To grow mycelium of mushrooms, and not to buy it, is the dream of many mushroom growers. Now you can buy it without problems, but finding a quality product is not easy. The reason is that its manufacturers grow mycelium on an industrial scale, and sell it in bulk, as a result, they often do not have time to monitor the quality of the product.
To get a decent crop of mushrooms, you need a good seed. Getting mycelium is a complex matter and may not succeed at the slightest deviation from technology. Mycelium is mainly grown on grain, it is obtained by planting a cereal substrate with a uterine culture.
Mycelium Growing Technology
Growing mycelium used for growing mushrooms requires 3 phases:
1. Uterine mycelium. Product obtained from fungal spores in specially designed laboratories. Each batch is strictly controlled for real compliance with the declared strain;
2. The intermediate mycelium. Pre-prepared uterine culture, transplanted from test tubes into a special nutrient medium, so get a special culture, which is needed for further obtaining mycelium;
3. Sowing mycelium. It is necessary for growing commodity mushrooms, sometimes it (as a carrier of the necessary strain) is used instead of uterine mycelium. Produced on a cereal cereal substrate.
Quality mycelium comes only from laboratories, medium-quality mycelium can be grown at home. This will require special materials and laboratory tools:
• Test tubes;
• tweezers;
• Thermometer;
• Pipettes;
• Agar-agar.
During the preparation of equipment and premises, first of all, it is necessary to create hygienic conditions and sterilize instruments.
Self-cultivation of mycelium is produced in 2 ways. The first is for a full cycle. Uterine mycelium is grown from pure spores or particles of the necessary fungus.
To obtain the uterine mycelium from the cap of the mushroom, a small piece is cut out in the area without rot. Before replanting spores in a nutrient medium, I dip it in hydrogen peroxide to kill pathogenic microorganisms. Next, a piece of mushroom is placed in a test tube with agar-agar, this operation is carried out on the flame of an alcohol burner. The tube is tightly closed with a burnt cork; during the operation, it cannot be placed on the table surface. Test tubes are transferred to a dark room in which they maintain a temperature of 240 degrees.
You can prepare the nutrient medium yourself, for this you need to take carrot, oatmeal or potato agar-agar. It is poured into clean tubes and sterilized, then the tubes are laid obliquely so that the liquid occupies the maximum area. When the tubes have cooled, they placed particles of the fungus.
The nutrient mixture that is needed to grow mycelium can be prepared in another way:
• A still hot agar-agar solution is distributed in Petri dishes, each measuring 10 ml of the nutrient composition with a pipette. It is necessary to pour it so that at the bottom of the bowl the mixture is evenly distributed;
• After this, the solution cups are sterilized for 20 minutes by placing them in an autoclave and maintaining a temperature of 120 degrees in it;
• After this, you can sow the fungal spores on a nutrient solution.
When performing such work, it is necessary to maintain complete sterility. The table is treated with a solution of sagrotan in a concentration of 2%. The work is done with sterile or burnt instruments on an open fire. All work needs to be done in an organized and as fast as possible.
Then the resulting mycelium needs to be propagated - to grow a clean intermediate mycelium. It is necessary to take 1 share of grain and pour it with 2 parts of water, all boil for 15 minutes. Then the grain is dried and calcium carbonate and gypsum are added to it. Prepared grain is poured into a 2/3 glass jar and sterilized. Several particles of uterine mycelium are placed in grain jars. Crops will develop for 2-3 weeks, this substrate is able to be stored at a temperature of 0-10 degrees for 3 months. If necessary, you can pack the resulting product in plastic bags.
Intermediate mycelium - a special substrate with fungal hyphae that developed on it, is used to grow the mycelium used to produce commodity mushrooms. The developed product looks like a white coating with the smell of mushrooms.
The seed mycelium is obtained using the same technology as the intermediate one. On a jar of 1 liter capacity, it is enough to add 1 spoon of intermediate mycelium. This product is necessary for sowing the substrate, which is used to obtain marketable mushrooms.
What should be the room
It is necessary to choose a suitable room, it is necessary that it is clean and it is convenient to clean up it. To obtain high-quality seed, you need to maintain a certain level of humidity, best within 60-70%. Excessive moisture in the air will cause the development of pathogenic (harmful) microorganisms. In addition, it is necessary to maintain the required temperature in the room within 20-24 degrees. The area of the workspace should not be less than 2 m2, but the spacious room will not do much good, it will be more difficult to disinfect and it will be difficult to keep it clean.
It is important not to forget that many harmful microbes enter the air with dust, for this reason it is necessary to eliminate any source of dust, and often do wet cleaning. In addition, powerful artificial ventilation equipped with a good air filter will help in the fight against dust. For work on growing mycelium, you will need a convenient table where you need to install a powerful lighting device.
What spores are grown on
As nutritional compounds for growing mushrooms, mycologists (scientists studying mushrooms) recommend the use of such media:
1. Wort agar. Enter 20 g of agar-agar in a liter jar of beer wort, the mixture is boiled until the agar-agar is completely dissolved. The resulting mixture until it has cooled, is distributed into test tubes (pour 1/3 of the total volume). Cork with cotton plugs and kept in an autoclave at a temperature of 101 degrees and a pressure of 1.5 atmospheres ½ hour. When the tubes are sterilized, they are placed obliquely on the table, so that the liquid does not reach the cork a few centimeters and, when solidified, occupies the maximum area;
2. Oat agar. Agar 15 gr., Oat flour 30 g are mixed, and all 970 ml of water is diluted. This composition is boiled for 1 hour, constantly stirring, and then passed through a Gause filter;
3. Carrot agar. Agar-agar 15 gr., Carrot extract 400 ml are mixed, and all is diluted in 600 ml of water. All is cooked for 30 minutes, after which it is passed through a filter.
In addition to such nutrient mixtures, several other less common formulations are also used to obtain a uterine culture. Most often, mycelium is grown on wort agar. After the finished mixture has completely cooled, it is inoculated with spores of fungi in sterile conditions.
