Not all varieties of these mushrooms can be grown at home in basements or on the balcony. For such purposes, only a certain variety of honey agarics is chosen - winter honey agaric, which is very popular in Asian countries due to the presence in the composition of an impressive amount of nutrients that prevent the development of oncological diseases. Young caps of such honey mushrooms can be eaten raw, adding to any cold snacks without preliminary cooking. As for the legs of "wild" mushrooms, they are practically not used for food because of their rigidity. Honey mushrooms grown in an artificial environment, where certain parameters of humidity and temperature were strictly observed, turn out to be much tastier.
Description of mushrooms honey agarics
Winter honey agaric can be found in forests even in late autumn. These mushrooms grow well at low temperatures, so experienced mushroom pickers can easily find them right up to the first snow. This type of honey agaric has its own distinctive features. The cap is colored yellow or light brown and has a diameter of no more than 8 cm. The surface of the cap is slightly damp and sticky, shiny in the sun.
The leg of the mushroom is velvety to the touch and looks oblong. The color of the stem is usually orange or dark brown. The pulp of the mushroom is yellow or white in color. Old mushrooms taste tough and hard to digest.
Home grown mushrooms can be pale in color if they do not receive enough light during growth. However, the nutrients in them are well preserved even after boiling. Honey mushrooms that grew in high containers are characterized by long elongated legs.
Honey agaric cultivation technology
Homemade mushrooms can be grown in greenhouses or basements, even under low light conditions. As a substrate block, you can use purchased containers from a store or make them yourself.
To make a two-liter block, you will need about 200 grams of sawdust of any tree species. Shavings from a planer are perfect, in which you can add sunflower husks, as well as small chips of branches. Then barley or pearl barley is added to this mixture. Sometimes grain is added. The resulting substrate is mixed with a small amount of lime flour or chalk.
The finished mixture is left to swell in water for about a few minutes, after which it is boiled for about an hour. This process creates an antibacterial environment in which all mold spores are killed. Excess water is drained, and the mushy mass is dried in the oven, while about 1/5 of the total volume of the original substrate is lost. Sometimes cooking is replaced by sterilization, which is carried out at a temperature of at least 90 degrees.
The processed mixture is packaged in ordinary glass jars or small plastic bags. The wrapped substrate is cooled to room temperature.
Crushed mycelium is poured into prepared packages with a substrate. They are tied with a rope and placed inside a cotton cork 3 cm thick. Measures for planting grain mycelium should be carried out strictly in a sterile environment.It is also necessary to leave a gap in the glass container in order to insert the cotton plug.
After sowing, the containers in which the mycelium is located are stored at a temperature of 12 to 20 degrees. The substrate will gradually change color, its density will increase. It will take about a month for the formation of the first tubercles of the fruiting bodies. Then the bags with mycelium are carefully moved to a place intended for future fruiting.
Winter mushrooms are grown at a temperature of 8 to 12 degrees, while the humidity in the room should be about 80%. If there is an elevated air temperature, then the containers with mushrooms must be immediately cooled. They are sent to storage in the refrigerator for several days. Shock chilling is sometimes allowed, in which containers are kept in a freezer for three hours.
In order for the mushrooms to actively begin to grow, the lids are removed from the cans and the corks from the cotton wool are removed. As a rule, the direction of growth of fruit bodies depends on the source of fresh air. Where it comes from, in that direction and mushrooms will grow. A mushroom bunch is formed in the substrate. In rooms with high air humidity, a plastic film is removed from the block, which allows mushrooms to grow in any direction. Over time, such a container with sown mycelium begins to resemble a cactus with needles in shape.
Honey mushrooms with long legs are much easier and faster to collect. Their length can be adjusted during fruiting. To do this, special paper collars are attached to the blocks, which are easy to cut out of the remaining packaging from the store substrate. Honey mushrooms with short legs are grown under intense light without collars.
Winter mushrooms feel great at any time of the year on glazed balconies or loggias, while maintaining their high yield. However, in the summer months, additional air humidification is still needed.
From all of the above, we conclude that the cultivation of winter mushrooms can be done independently at home without much effort. However, the fruiting bodies of the mushrooms should not be allowed to enter the fruit trees. Honey mushrooms have the unique ability to grow not only on dead wood, but also to settle on the bark of living trees, which can pose a serious threat to your garden plot.
