neck of the bag is closed with a cotton wool plug and tied tightly.

GROWING SHIITAKE - INCUBATION

During the incubation period, it is necessary to maintain the temperature within 20-30? C (the optimal temperature is 25? C). When the temperature rises above 30°C, the mycelium may die due to the development of mold.

Humidity during this period is not regulated, the room is not ventilated, and lighting is also not needed. The incubation period lasts from 20 to 60 days, sometimes up to 120 days. During this period, shiitake mycelium colonizes the substrate, and then absorbs its nutrients for a long period.

Two stages of overgrowing of the substrate with mycelium can be distinguished. The first stage is the white block phase. After complete colonization of the substrate, it becomes white. Then the block becomes brown - the brown block phase begins.

Once the entire block turns brown, fruiting can begin to be initiated.

GROWING SHIITAKE - FRUITING

To initiate fruiting of shiitake, substrate blocks are carefully removed from plastic bags and placed in cold water for 2-3 days. After this, the substrate blocks are placed indoors for subsequent fruiting.

The blocks must be placed in such a way that fruiting occurs on all sides. During this period, the humidity in the room should be maintained at 85-90%, and the temperature within 20? C.

The room should be well lit and regularly ventilated. Natural lighting can be used, but when growing shiitake in basements, artificial lighting must be used. After 7-14 days, the rudiments of mushrooms appear, and after another 7-14 days, fully formed mushrooms appear.

Shiitake, like oyster mushrooms, bears fruit in waves. Each subsequent wave of fruiting occurs within 2-3 weeks. In total, it is advisable to collect up to 3 waves of harvest.

The entire fruiting cycle lasts from 8 to 16 weeks, depending on the size of the block. Shiitake mushrooms can be grown extensively, which is carried out on stumps or sawn logs. An intensive method is also suitable, when wood or plant raw materials and nutrient solutions are used. In the middle zone, to obtain mushrooms, you will need rooms in which humidity and temperature can be regulated.

The extensive method requires cuttings of deciduous trees, for example, chestnut, oak, beech, and hornbeam. To grow tasty and healthy shiitake mushrooms, stumps are prepared when sap flow stops in the trees, in late autumn or early spring.

It is during this period that the maximum nutrients accumulate in the wood. When choosing trees, you need to carefully inspect the wood. Trees with signs of damage and disease should not be taken.

Logs with a diameter of 10-20 cm are cut, then they need to be cut into stumps 1-1.5 meters long. After that, they are put in a woodpile and covered with burlap. They need to be left there for 1-3 months before sowing.

The logs should be moistened 4-5 days before sowing the mycelium. Shiitake will bear fruit if the temperature was between 13-16 degrees and the wood moisture level was 35-60%. If mushrooms will be grown in the fresh air, then this place should be protected from direct rays of the sun and wind. Mycelium for sowing should be purchased only from trusted suppliers. Before sowing, holes are drilled in the stumps to a depth of 3-5 cm and a diameter of 1.2 cm.

They are placed in a checkerboard pattern, leaving a step of 20-25 cm, and the distance between the rows should be 5-10 cm. The finished recesses are filled with mycelium. The mycelium is covered with wooden plugs with a diameter 1-2 mm smaller than that of the holes.

Then the logs with mycelium are again placed in a woodpile indoors or outdoors under a canopy. The development of the mycelium lasts from six months to one and a half years. Germination requires a temperature of 20-25 degrees, and a wood moisture content of at least 35%. To prevent the woodpile with stumps from drying out, it is regularly watered with water from sprinklers.

The end of the incubation period occurs when white spots of mycelial hyphae appear. The logs need to be soaked in water for 12-20 hours in the warm season or for 2-3 days in the cold season. Then the logs need to be covered with a cloth that protects them from light.

It is removed after the formation of fruiting bodies. Fruiting lasts 1-2 weeks. One sown stump is suitable for growing shiitake for up to 5 years.

Growing mushrooms in an apartment

Substrate for shiitake: preparation and varieties

The substrate is the nutritional basis on which mushrooms will grow. The first thing you need to grow shiitake mushrooms is suitable wood. Suitable trunks are beech, oak, chestnut or, for example, hornbeam.

It is better to harvest stumps for subsequent colonization by a fungal colony in early spring, when the leaves have not yet begun to sprout and the level of natural sugars in the wood is highest. The tree must be healthy, without obvious defects in the bark and not affected by other crops (tinder fungus or lichens). About a week before sowing your mushroom plantation, dry wood should be sawn into bars 30-40 cm long and soaked in water or boiled for an hour.

The main thing is that at the time of sowing mushrooms on it, the humidity of the tree is at least 15, but not more than 70%. To prevent the wood from drying out, it can be wrapped in polyethylene.

The temperature in the room where mushroom colonies will grow should be approximately +16°C, while mushrooms prefer a noticeable change in temperature between day and night (but the temperature at night should not be lower than +10°C). It is necessary to drill into the block at the same distance ( approximately 10 cm) from each other a series of small holes - about 10 mm in diameter and 6 cm in depth. Shiitake mycelium (mycelium) is poured into these holes.

Then the holes are closed with cotton wool moistened with clean water. The process of colonizing a tree with mycelium is otherwise called inoculation. If mushrooms are grown in the garden, then you should choose a shaded area, and bury the stumps with mycelium two-thirds into the ground so that the tree does not dry out. Mushrooms can live on stumps for several years, until the wood is completely depleted and disintegrates into dust.

Technology for growing shiitake on sawdust

If it is not possible to grow shiitake on bars, then another method will come to the rescue - mushrooms can be grown on sawdust. To harvest one mushroom block with a volume of 2.5 liters, you will need about 1 kg of wood.

In order to increase the nutritional value of the habitat of the mushroom colony, bran, pomace remaining during the production of beer, and cereal grains are added to the sawdust. A block of such enriched sawdust is not perennial; the entire period from inoculation to the end of fruiting takes up to 6 months. When choosing a substrate, you should not use sawdust from coniferous trees as a basis; the high resin content in their wood prevents the growth and reproduction of mycelium.

Sawdust for growing shiitake should not be too small - this will impede the flow of air for the mushrooms. The collected sawdust is subjected to heat treatment to prevent the colonization of the substrate by other fungi and bacteria. To do this, it is enough to keep the sawdust in boiling water for an hour. To introduce the mycelium, it is simply poured into a container containing a ready-made substrate, covered with plastic wrap and left for several days.

The optimal temperature, which will significantly facilitate the colonization process of fungi, will be 20 ° C. In the future, when the mycelium sprouts and begins to bear fruit, it can be reduced to 16-17°C during the day and 12-14°C at night. As the mycelium grows, the substrate changes color when the mushrooms have finally sprouted onto new territory, the substrate turns white. Shiitake can be grown on sawdust

Technology for growing mushrooms on straw

Some people use barley or oat straw as a substrate for shiitake. The technology for growing mushrooms on straw is not too different from the above methods, such as growing on stumps.

The straw is also sterilized in boiling water for up to 2 hours to avoid contamination by other fungal colonies or bacteria. To prevent the straw from boiling, it must be placed in a cloth bag. After the sterilized substrate has cooled, it is mixed with mycelium in a proportion of 30-50 g of planting material per bag.

It is better to fill the bag in layers - a layer of straw, then a mycelium, another layer of straw, and so on. In the future, you can expect up to three waves of harvest from one straw block. The resulting mixture is distributed into plastic bags in the amount of 3-5 kg ​​per bag, a number of holes are made in the polyethylene for ventilation, and the bag with mycelium is placed in a container with water.

It will be better if you press the bag on top with a press (a couple of ordinary bricks or ceramic tiles will do) so that the substrate is constantly in the water. The process of colonization and germination of fungi in a straw substrate lasts up to two weeks.

After this period, when colonization of the fungi is complete, two-thirds of the bag must be freed from the film. It is necessary to moisten the straw as needed to prevent the mushroom colony from drying out. Shiitake cultivation can occur almost anywhere as long as proper thermal balance is maintained.

A barn, a summer kitchen, a lawn in the garden on which there are mushroom stumps, a forest clearing... Mushrooms grow quite slowly compared to other similar mushroom crops like oyster mushrooms, but at the same time they are unpretentious, since in the homeland of shiitake, in Central Asia, its period intensive growth coincides with the rainy season. Immediately before harvesting (if mushrooms are grown indoors), it is better to reduce the humidity level to 60%.

Thanks to this procedure, the film on the surface of the mushrooms will become denser and tougher, which will allow you to collect the mushrooms without damaging them. At the time of inoculation, shiitake mushrooms are susceptible to infections in the form of bacteria competing with them, but a well-sterilized substrate will save you from this problem. Too high humidity can negatively affect the quality of the crop, so best options there will still be cultivation of shiitake mushrooms indoors, where external factors environment easier to control. Many delicious and healthy dishes can be prepared from shiitake.

Due to its value, in many countries the development of shiitake cultivation technologies has already acquired the character of flow production. And if you decide to start growing mushrooms yourself, then it will not be difficult to buy shiitake mycelium of different varieties - many mushroom farms and online stores sell it, usually in the form of compressed sticks.

Methods of intensive and extensive cultivation of shiitake. In its homeland, Japan, shiitake is considered one of the most valuable mushrooms. Its healing properties and excellent taste have long been noted there. A long time ago, it was grown on Japanese plantations that grew around areas where shii trees grew, where its spores were carried by self-sowing.

Gradually, the places where the mushroom settled were furnished with log houses of the same type, and the borders of the plantations were protected by a high fence. Thin, fresh trunks, one and a half meters long, were placed crosswise, fixing the vertical position with the help of support on a raised horizontal leg. Over time, fungal spores were carried by winds from neighboring logs with ripened shiitakes. Caring for such plantations came down to timely harvesting and periodic replacement of fruit-bearing logs with new, fresh logs.

Over time, the fame of shiitake has spread far beyond Japan. Of course, modern methods The cultivation of this mushroom has become significantly improved. The methods of intensive cultivation of shiitake used today can achieve effective results, but require a more thorough approach.

In the conditions of the middle zone, shiitake can be grown both in artificial conditions, and in an open environment. At the same time, in addition to the traditional log house, it is possible to use various substrate blocks of your own or purchased ready-made from manufacturers.

Growing shiitake in log houses

Thanks to a specific enzyme that decomposes tannins (tannase), shiitake has a significant advantage over other types of mushrooms when developing wood. To grow it in the Russian climate, oak logs, as well as other local tree species, are mainly used.

Log houses are prepared in late autumn (a month after leaf fall) or early spring before the weather warms up and the buds open. During this period, the maximum amount of carbohydrates available to the fungus accumulates in the wood. In addition, the bark is attached tightly enough, which minimizes the risk of infection by mold fungi.

In autumn, oak can be cut down when its foliage turns reddish. It is advisable to select trunks with a diameter of 10 to 25 cm. After this, the prepared log houses should lie for about a month and a half, after which they are sawed into meter-long logs.

Sowing shiitake spores into wood (inoculation) is carried out using grain mycelium. To do this, you need to drill 20 mm holes along the side surfaces of the chocks, 6-8 cm deep with an interval of 6 cm.

With clean hands, grain mycelium is stuffed into them and compacted so that it is recessed by 1 cm relative to the surface. The mycelium consumption will be at least 0.2 kg/1 linear m. To prevent the mycelium from spilling out, cover the infected areas with wood shavings and cover them with garden varnish or seal them with tape.

An alternative this method wood contamination is the use of wooden wedges or wood chips contaminated with mycelium. To do this, they must first be kept in a substrate with developing fungal mycelium, or use a commercial ready-made option.

To introduce infected wood fragments into chocks, deep splits are made along them in a fan-shaped manner, reaching almost to the center. You can prevent infection of the inoculation site by tying the log house with plastic film.

Growing shiitake on substrate

The yield of shiitake on substrate blocks is significantly higher compared to the results of growing on logs. You can purchase ready-made substrate mixtures or prepare them yourself.

First substrate option. To prepare the substrate, you need to mix chopped straw, sawdust from deciduous trees (preferably oak, hornbeam) and rice bran in equal parts. Then starch, corn and soy flour are added to the mixture in a volume of 0.5% by weight of the substrate. To soften these components, slaked lime (0.5%) and water (70%) are added.

Second substrate option. Wheat straw, chopped into pieces 5 cm long, is kept in water for several days. After this, 10% gypsum (based on the weight of dry straw) and bird feather flour (3%) are added to it. The mixed mixture is poured with water (80%).

The soaked components of the substrate absorb a sufficient amount of water within 5 minutes, adding about 30% of the original weight. Excess water is drained through a colander, and the remainder is carefully squeezed out by hand.

The prepared substrate is packaged in polyethylene rectangular bags (25x40 cm). Each of them can hold approximately 1.5 kg of moistened substrate mixture.

Before tying the top of the bags, you need to prepare padding polyester plugs. To do this, the synthetic winterizer is cut into strips measuring 40x7 cm and rolled into tight rolls, fixing their condition with a winding of thread. These plugs are inserted into the neck of the bags and then tied with twine.

At the next stage of preparing substrate blocks, they must be pasteurized to destroy fungal mold spores. To do this, the bags with the substrate are placed in a lidded boiling pot with boiling water and boiled for 2-3 hours. In this case, it is necessary to maintain a constant volume of water so that its level is just below the place where the neck is ligated. Then the substrate is removed and left to cool for a day. To be on the safe side, it is recommended to repeat this procedure the next day.

When the substrate has completely cooled down to ambient temperature (25°C), the neck of the bag is untied and about 20 g of grain mycelium is added per block weighing 2.5 kg.

After this, the padding polyester roll is reinserted into the neck of the bag and tightened with a rope. To maintain normal air exchange, holes of 5 mm in diameter are cut on the sides of plastic bags at intervals of 3 cm.

Method of intensive cultivation of shiitake

Most effective result from growing shiitake can be achieved by maintaining infected substrate blocks in greenhouse conditions. This method is more labor-intensive and expensive, but also more reliable.

To incubate shiitake mycelium, infected substrate blocks in bags are placed in boxes and transferred to the greenhouse. Here they must be kept at constant temperature conditions at a level of 15-17°C and regular ventilation. Creating such optimal conditions allows you to avoid souring and overheating of the substrate. The light mode at this stage is not so important. The duration and intensity of illumination does not affect the development of the substrate by mycelium.

After 2 months, the mushroom mycelium will begin to protrude on the surface of the substrate, forming white spots. And by this time the substrate itself will turn into a monolithic mass (block). Now is the time to remove the substrate blocks from the boxes in which they were previously located, moisten them and place them on the racks.

From this moment on, the greenhouse regime is set to a temperature of 18°C ​​and a humidity of 90%. Now illumination plays an extremely significant role. Normal development of fruiting bodies occurs when daylight hours are more than 12 hours. To do this, it is necessary to turn on additional lighting with fluorescent lamps with an intensity of 120 lux.

In addition, you must not forget about regular air exchange and arrange regular ventilation or turn on ventilation. This is necessary to get rid of the gases released by the mycelium, the accumulation of which leads to inhibition of the development of fruiting bodies.

After the formation of fungal primordia, the humidity of the environment is reduced to 80%. In more humid conditions, the stems of the mushrooms become very elongated, and the caps remain underdeveloped and small.

The temperature conditions for further cultivation of shiitake in a greenhouse depend on the specific race of the mushroom. For example, the cold-loving race develops well at 18C. In conditions of elevated temperatures, fruiting deteriorates significantly, as does the quality of the mushrooms themselves. Their caps become thin, brittle, and their taste deteriorates.

Under greenhouse growing conditions, the shiitake mushroom bears fruit in waves. The first harvest is the most abundant. It accounts for up to 70% of the weight of the total harvest. The second wave of the harvest reaches only a quarter of the previous one. Coming in a few months, the last harvest wave will be represented by literally a few units of fruiting bodies. Without waiting for final ripening, as soon as the caps become convex, you can cut off all the mushrooms at the base of the stem.

When using this method of effectively cultivating shiitake, the average yield is about 20% by weight of the wet substrate.

Growing shiitake in the garden
Shiitake mushroom is quite adapted to the open climatic conditions of the middle zone. It is successfully grown in garden plots during warm seasons.

On the log house

Logs infected with fungal mycelium through drilled holes are immediately installed in a permanent fruiting place. The duration of incubation can be from 1 to 3 years, and the lifespan of shiitake on log houses is 5-8 years.

The material prepared in this way is laid on the ground, covered with a layer of peat or straw and covered with plastic film. The log houses are periodically moistened. When the daytime air warms up to 25°C, the mycelium begins to germinate.

In the fall, logs mastered by mycelium are brought into a cool, dark basement for winter storage. In the spring they are returned to their original places. With the onset of warmth, active formation of fruiting bodies begins. Wave fruiting will last until mid-autumn, but the most abundant and high-quality shiitake crop is harvested in the spring.

At the end of the third year of fruiting, the logs are moved to a dry, dark room, where they are laid out in stacks. After keeping them for two months, they are watered abundantly and again taken out into an open, illuminated environment for fruiting.

This method is quite simple, but its effectiveness depends significantly on the season, weather conditions and other external factors. The maximum yield of shiitake when grown in log houses in open conditions does not exceed 15% of the weight of the wood.

On substrate blocks

Substrate blocks prepared over the winter, infected with shiitake mycelium, will bear fruit in open conditions from the beginning of April to the end of October. Dense blocks can be moved, changing the growing area, watered, immersed in water in between harvest waves. Collected mushrooms can be frozen and dried, significantly increasing shelf life.

The principle of installing substrate blocks for growing shiitake in open conditions differs from the technique described earlier. In this case, before installation, the substrate blocks are removed from plastic bags and washed under running cold water. After this, they are immediately placed in a permanent place directly on the ground.

For growing mushrooms, it is advisable to choose a shaded place. When caring for substrate blocks, daily watering is necessary, especially after the formation of fruiting bodies.

In the hot, dry season, to stimulate the development of mycelium, plastic caps (inverted, untied packaging bags) are placed over the blocks. When the first mushrooms appear, they are removed and the substrate is abundantly moistened.

To simplify the pasteurization procedure for self-prepared blocks for growing shiitake in open conditions, this process can be done locally. To do this, use a 200 liter metal barrel placed on a fire. It is filled ¼ with water, above the level of which the grate is securely fixed (for example, on bricks). Substrate blocks are laid out on it in several tiers. Then the barrel is covered with a lid and the fire is lit. Thus, the substrate is steamed in a water bath for 6 hours.

When picking mushrooms, first cut off their caps and then remove the remaining “stumps”. If, after the final harvest of the first harvest wave, the weight of a substrate block with a volume of 2.5 liters is less than 0.8 kg, it needs to be soaked for several days until its weight increases to 2 kg.

The operational life of the substrate block is up to 6 waves of fruiting. Then it begins to crumble and fruiting stops.

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