A wide variety of cellulose and lignin rich material can be utilise and growing media for mushroom cultivation, as well and composted organic matter and ooprtunities can be found for potential substrate in waste stream and by-products from businesses, industry and agriculture. The substrate will, more often than not, need to be treated in ways to reduce or eliminate competitor organism to the fungi of choice. There are also ways to enhance yeilds with additives and ammendments. Bulk processing of substrate can require a lot of space, labour, water and other resources. Maximising efficiency in this stage is the key to making a profitable income form mushroom cultivation and it is essential to understand the fungal needs in order to nurture the fungi through this vegetative stage of development.
Briquettes
Briquettes offer a smilar source source of substrate to wood pellets. Commercially available compacted sawdust easy to obtain and store. It is common to find oak and beech briquettes so…
Woodchip
Wood chips serve as an excellent substrate for growing various types of mushrooms, offering a sustainable and cost-effective option for home cultivators and commercial growers alike. The process involves inoculating…
Woodpellets
Wood pellets are mass produced for the biomass market through a process whereby the sawdust is passed through a pellet dye at high temperature and pressure. The act of compression…
Straw: Pellets
Possibly the easiest way to grow oyster mushrooms. You can also grow golden reishi on straw pellets. The method detailed below describes slight variations depending on the type of crop…
Straw: Lime Pasteurisation
Using lime, calcium hydroxide (CaHO2) to create a highly alkaline solution that effectively kills most microorganisms. By adding 12g per 100l of water you will increase the pH of the water…
Brown Rice Flour and Vermiculite Cakes
This is a technique for growing many different species of medicinal and gourmet mushrooms indoors relatively quickly. The porus structure of the vermiculite provides the surface area for the fungal…
Casing
A casing layer provide a moist porus structure for the primordia of the particular species of fungi to develop. It is a way of imitating an ideal soil structure. Some…
Enriched Sawdust Blocks
Sawdust can be used as growing medium either directly as a substrate, or, as spawn for other substrates such as logs, outdoor mushroom beds and straw. Depending on the species…
Straw: Pasteuristaion
Heat pasteurisation of straw is a commonly used technique by mushroom cultivators. It is a prcoiess of heating the substrate to approximately 70-74c for a period of time, usually 1…
Log Culture
The main considerations in basic log culture are what wood to use; the quality of wood and bark; when to fell. The question of what wood to use depends on…
Woodchip Bed Cultivation
Choosing a Location You are looking for a semi shaded spot in your garden, somewhere that you will pass often enough to notice when the mushrooms begin to grow. It…
