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Mushrooms are healthy. They contain important vitamins and minerals, are rich in protein and contain hardly any carbohydrates or fat. The bottom line, however, is that mushrooms simply taste delicious. They are ideal for preparing side dishes, salads, casseroles, soups and for refining meat dishes. No wonder, then, that button mushrooms are among the most popular mushrooms. So what could be more obvious than growing the healthy, tasty mushrooms yourself?
mushrooms
All mushroom species known in Europe belong to the Agaricus variety. The most well-known wild mushroom is the meadow mushroom. However, it grows less and less in the native forests and there are high risk of confusion with toxic doubles. One more reason to rely on your own cultivation.
Well-known species are the white aniseed mushroom, the guinea fowl mushroom and the most impressive is the giant mushroom. Mainly white and brown cultivated mushrooms from the Agaricus bisporus family are commercially available.
way of life
The mushroom and all other fungi are not counted among the plants. Mushrooms do not contain chlorophyll and do not photosynthesize. They feed on organic substances and belong to the saprophytes.
Fungi often live in symbiosis with other plants, mainly trees. This symbiosis is a kind of community from which both sides benefit.
Mushrooms in your own garden
Every mushroom picker knows that mushrooms prefer the shade. This results in the most suitable spots for growing mushrooms in the garden, where hardly any other vegetable would feel at home. Mushrooms can even thrive under a hedge or right next to the compost.
Grow mushrooms
The mushroom loves the dark
Mushrooms also thrive in the dark and are therefore easy to grow in the cellar. All basement rooms are suitable that are not damaged by the resulting moisture even with regular watering of the mushroom cultivation.
Mushrooms are very demanding when it comes to temperature. Choose a dark room where you can consistently maintain a temperature of 15-20°C. The tasty mushrooms also grow in the light, however, they remain weed-free in the dark, which is a great advantage.
preparation
To grow mushrooms you will need
- a starter culture, the mushroom spawn
- a suitable substrate
- a plastic culture pot or a wooden box lined with foil
You can get fully prepared boxes with mushroom spawn on a suitable substrate in specialist shops. You can also set up the boxes in the apartment, because the temperature can be regulated via the lid. Chopped straw, wood or prepared mushroom substrate are recommended as a base for mushroom cultivation. The prepared sets contain all the materials you need to grow mushrooms and instructions.
mushroom culture
The mushroom culture is offered for mushroom cultivation as grain spawn or dowel spawn. In a grain brood, the fungal network, the mycelium, has wrapped its threads around grain kernels. This grain spawn is mixed under the substrate.
In a so-called dowel spawn, standard wooden dowels are inoculated with the mushroom spawn. Experienced growers use strains inoculated with a mushroom spawn.
tip: When buying a ready-made mushroom culture, give preference to manufacturers with a seal of approval.
substrate
Chopped straw, bark mulch, sawdust or coffee grounds are suitable substrates for your mushroom cultivation. Coffee grounds make an excellent substrate as they are produced as a free by-product in the home.
Make your own mushroom spawn
You can try out your own cultivation even without a starter set with starter culture and substrate from specialist shops. To do this, you will need leftovers of purchased mushrooms, as well as
Straw or wood or coffee grounds as a base.
Growing mushrooms: instructions
- Prepare a seed tray with a lid
- Spread the mushroom culture in the seed tray
- Cover the brood with substrate
- Cover the bowl with the lid
- Place the bowl in a dark room at a temperature of 15 to 20°C.
breeding care
Mushroom cultivation must now regularly moistened will. A spray bottle is suitable for this. Use lukewarm water without additives and quickly cover the bowl again after wetting.
First visible results
After a few days, a delicate white fuzz forms on the surface. This shows that the mycelium has penetrated the substrate. Shortly thereafter, small white dots appear, later small balls and then the small mushroom heads appear.
When the mushrooms are about two centimeters above the ground, you can remove the lid of the seed tray. Now it's time to wait. When the mushrooms are big enough, you can cut them off and eat them as usual.
After four months, everything starts all over again
With a single mushroom culture you can provide yourself with fresh mushrooms for four months.
Once you've got a taste for it and don't want to do without the exciting experience of growing your own mushrooms, you can simply start all over again.
However, before you lay out the new mushroom spawn, the seed tray must be thoroughly cleaned.
tip: When outside temperatures reach over 15°C, you can plant your mushroom cultivation in a shady place in your garden.
Completely without pesticides
Anyone who decides to grow the delicious mushrooms themselves also makes a contribution to health. While you have to rely on the manufacturer's information when you buy vegetables, you decide for yourself whether to use chemicals when you grow them yourself.