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Growing mushrooms in the country is becoming more and more popular. In addition to the ecological purity of self-grown mushrooms, you can get a lot of pleasure from the harvested crop and huge nutritional benefits. Usually summer residents decide to grow champignons, considering them unpretentious and the most delicate among mushrooms grown under artificial conditions. The mushroom yield is amazing. If you compare the amount of vegetables and mushrooms obtained from one area, then you will collect 4 times more mushrooms. It is convenient and profitable to grow champignons in the country.
The mushroom does not require active sunlight, so you can safely use shady spaces that are unsuitable for other crops. This species grows equally well in basements, greenhouses and in the open field. The only factor that you need to pay close attention to is the substrate for growing mushrooms. How to grow champignons in the country on your own and without mistakes?
We study the process of growing at their summer cottage
Before starting a new activity, you need to remember that champignon mushrooms cannot stand sunlight. To grow this type of mushroom, you need good ventilation and humidity. Therefore, you will have to choose a place for planting mushrooms taking into account these nuances. We find a suitable site. Many summer residents grow their mushrooms in the near-stem circles of the orchard or just in the vegetable garden. In the summer heat, it is difficult to provide the necessary conditions for growing mushrooms. Fruiting bodies of mushrooms grow massively in a narrow temperature range from + 15 ° C to + 18 ° C and a high percentage of humidity (90%). Therefore, you can count on a good harvest only before the onset of the heat at the beginning of summer or after its decline - in the fall. But the cultivation of champignons in the country in a greenhouse allows you to pick mushrooms regardless of external weather conditions and at any time of the year.
On the selected site, we place small trenches with the following parameters - length and width of 1 meter, and a depth of 30 cm. Dimensions are given for ridges planned in open ground. We fill the dug trenches with mullein or manure, but on top be sure to lay a layer of sod land, then the substrate.
We are preparing a substrate or soil mixture for planting champignons in a summer cottage. Preparation takes a month and a half.
- The most optimal composition for mushrooms is horse manure. In second place is straw cow. First, the manure is shaken up with a pitchfork, and then enriched with urea or ammonium sulfate in a proportion of 25 g of substance per 10 kg of manure.
- In this composition, the manure is kept for 10 days, shovel again and chalk is added. Its amount is taken at the rate of 65 g per 10 kg of substrate. The mixed mushroom mixture must be folded into a pile and compacted from the sides.
- The next time the composition is shoveled after 8 days, while adding superphosphate in an amount of 10 g and gypsum - 60 g for every 10 kg.
- Now it remains to wait for the mushroom composition to acquire a light brown hue and begin to disintegrate, without emitting the smell of ammonia. The matured substrate is very densely laid out on a dug up bed 1.2 m wide.
The matured substrate for mushrooms is laid in trenches. This is the most convenient moment to provide the champignons with protection from drafts. On the north side of the trench, it is good to strengthen the glass, which protects from the freezing wind. A canopy over the garden will come in handy, which will save the mushrooms from the rain and active sun.It can be made from ordinary plastic wrap. After equipping the beds, the substrate is left on it for a week, periodically compacting.
Cooking mushrooms for planting
While the substrate is going through the maturation stage, we will start acquiring the mushroom mycelium.
Mycelium can be purchased from specialist shops and mushroom gardening communities. You need to use the purchased material strictly following the instructions.
It is difficult to determine the suitability of purchased raw materials, because it is stored exclusively in the cold. The best guideline will be the deadline indicated on the package. At home, you also need to place the mushroom mycelium in a room with a temperature not exceeding + 10 ° C. Only a couple of days before the intended planting, the packaging is taken out and transferred to heat (22 ° C).
If the spores of the mushrooms are alive, then after 2 days the first signs of mushroom growth in the package will appear:
- characteristic mushroom aroma;
- spider web on the content;
- increase in the moisture content of the mycelium.
When these signs are absent, then you can try to "revive" the mycelium.
It is transferred to a container, covered with a newspaper sheet and moistened with a spray bottle, being careful not to wet the mycelium. The newspaper is kept moist all the time, and the container is placed in a warm place. This creates ideal moisture conditions for the fungus.
If, after the procedures performed, signs of fungus life do not appear, then such a mycelium is unsuitable for planting.
Another nuance - we prepare the soil mixture in advance to cover the mycelium. This stage takes 20-25 days. For the mixture, prepare 1 part of sand and sod land and twice as much peat (2 parts). Stir and leave until the mushrooms emerge.
The crucial moment - we sow mushrooms and harvest
The bed is ready, the substrate is also, the mycelium is checked for suitability, we proceed to planting. We place the spores of the mushrooms to a depth of 5 cm. You will need to put 20 g of mycelium in each well. Sowing champignons is carried out in a checkerboard pattern, the planting pattern is 20x20 cm.Immediately water the garden bed and cover it with paper, cloth or other materials at hand.
After 2-3 weeks, mycelium threads appear on the surface, cover them with a soil layer of a pre-prepared mixture 4 cm thick, and remove the covering material.
If at this time very few filaments (hyphae) of fungi appeared, then the reason is insufficient moisture of the substrate or its temperature below the permissible level. The substrate is moistened through a layer of paper, and heated by the compaction method.
Now we have to wait at least 25 days before picking the first mushrooms. As soon as the diameter of the caps is 3-4 cm, the first crop can be harvested.
The yield of champignons in the country is 5 kg per 1 sq. m beds. The fruiting process of mushrooms will last 2-3 months.
There is a way to grow mushrooms in the country without buying mycelium.
- You will need to find mature forest mushrooms and use a twisting motion to remove them from the soil.
- Dig a trench in advance on the site and fill it with a mixture of manure and straw. The depth of the trench is 25 cm. Sprinkle everything on top with good garden soil.
- Finely chop the mushroom caps and spread them over the surface of the substrate.
- Above, once again, a layer of earth with a thickness of 3 cm.
In a month we collect the first mushroom crop. You can leave a few mushrooms for later planting.
Greenhouse growing method
To increase the duration of mushroom picking, many summer residents grow champignons in a greenhouse. With this growing method, it is important to ensure reliable control of humidity, lighting and temperature in the greenhouse. There are also requirements for the substrate for indoor ground. Champignons grow well in soil:
- saturated with nutrients;
- well drained and permeable to air and moisture;
- without excess carbon dioxide.
If it is possible to place the mycelium in forest soil, then this is excellent. Otherwise, you will need to add a small amount of sawdust to the soil. For planting, take mycelium or caps of mature mushrooms.
If you decide to grow mushrooms in a greenhouse in winter, then leave free space between the beds and the wall. This will ensure that the mushrooms are not overcooled during the cold season.
Don't forget to ventilate the greenhouse! Champignons do not react well to heat. As soon as the first shoots of small mushrooms appear, you can proceed from watering to spraying. It is carried out twice a day, and the beds are watered once a week from a garden watering can to prevent root rot. Be sure to monitor temperature, humidity and ventilation.
The first collection of champignons may not be so big, but in the future you will be able to harvest a decent harvest of delicate and tasty mushrooms. If you have decided to start growing mushrooms in the country, then start with the preparatory stage in advance. Most of the time is spent on preparing the substrate, and it is easy to care for the beds.
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