Cultivation of shiitake: methods, necessary conditions and recommendations for care

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Oyster mushrooms and champignons at home have been grown by many for a long time. Technologies for the care of such mushrooms are well known and can be applied with great success. However, you can grow your own, of course, not only oyster mushrooms or mushrooms. There are other types of mushrooms that can produce good yields at home. For example, growing shiitake can be quite a profitable business. Such mushrooms are simply excellent in taste and are considered relatively unpretentious.

A bit of history

In the east, shiitake is called the “mushroom of the sleeping Buddha”. The first mention of it refers to 199 BC. Initially, this mushroom was used mainly only as a medicine. In Japan, shiitake preparations were very expensive and only noble people could afford to buy them. Later, this mushroom began to be consumed simply as food. Some time later, the Japanese and Koreans developed methods for growing shiitake at home.

In 1969, from this mushroom, scientists wereisolated polysaccharide lentinan. A feature of this substance, among other things, is that it can slow down and even stop the growth of cancerous tumors.

What is a mushroom

Shiitake belongs to the class Agaricomycetes, to the Negniyunchik family. From Japanese, its name translates as "mushroom growing on a shii tree." Outwardly, shiitake is not particularly remarkable. It grows on trees, but despite this it looks like any other forest mushrooms. That is, it has a hat and a leg.

The color of this mushroom is usually light brown. Shiitake's hat is convex lamellar. The stem of this fungus is straight fibrous, slightly tapering at the base. The plates of shiitake are white. When pressed, they change color to brown. In young mushrooms, the plates are covered with a protective film. Shiitake leg, depending on age, can have a length of 3 to 19 cm.

Growing methods

Like oyster mushrooms, shiitake mycelium can grow well on:

• logs;
• sawdust;
• straw.

It is these three methods of growing shiitake mushroom at home that are used most often. All these technologies in terms of productivity can give good results. Shiitake mycelium is able to form fruiting bodies in the same place for up to six years. After that, the material that was used for growing needs to be changed. For 6 years, from 1 m2 plantings of shiitake, you can collect up to 200-250 kg of mushrooms.

Log selection

Grow this mushroom on hardwood. You can infect with shiitake mycelium, for example, logs of oak, beech, elm. Also sometimes this mushroom is grown on birch or aspen. In any case, shiitake logs, of course, must be chosen correctly.

Winter harvested wood is best suited for this fungus. By the onset of cold weather, oaks, elms, birches, etc. accumulate a large amount of nutrients, which allows you to increase the yield of shiitake.

Winter wood for growing this mushroom is considered the most suitable. However, if necessary, summer logs can also be infected with shiitake mycelium. The main thing is that the wood is whole and undamaged - without rotten or dry areas. It is believed that for shiitake it is best to choose logs with a not too thick core. Moisture content of mushroom logs should not be less than 35% and more than 75%.

Conditions

The optimum temperature for growing shiitake is 20-22°C. In any case, the mycelium of this fungus is considered quite stable. Its mycelium can develop already at a temperature of 16 ° C. But it is still impossible to allow the temperature in the place of cultivation to drop below 10 ° C at night. Also, this fungus does not tolerate heating of the ambient air over 26 ° C. Shiitake slows growth at low temperatures. In the heat, these mushrooms begin to stretch. The legs of mushrooms grown in such conditions will be very thin, and the caps will be small.

Humidity when cultivating such a mushroom will also have tomaintain at a certain level. The most suitable indicator for shiitake in this case is 35-50%.

Where to place the "beds"

Summer logs for growing shiitake are often laid just outside. But they do this only in regions with a fairly mild and humid climate. In areas with a sharply continental shiitake, they are usually grown all year round in basements, heated sheds, etc. City dwellers sometimes manage to get a crop of fruiting bodies and just on a shaded loggia.

Whatever room for such mushrooms is chosen, it must be well ventilated. On the street, "beds" with shiitake are placed in the shade of trees. In any case, logs with mycelium are laid in such a way that they do not touch the ground. Most often, such "beds" simply have a well. In this case, it will be easier to follow the conditions for growing shiitake in the future.

Landing

The selected logs are infected with shiitake mycelium using a fairly simple technology. Mycelium is laid in holes drilled in wood to a depth of 30-40 cm. Such nests are made with a drill with a thickness of at least 8 mm. Holes for shiitake mycelium are arranged on a log in a checkerboard pattern. At the same time, a gap of 20 cm is left between the rows, and 10 cm between the nests.

The acquired mycelium of the fungus is placed in pieces in the holes and lightly tamped. Next, the nests are closed with wooden plugs using a hammer. From above, the clogged holes are additionally smeared with paraffin.

Cultivation of shiitake mushrooms at homeconditions: how to harvest

The logs infected with mycelium are simply left alone for some time. To get a harvest of fruiting bodies, first of all, of course, you need to wait for the mycelium to spread through the wood. The incubation period for shiitake can last from 6 to 18 months, depending on the thickness of the log. Such "beds" are considered ready for further processing when the spots of mycelium are already very clearly visible on the cut.

As soon as the mycelium begins to come out, stimulate the formation of fruit cases. To do this, the logs are either soaked in water, or simply irrigated for a long time. After completing this procedure, it remains only to wait for the harvest of mushrooms. Shiitake mycelium can bear fruit up to 2 times a year. After each wave, the logs with the mycelium of this mushroom are soaked again.

Features of growing on sawdust and straw

Growing shiitake at home on logs in this way is not too difficult. The main thing when using this technology is to try to maintain the level of humidity and temperature necessary for the mycelium. The main difficulty in applying this technique may be the purchase of the actual logs themselves and their placement. Such material, of course, is large in size, and therefore, the room for it needs a large one.

In a small cellar or basement, shiitake, of course, is best grown on sawdust or straw. Such a substrate is previously simply packed tightly into plastic bags. Further, heas in the first case, it becomes infected with mycelium.

When using this method, the mycelium creates the same conditions as when planting on logs. There are many recipes for preparing shiitake substrates. But most often, a nutrient medium for the mycelium of this fungus is created by mixing:

• oak sawdust - 7 parts;
• cereal grains - 9 parts;
• bran - 3 parts.

Oak sawdust, if desired, can be replaced with maple, birch, alder. Conifers for growing shiitake mushrooms are not recommended. Before preparing the substrate according to this recipe, all components are pre-crushed to a particle size of approximately 2-3 mm. A few chips are also added to the finished mixture to improve air exchange.

On straw, the substrate can be prepared according to the same recipe as on sawdust. It is also placed in the substrate in a ratio of 7 parts. In any case, before laying in bags, the nutrient mixture must be boiled and cooled. Otherwise, parasitic mycelium will subsequently begin to develop in it, which, in turn, will lead to the fact that the mycelium of the shiitake itself will simply die. The substrate can also be simply steamed before being bagged.

Growing Rules

After backfilling the substrate in bags according to the same principle as when growing on logs, holes are made and pieces of mycelium are laid inside. Ultimately, the ratio of mycelium to the mass of the nutrient mixture using this planting method should be 3-5%.

Substrate moisture when growing shiitake should be 50-65%. To test suitability, a small amount of the mixture can simply be squeezed in your hand. Water from the substrate in this case should not flow. After about 2 months of incubation, the bags with the laid mycelium are transferred to a cooler and more humid room. When using this technology, shiitake will bear fruit in the future for about 6 months. After that, the substrate will need to be changed. A new mixture is prepared after six months using the same technology as described above.

A few recommendations

Thus, even for beginners, growing shiitake at home is likely to be quite profitable. But when cultivating such a mushroom, in any case, of course, it is worth following some recommendations. Which? Consider below.

For example, for growing shiitake, experts advise using bags of not too large volume. The mycelium of this fungus spreads very slowly over the overall blocks. The optimal bag size for substrate blocks is 2.5 l.

Planting mycelium after sterilization of the substrate by boiling is possible only after the latter has cooled to room temperature. Experts do not recommend closing bags with a nutrient mixture and mycelium tightly. It is best to put the neck of a plastic bottle on the substrate first, and then tie polyethylene around it.