Simple instructions for a bountiful harvest or everything about growing champignons at home. Growing on peat

Even a novice mushroom picker can grow it; you just need to find out what conditions are important to create for growing such mushrooms.

Breeding

You can breed champignons in different ways, but taking into account the following features:

• The mycelium should be added to the substrate at a compost temperature of about +25+27 degrees.
• For incubation period the temperature is maintained at 22 to 25 degrees Celsius, and for the period when mushrooms appear, a temperature of 14 to 17 degrees is needed.
• Ventilation is not needed during the incubation period, but during fruiting it is very important to ventilate the room, since champignon is quite sensitive to excess carbon dioxide.
• Champignons do not need lighting.
• The collection of champignons is carried out by extracting the mushrooms along with the roots. Unscrew the mushroom and carefully separate it from the soil. Such a collection will not cause depletion of the mycelium.

Tools and materials you will need:

• Storage containers
• Shovel
• Polyethylene film
• Sprayer
• Scissors
• Sapka
• Irrigation hose
• Urea
• Compost
• Superphosphate

Mycelium

Most often, mycelium is purchased from trusted suppliers. It can be composted (more resistant to external factors) and grains (better quality). You can also purchase ready-made mycelium from companies that sell mycelium.

You can prepare raw materials for planting champignons yourself from overripe mushrooms. They are filled with water and left for a day so that the spores enter the liquid. The soil is evenly watered with this liquid and sprinkled with a 1-centimeter layer of soil.

You can also use wild mycelium for sowing, taking it from places where champignons grow in nature. The mycelium is mined in September - after removing 1-2 centimeters of soil, they take out pieces of soil (a square with a side of 10-30 cm) with mycelium threads, dry them a little and send them for storage in a cool room until spring. In spring it can be planted on summer cottage. This mycelium can also be propagated in a greenhouse or basement.

On the beds

The most inexpensive and simple method planting champignons, suitable for many mushroom pickers, is to grow them in ordinary horizontal beds, which are soil with fertilizers. Such beds are arranged in greenhouses, basements, shallow mines, old vegetable stores and similar premises.

An important condition for such premises is high humidity, and temperature regime is considered a minor factor that can be influenced by the use of heaters.

The method is considered quite profitable, therefore it is in demand among most farmers.

Its advantages:

• No need to buy trays.
• The beds are made very quickly.
• The usable area is used rationally.

But there are also many disadvantages:

• There is a high probability of infection (the premises cannot be cleaned, so infections are often brought from the street and on clothing) and its rapid spread throughout the garden.
• The bed is at an awkward height.

Stages of growing mushrooms in garden beds:

• Laying compost. You need to lay plastic film on a flat floor so that it retains moisture. Compost is spread onto this film, creating a layer about 30-40 cm thick.
• Sowing mycelium. Furrows are made in the compost and seeded with the acquired mycelium. You can also simply scatter the mycelium evenly on top, covering it with compost (a layer of about five centimeters).
• Watering. After sowing, the compost should be watered regularly and abundantly. Only with sufficient moisture will you get good mycelium growth.
• Collection. The champignon fruiting bodies, ready for harvest, appear after ten to twelve weeks.

At home

A more modern method of growing champignons is the shelf system, which is also called the Dutch method. It is based on the use of shelves and drawers. At rational use area with such a system, high-quality care is provided.

The main disadvantage of growing on shelves is the need to use quite expensive equipment. Such mushroom cultivation will be profitable only if you use good varieties with abundant frequent harvests. And it is precisely this high yield that makes the method quite profitable, because the labor costs for such cultivation will be two to three times less than when using horizontal rows.

The substrate is placed in plastic containers, which are laid out in rows. The method also provides drip irrigation, preventing infections from entering the lower containers from the upper rows.

In the basement

Growing mushrooms in basements is very convenient, because underground rooms have a relatively stable microclimate. In addition, it is much easier to create optimal conditions in basements than in greenhouses.

You can grow champignons even in an ordinary basement. It is desirable that such a basement should have:

• concrete walls;
• concreted or cemented floor;
• good ventilation.

To prevent pests from infecting mushrooms, it is recommended to cover the ventilation holes with nets, and treat the ceiling and walls with lime. If the basement is spacious enough, it can be divided into two zones - in one the incubation period of cultivation will take place, and in the second the fruiting bodies will be received. To maintain high humidity (85-90%), the floor in the basement is moistened.

In bags

Another method of growing champignons in the basement is the technology by which oyster mushrooms have been grown for a long time. It consists of using plastic bags. This method is practical and gives a good harvest, but does not require significant material investments.

Stages of growing champignon in bags:

• Substrate preparation. To get excellent raw materials for growing mushrooms, mix horse manure(15 kg), black soil (5-6 kg), straw (3 kg), mullein and sunflower husk (2 kg each). If you fill this mixture with water, you will see that it will heat up to a high temperature and burn out. Leave it for 20 days, then spread it out in a thin layer to dry.
• Sowing mushrooms. Having filled the bags to the top with the substrate and poured water on top of them, then you need to make holes in the polyethylene with a diameter of about ten centimeters. To avoid tearing the bag, such holes are made in a checkerboard pattern. Mycelium is placed in each cell.

With this technology, you save on containers, but at the same time get all the advantages of growing mushrooms on shelves.

If an infection gets into one bag, it needs to be disinfected or simply thrown away so that the bacteria does not get into neighboring bags.

The disadvantages include the rather labor-intensive first stage of cultivation, because a lot of manual labor is required to prepare the substrate, stuffing bags, moistening and other work.

You can also grow champignons in briquettes. They are compressed blocks based on manure, sawdust, husks, peat and other components in the required proportions, placed in polyethylene.

The undoubted advantage of this method is that there is no need to waste time and effort. The farmer receives the finished material in the form of rectangular or cylindrical briquettes. They can be placed in containers or hung on ropes.

After collecting 3-4 crops, the blocks are replaced with new ones. The yield of this method is quite high and stable.

The only disadvantages include the costs of the briquettes themselves.

At the dacha

You can grow champignons at your dacha in different places: in greenhouses, in the basement, and even just in beds in open ground. The location is not so important; it is much more important to achieve the conditions necessary for the appearance of mushrooms - a certain temperature, sufficient humidity, access to air and the absence of direct rays of the sun.

In the garden and in the garden

To grow mushrooms in the garden, it is important to choose a shaded place for them, in which nothing is grown.

Nice place there will be a north side of the site, for example, behind the house, where little sun gets and the humidity lasts longer. The beds are covered with a canopy, which serves as protection from rain and sun. With such cultivation, ventilation of the mushrooms will be natural, so the mycelium in the ground will not rot.

Significant expenses for growing mushrooms in the garden are not required. It is only important to properly prepare the compost, the basis of which will be manure (chicken or horse). Urea and hot water are added to the manure, after ten days it is shaken up, mixed with chalk and compacted a little. Another ten days after adding superphosphate, the manure is well compacted and waited for maturation (it should become light brown and crumbly).

A layer of manure 35 cm thick is laid on the prepared bed, dividing it into sections (squares with a side of 20 cm). The mycelium is planted at an air temperature of about +20 degrees to a depth of about 5 cm, after which it is sprinkled with a little compost, watered with water and covered with newspaper or polyethylene.

When the mycelium appears (after about 20 days), the cover is removed and a 3-centimeter layer of turf soil and peat is poured onto the bed. Expect the first mushrooms in 25 days. Collect them in a timely manner and water the beds with a watering can using warm water twice a week.

In the greenhouse

Champignons are considered unpretentious mushrooms that have enough high tempo growth. These parameters allow them to be grown in greenhouses. From one square meter in a greenhouse you can collect up to 30 kilograms of mushrooms at a time.

In a greenhouse, 3-7 harvests can be obtained per year. With this method of growing mushrooms, it is important to control humidity and temperature, use a good substrate, and also ensure that excess carbon dioxide is removed.

To ensure that the mycelium sprouts quickly, after sowing the soil is covered with polyethylene.

You need to water the crops before the first shoots - when they appear, spray the mushrooms twice a day.

At home

In a great way To grow mushrooms at home is to use aerated containers. Such containers were created by the Americans, providing them with the possibility of ventilation.

You can grow mushrooms using this method even in an apartment on the balcony. It is enough to buy a special container that has a tray and a lid. Such containers are filled with the same compost that we described when growing mushrooms in bags. Before laying the substrate, the container must be disinfected by keeping it in an oven at +200 degrees.

The mycelium is sown into the substrate, immersed 4-5 centimeters, after which the soil is moistened and the container is sent to warm place. This is an effective and convenient technique. As with growing in a bag, it makes it possible to easily localize the infestation. However, farmers rarely use the method due to the high cost of breeding (if we take into account industrial scale). But for home use the method is very good.

For more information on growing champignons in a container, see the following video instructions.

For sale (business)

When planning a business based on growing champignons, you need to consider two main issues:

• What will be the starting capital?
• What will the profitability be?

When calculating how much money you will need, decide on the desired volume of cultivation and your goals. Starting with growing mushrooms on the balcony, you need an investment of 10 to 50 dollars. You don’t need to count on any special income, but the result will be growing experience.

Those wishing to organize a large business need to start with a production volume that will produce 50-100 kg of mushrooms per day. This yield can be obtained on an area of ​​about 1000 m².

The profitability of mushroom cultivation is noted at 30-50%. It is influenced by growing conditions, production volume, energy consumption and other factors. Direct expenses will be the purchase of mycelium, compost, containers, public utilities, workers' salaries and others.

At home it is possible, provided there is space where this process will take place. The method of planting and propagating them is simple, but it will require significant labor and financial investments, which, in turn, directly depend on the volume of required products. If you decide to build a business on this, the costs will be impressive, but they will pay off much sooner than you think. When growing mushrooms in small volumes, the costs will be minimal. For what purposes you want to start this process, it’s up to you to decide; our recommendations will help you correctly organize the places for planting champignon mycelium; in video and photos we will show in what ways you can carry out your plan.

Agricultural technology for growing champignons

There are certain requirements that must be observed when growing any plants, these are the choice of planting site, preparation of the growing environment, soil substrate and planting care measures. Let's start, perhaps, from the very beginning.

Selection and preparation of a site

You can sow mushroom mycelium in open ground, in a greenhouse, in basements or outbuildings, the main conditions for the existence and growth of a plantation:

• constant air humidity - not lower than 75-80 percent;
• temperature - not lower than 18 and not more than 22 degrees;
• good ventilation.

Champignons need high air humidity and constant temperature

Maintaining such parameters outdoors is more difficult than indoors, but air circulation occurs naturally, there is no need to spend money on forced ventilation. Planting in open ground also has its drawbacks: you need to maintain the temperature, that is, cover it in the cold season, shade it in the heat.

Before determining a place for a mushroom plantation, weigh all the pros and cons, decide where it will be more convenient for you to care for the plantings without spending a lot of effort.

1. In containers - for small quantity mushrooms, mainly for personal consumption.
2. In plastic bags - this method is universal; you can use bags in small spaces and in large greenhouses.
3. On special racks (Dutch method) - used for production volumes, cultivation in order to make a profit from the sale of champignons.
4. On plots in open ground, a plot in a greenhouse, a designated area in outbuildings: sheds, cellars, vegetable stores, storerooms.

Favorable environment for mushrooms

After choosing a suitable place, you should arrange it for comfortable and successful growth of mushrooms.

• On beds and earthen plots, protect against evaporation and loss of water into the soil. To do this, you can use PVC film, covering the entire surface of the future bed with it. Next, lay the substrate 35-40 cm thick, sow the fungal mycelium in the grooves, or simply scatter it on the surface, sprinkle 5 centimeters of soil on top, and water generously.
• When using containers, it is also necessary to prepare lids and trays, disinfect and disinfect them, fill in soil substrate 4-5 cm thick, sow mycelium, and water. You can even store them in your apartment: on the windowsill, near heating radiators, in the pantry.

Most often, champignons are grown in a specially designated room.

• Using plastic bags to grow champignons, proceed as follows: fill the bags to the top with substrate, lightly compact them, pour water to completely moisten the soil, make cuts in the walls (8-10 cm in diameter) in a checkerboard pattern, and put mushroom mycelium into the holes.
• Growing champignons using the Dutch technology means using vertical space, that is, placing special containers on shelves, which takes up much less space in the room, but significantly increases the amount of products (mushrooms).

In all cases, as we have already said, it is necessary to maintain a certain humidity and air temperature. These conditions are provided according to the chosen location and method of planting, in some cases it will be expensive, in others it will be cheaper.

Preparing earthen substrate for planting champignons

The earthen mixture for mushroom mycelium consists of components that every gardener can find: rotted cattle manure (horse manure is possible), fresh hay or straw, additives in the form of chalk, bone meal, superphosphate and others. This side of the matter will not be financially burdensome; the main thing is to know the proportions of each component.

By purchasing champignon mycelium from a responsible manufacturer, you get detailed instructions on growing these mushrooms at home. Study her recommendations and confidently begin to implement your plans.

Approximate ratio of components for compost: per 100 kilograms of manure you will need

• fresh straw - 25-30 kg;
• ammonium sulfate or superphosphate - 330 g;
• chalk (or plaster) - 15 kg (respectively 30 kg).

It is very important to buy high-quality mycelium

Compost preparation in three stages:

1. Moisten 100 kg of manure by adding sulfate, cover the top with straw and wrap the pile with covering material (polyethylene, pieces of roofing felt).
2. After five days, add gypsum or chalk and mix.
3. Check the condition of the compost after a few days (7-10), it should be dark brown in color, the straw should disintegrate and break easily, and the smell of ammonia should not be strong. If
   The compost meets all these requirements, which means it is ready and the mycelium can be planted.

Attention! To speed up the composting process, you can use organic catalysts, these include: a solution of yeast with sugar, an infusion of nettle with yeast, or effective microelements.

Place the finished compost (substrate) in prepared containers or bags, sow the mushroom mycelium and wait for the harvest. There will be no problems with caring for mushroom plantations. Having planted the mycelium, ensuring regular watering and air circulation, all that remains is to occasionally clear the plantings of weeds and ensure that there are no diseases or pests.

Champignons are one of the most common types of mushrooms, and they can be collected not only in the forest, but also in own garden. You can learn how to grow champignons at home from this article: it describes the methods and technology of cultivating mushrooms in the garden, in bags, containers, or even in a city apartment.

By following the advice from the article, you can grow your own champignons in the country from scratch, learn how to properly prepare compost and mycelium with your own hands, and also get useful information about popular varieties of mushrooms.

How to grow champignons in the garden

To cultivate a large yield of champignons, it is enough to use the strategy for the X-20 strain. First of all, you need to choose the right compost. Its humidity should not exceed 71%, nitrogen content fluctuates at 2-2.4%, and soil acidity should not exceed 7.5 units.

For 1 ton of pasteurized compost there are 4-5 kg ​​of mycelium. This is the proportion that should be observed when cultivating in bags, boxes or on shelves.

During the landing process you need to do the following:

1. Distribute the compost evenly in boxes or on shelves and level its surface;
2. Add a little mycelium and cover it with film or paper so that the compost is quickly covered with mycelium. If paper is used, it should be periodically sprayed with water to maintain optimal level humidity;
3. It is necessary to carefully monitor the temperature of the compost: it should not exceed 30 degrees, and temperatures of 28-29 degrees are considered optimal. It is important that the temperature in the room itself should not be higher than 19-23 degrees;
4. During the growing period, the compost moisture level should be 90%.

Figure 1. Growing at home: 1 - mushroom mycelium, 2 - compost overgrown with mycelium, 3 - racks with champignons

If these recommendations are followed, complete overgrowing of the compost with mycelium occurs in 14-18 days. After this, cover soil is applied to the surface in layers of 4-5 cm. Soil moisture is 72-76%, depending on the ability of the soil to retain moisture (Figure 1).

Note: It is important that 2-3 days before application, the casing soil must be disinfected with a formaldehyde solution. In order for it to be completely removed from the soil, the cover soil needs to be kept for some time in a room with a temperature of 20-25 degrees.

Figure 2. Preparatory work for growing: 1 - preparation of the substrate, 2 - placement of shelving

After applying the covering soil, surface loosening of the soil is carried out on days 6-9. After this, the cultivation chamber is closed for a day or two, and no one is allowed into it. fresh air. Due to high humidity and carbon dioxide concentration, the mycelium grows faster. If it is impossible to block the access of air, the soil is simply tightly covered with film. It is important to properly prepare the substrate and place the shelves correctly so that the mushrooms ripen evenly (Figure 2).

Note: If you need to get small mushrooms, the temperature is reduced for several days to 16-17 degrees, and the humidity to 85-90%.

The harvest can be harvested in 20-25 days. And although champignons bear fruit on average five times, the first three waves of fruiting are considered the most powerful. Often small mushrooms develop between waves (so-called intermediate fruiting). It is better to cut them off so that the next wave will be more productive. Useful tips instructions for harvesting are given in the video.

Soil preparation

In the garden, as well as indoors, crops are grown not on the ground, but on specially prepared compost. You can prepare it yourself using straw and organic fertilizers (Figure 3).

For one portion of compost, it is enough to take 12 kg of straw and 8 kg of cow dung. The raw materials are placed in layers in a pile, watered daily and turned over with a shovel once a week. After about three weeks, the compost will be completely ready for use. Distinctive feature- absence of the characteristic odor of ammonia.

Figure 3. Preparing the growing substrate

The finished compost is laid out on the beds. You can also set up a greenhouse or a small greenhouse. In some cases, if the soil is sufficiently moist and fertile, you can simply scatter the crushed fruiting bodies around the garden, but this method does not always guarantee a rich harvest.

Mycelium preparation

The conditions under which it is possible to grow champignons at home step by step are impossible to imagine without proper preparation and sowing mycelium.

It is better to buy mycelium from a trusted seller, so you will be sure that the mycelium was produced under sterile conditions and does not contain pathogens or pest larvae. You can make mycelium yourself, using grain into which mycelium is added (Figure 4).

Note: If you grow champignons in the garden, it is better to choose a site in partial shade so that the mycelium is not exposed to direct sunlight.

The soil needs to be slightly fluffed up, but bushes or grass should not be removed from the area: if there are roots of other plants, the mycelium will develop better. The mycelium is evenly distributed on the surface of the soil and sprinkled with compost. After this, the soil is watered and subsequently moistened as needed. The first mushrooms will appear in about 2.5 months.

Figure 4. Making mycelium with your own hands

It is noteworthy that the mycelium can be sown at any time of the year, except winter, and the fruiting period begins with early spring and continues until late autumn.

Temperature and watering

Despite the fact that at low temperatures the mycelium remains viable, during severe cold snaps it freezes and the development of fruiting bodies stops.

The optimal temperature is considered to be up to +20 degrees, since when this indicator increases, the fruiting bodies stop developing. It is important to provide the mushrooms with optimal watering: if the soil moisture is less than 60%, the fruiting bodies will be small or will not grow at all. For this reason, the mushroom bed is regularly watered, preventing the soil from drying out.

Many people are interested in how to grow champignon mushrooms at home, namely in a city apartment. This is indeed possible if the fungi are provided with optimal conditions for growth and development (Figure 5).

The following expert advice will tell you how to grow champignons at home:

• The humidity in the room should be high, about 90%;
• It is important to maintain an optimal temperature: at the stage of mycelium germination at 20 degrees, and during the growth of fruiting bodies - no more than 15;
• It is advisable to isolate the room where the mushrooms will be located from living rooms, since during ripening they release spores into the air, which can trigger allergies.

Figure 5. Features of growing in an apartment

In general, we can say that growing champignons in an apartment is theoretically possible, but very problematic. Due to the high humidity, living in such a room will be uncomfortable, and fungal spores can cause rotting of the wooden structures of the house, so it is better to cultivate mushrooms in the basement, garage or a separate shed.

Growing in a bag

Cultivation can be carried out without arranging special racks. These mushrooms are quite successfully cultivated in bags (Figure 6).

Note: This system allows you to save space while maintaining high performance.

Another advantage of growing in bags is that in such conditions it is much easier to fight diseases and pests. To do this, it is enough to destroy only one bag with the affected mycelium without damaging the others.

Figure 6. Placement of bags for growing crops

The principle of cultivation remains the same. First, the compost is prepared and pasteurized, then the bags are filled with it. A layer of mycelium is placed on top of the bag and covered with a nutrient substrate. IN further mushrooms will appear on the surface of the bags, which greatly facilitates harvesting.

Bags can be displayed either on the floor or on metal racks, depending on the area of ​​the room and production volumes.

How to grow in containers

Champignons are also grown in containers, but this method is more practiced in foreign countries (Figure 7).

Special wooden containers are used as mushroom blocks, which are treated with antiseptics against mold. This method has several significant advantages. Firstly, the substrate is in separate containers, so if it is affected by diseases or pests, eliminate negative consequences simpler.

Secondly, such mushroom blocks are easier to maintain and disinfect, since the entire process can be made automatic.

Figure 7. Features of growing in containers

However, using growing containers requires purchasing additional equipment for servicing mushroom blocks, so using this method at home is not economically profitable.

How to grow champignons in briquettes

Mushrooms can also be successfully cultivated on briquettes. The main advantage of this method is that growing mushrooms does not depend on weather conditions, and the harvest can be harvested all year round(Figure 8).

If you are interested in how to grow champignons in the country, we recommend using the briquette method. To make a briquette (mushroom block), you need to compress the finished compost so that its layer does not exceed 4 cm.

Note: The composition of the compost must necessarily include peat, since this substance creates optimal conditions for the development of mycelium.

The inclusion of peat in the compost helps maintain constant moisture in the mixture and prevents fungal diseases. Mycelium is sown on the surface of the briquette and provides the mushrooms with an optimal microclimate. To do this, at the stage of germination, the mycelium maintains a constant temperature at +20-24 degrees, and after the appearance of the first fruiting bodies it is reduced to 15 degrees.

Figure 8. Briquettes for growing champignons at home

The briquettes can be placed on special racks, and after several waves of fruiting are completed, new briquettes are made and the old compost is disposed of.

Growing on peat

Champignons grow very well on peat, as it retains moisture well and allows you to reduce the frequency of watering. However, it should be taken into account that the cultivation room must be sealed so that a stable temperature and humidity are maintained inside.

When making compost, peat is mixed with sawdust and cow manure, and the substrate is pasteurized by treating it with water steam. Next, the substrate is laid out on mushroom blocks and the mycelium begins to be sowed. It should be spread evenly over the surface and sprinkled with a small layer of compost.

Further technology remains the same and includes maintaining the correct temperature, humidity level and regular ventilation.

How to grow on vermicompost

Vermicompost is an organic fertilizer that is obtained during the life of worms and is considered an excellent base for growing.

The substrate made from vermicompost is quite loose, so the mycelium gets a lot of space to grow and receives enough oxygen. However, it is advisable to put not pure vermicompost into mushroom blocks, but a mixture of it with peat or sawdust, so that the soil is more suitable for cultivating mushrooms.

How to grow champignons on sawdust

Sawdust is considered the most common basis for growing. It is better to take sawdust from wood species, and they should be crushed so that the fraction size does not exceed 4 cm.

Gypsum, alabaster and lime are added to the sawdust, as well as a small amount organic fertilizers(rotted cow dung). In the future, the finished substrate can be laid out on horizontal racks or placed in plastic bags.

Varieties of champignons for growing

The most common type is considered to be two-sporus, although two-ringed, meadow, field and other types of these mushrooms are also grown in domestic and industrial settings. Several strains have been bred under artificial conditions, each of which has certain advantages.

Figure 9. External features bisporus champignon

IN natural conditions they are quite common. In Figure 9 you can see the most popular type of mushroom - bisporus champignon. But at home, preference is given to growing artificially created hybrids.

The Sylvan company is the world's most famous mycelium producer and produces several strains of this fungus (Figure 10):

• Hauser A15 was created relatively recently. His characteristic feature is the ability to form a wide cap without losing high yield. In addition, these hybrids adapt well to different types compost and fertilizer, and is great for sale in fresh, as they have sufficient density and ductility.
• A-15- a white hybrid, which also has a large cap, but during the fruiting period it requires good ventilation of the room and the introduction of high-quality compost. If the growing conditions are met, the mushrooms grow quite large and are ideal for fresh sale.
• Somycel 512- created in France. A characteristic feature of mushrooms is the proportionality of the sizes of the stem and cap. In addition, the strain has high yield and low sensitivity to growing conditions. But it is important to consider that when high humidity and in drafts, scales may form on the surface of the caps. This hybrid is considered the most common in European countries.
• Sylvan 130- the most flexible strain, and its characteristic feature is the formation of high-quality mushrooms of various sizes. If the cultivation room will low temperature and fast air flows, the mushrooms will be predominantly small, and at high temperatures and slow air flows - medium and large. This particular strain is considered the most suitable for growing in bags and boxes, as it quickly adapts to new compost. Thanks to high taste qualities The hybrid is suitable for both fresh consumption and canning.
• X-20- white hybrid. The fruiting bodies are medium-sized, with a rounded cap. Recommendations for its cultivation are also suitable for other strains, so we will provide this information in more detail below.
• U-3: porcini mushrooms, medium to large in size, with a smooth cap. The first wave of harvest occurs on days 20-23 after the mycelium is added. But if during the fruiting period the temperature in the cultivation room is below 16 degrees, the mushrooms will be small.
• 273 - a brown hybrid that has been grown for more than 20 years. It is this strain that is popular among novice mushroom growers, as it adapts perfectly to different conditions growing and composting. In addition, the mushroom is quite productive: up to 18 kg of crop can be harvested from one square meter of soil during all waves of fruiting.

Figure 10. Common strains: 1 - A-15, 2 - brown strain 273, 3 - Hauser A15

All of the above hybrids have a pronounced taste and aroma, so they are suitable not only for fresh sale, but also for processing. The video provides a detailed overview of champignon mycelium from various manufacturers.

Champignons are fairly common mushrooms. They are grown en masse for use in food industry, in particular in cooking. Entrepreneurs build their businesses on their breeding, which brings in good income. But experienced farmers prefer home-grown champignons. Read about this in the article.

What does soil contain?

Is it possible to grow champignons at home? Of course, this can be done by a farmer or the owner of a private farmstead without any experience. The main thing is to stock up on knowledge in this matter and strictly follow the instructions. The most labor-intensive process in growing mushrooms is preparing the soil. For a mycelium area of ​​three square meters you will need 100 kilograms of ingredients plant origin, which includes the following:

• Straw.
• Cereal grains, you can use rye or wheat.
• Fallen plant leaves.
• Tops from tomatoes or potatoes.

In addition, the soil composition should include:

• Horse or cow dung in the amount of half a centner.
• Water - 300-400 liters.
• Urea and superphosphate in an amount of two kilograms each.
• Plaster - seven to eight, and chalk - five kilograms.

You can prepare a different composition using bird droppings. Here are the other ingredients and their quantities:

• Litter and straw - per hundredweight.
• Water - 300 liters.
• Plaster, alabaster - as in the previous composition.
• Urea - two kilograms.

Compost preparation process

First you need to make a collar with the same dimensions (one and a half meters) in width, length and height. It is with this ratio of parameters that combustion will occur properly. The compost will mature within two to three weeks.

How to grow champignons at home? First you need to plant them in soil, which is prepared as follows: all components of plant origin and straw need to be soaked for a day. At the same time, they and manure should be laid in layers, and the straw should be watered abundantly. The components contained in the pile must be thoroughly mixed and moistened once a week to ensure proper combustion. During the first mixing, crushed lime is added to the compost. The second time - superphosphate. Then mixing is carried out with the addition of crushed gypsum or alabaster. Each time after mixing, the resulting stack is covered with film.

It should be taken into account that during the preparation of the soil, bad smell, similar to ammonia and carbon dioxide. That's why better cooking exercise outside. But at the same time you need protection from sunlight and precipitation. If you organize the process indoors, it should be well ventilated.

How to grow champignon mushrooms at home? To do this, you need to take into account important points, without which this process is impossible. First of all, a stock of compost is made, since growing mushrooms requires a large amount of it. During its preparation, the temperature can reach from 53 to 70 o C. When the combustion process is completed, the thermometer will drop to 21-25 o C, and the unpleasant odor will disappear. The finished soil has an elastic structure and brown. It does not stick to your hands and the straw can be easily torn apart.

How to compost correctly?

When the preparation of the soil is completed, they begin another procedure - laying it. First you need to select the containers in which the champignons will be grown. They can be racks, wooden boxes, plastic containers, bags. The compost mass is laid out in prepared containers in a layer whose height should not exceed 22 cm.

Types of mycelium

The seed material of mushrooms is called mycelium. It is grown at home or in laboratories. There are two types of mycelium:

• Compost - this type of seed is stored for a long time at zero temperature, about a year. For a plot area of ​​one square meter, 500 g of mycelium will be required.
• Grain - this composition is more effective than the first. Seed material of this species germinates better and produces larger yields. Its consumption for the same area is less, only 330-350 g. But this mycelium has a significant drawback: a short shelf life. Its properties are preserved only for six months. Keep the seed in the refrigerator.

If champignons are grown for commercial purposes, it is better to buy planting material. But some are confused by the conditions in which it was grown, so they do it themselves. To obtain the material, you need to sow spores or isolate it from fruiting bodies, and then place it in a specially prepared medium: agar wort. Its preparation is carried out using the following technology:

• First you need to mix beer wort (one liter) and agar-agar (20 g) with boiling water.
• After dissolving the ingredients, the composition is poured into test tubes to a third of their size. Then the containers are plugged with cotton swabs and placed in an autoclave for 30 minutes at a temperature of 101 o C and 1.5 atmospheres.
• The test tubes are placed not straight, but obliquely, so that no more than 3.5 cm remains to the plugs. Now all that remains is to wait until the wort hardens.
• After this, you need to add spores or a piece of the fruiting body to the test tubes, while maintaining sterility.
• Containers should be kept in a thermostat or dark room at a temperature of 24 o C until they become overgrown. In a couple of weeks, the nutrient medium will be absorbed by the mycelium. This means that they are completely ready for planting.

This composition is usually used by mushroom pickers to grow mycelium at home, although there are also substitutes: oat agar, carrot agar.

Technology for proper mushroom cultivation

Champignons can be grown at home using mycelium. To do this, you need to plant it correctly, and correctly select the temperature and humidity conditions in the room. If these conditions are met, the first harvest can be obtained in a year.

If the planting material is grain mycelium, you need to make grooves 30 cm deep and 50-60 cm wide in the soil. The distance between the holes should be 20 cm. In order for the temperature to normalize, you need to leave them for two to three days and only then plant the mycelium. A checkerboard pattern is used to position the mushroom body.

If compost mycelium is used to plant champignons, the technology is different. The bottom of small pits is covered with drainage. Compost is placed on top, in which the mycelium is placed. After this, the planting material is covered with it. If all the rules are followed, taking into account high-quality mycelium, after seven days you can expect the appearance of new branch threads.

After 21 days, you need to lay moist soil on top of the beds with a thickness of 25-30 cm. If the layer is larger, the bodies of the mushrooms will be blocked, and their germination will not occur soon.

In order to maintain the temperature regime in the room where mushrooms are grown, you need to temporarily install canopies or cover the soil with straw. If plaque appears on the compost white, which means it needs hydration. After watering the soil, the canopy or straw is removed.

You won't have to wait long for the first harvest, only 45 days. Mushrooms need to be collected as soon as they are ripe, since the harvest period is short, only three to four days. The next fruiting period should be expected in three to four months. The harvests of the first waves are the richest.

Champignons in bags

How to grow champignon mushrooms at home? There are many possibilities for this. Each farmstead has outbuildings and basements. They are adapted for growing mushrooms. However, you can grow champignons at home in bags made of polymer materials. This method has been used in many countries for a long time. It allows you to obtain large volumes of mushroom harvest.

You can make bags yourself from transparent polymer film various capacities. For growing at home, 25-kilogram ones are more suitable. But the main criterion for choosing bags is convenience in carrying out work on growing champignons. And for it to be successful, you need to properly arrange the bags in the room. This is done in different ways, but the most common are the following:

• Based on the principle of chess placement. With this method, only 10% of the usable area is not used.
• Parallel placement of bags. In this case, the loss of area is even greater - 20%.

This can be compensated for by deep bags that contain more substrate. And the space between the unusual beds is used for air circulation. There are different options how to grow champignons at home. If everything is done in compliance with technology, you can achieve excellent results.

Harvest in bags

The time to collect champignons is the most pleasant time. The mushrooms ripen four months after the mycelium is planted in the soil of the bag. When harvesting, you need to be extremely careful: you cannot cut mushrooms with a sharp blade or other object; they need to be twisted. After this, the mycelium is sprinkled with a nutrient substrate and watered using a spray bottle. It will bear fruit within two weeks. During this period of time, champignons are harvested after two to three days. It is advisable to use fresh rather than frozen champignons for food. Mushrooms with light plates inside the cap are useful. If the mushrooms are old, they will have a brown color, since such champignons accumulate toxic substances which can cause poisoning.

Advantages of growing champignons in bags

These mushrooms are unpretentious and can grow in garden beds. open air or indoors. But experienced mushroom pickers prefer to grow them in bags, since this method has a number of advantages:

• Pests and various diseases do not spread to the entire area, since if the need arises, you can always remove a specific bag from the premises.
• Thanks to the mobility of unusual beds in the form of bags, you can grow mushrooms seasonally and permanently.
• When placed, bags can be placed in several tiers on special stands. This will save space. This is especially important when growing indoors.
• The cost of polyethylene bags is lower than that of plastic containers. This is important when growing champignons in large quantities.

The disadvantage of this technology is the use of manual labor. But if the scale of cultivation is small, this is not burdensome.

Champignons in the basement

It is convenient to grow mushrooms in such a place, since the underground basement has a stable microclimate. Here are the labor costs to create optimal conditions for growing champignons is much less than, for example, in greenhouses. Growing champignons at home in the basement is not difficult, the main thing is to monitor the temperature and humidity conditions. During the incubation period, air humidity should be 75%, not lower. If the basement is dry, use a humidifier. It is important to know that spores are activated when more high temperature- from 24 to 28 o C, and mushrooms germinate when it drops to 16 o C. The basement must meet the following requirements:

• Have concrete walls.
• Wooden covering is strictly prohibited. The floor needs to be concreted, or, in extreme cases, cemented.
• The basement must have ventilation.
• To prevent mushrooms from being damaged by insects that may enter the basement, the ventilation holes are covered with mesh.
• Walls and ceilings should be disinfected. You can use lime for this.
• If the basement is large, it needs to be divided into zones: for the incubation period and for obtaining fruiting bodies.

How to properly grow champignons at home in the country?

Growing mushrooms this way is much more difficult than, for example, in the basement. Here great value has a choice of site for planting mycelium. How to grow champignons at home? To do this, you need to find a place that is always in the shade and the soil never dries out. A canopy is built over the site or a darkened greenhouse is placed in this place. How are champignons grown at home (photos are presented in the article)? The mycelium is planted using standard technology. For champignons, an important condition for growth is the correct temperature and humidity. These indicators should be maintained, especially since mushrooms absolutely cannot tolerate heat. Equally important is the choice of substrate. Nutrients it must contain large quantities, and carbon dioxide - in small ones. The best option is land, which must be brought from the forest in advance.

Growing champignons in an apartment

This method is suitable for those who do not have a summer house or garden. The main task for such mushroom cultivation is to create optimal conditions under which they will grow and bear fruit normally. An example of how to grow champignons at home is presented step by step below:

• The first thing to do is to isolate any room in the apartment for growing mushrooms from the rooms in which people live.
• Measure humidity. It should be high, about 90%. If its readings are lower, you need to install a humidifier.
• To maintain optimal temperature, the room is equipped with heaters and ventilation. With their help, the temperature regime will be maintained. It should be taken into account that the mycelium germinates at 20 o C, and the fruiting bodies - at 15 o C.
• After preparing the room, the selected containers are filled with substrate.
• Mycelium is planted in them and covered with a film on top, which must be removed after the mushrooms appear.
• The soil is constantly moistened; it should not be allowed to dry out.
• When the time comes, the champignons should be collected.

Champignons are considered the most common types of mushrooms, so there is no need to advertise them further. The product is widely used in cooking; first and second courses, canned snacks, and salads are prepared on its basis. Due to their high protein content, champignons are an excellent source of protein. Experienced gardeners prefer to grow mushrooms on our own, however, the procedure has a number of features. To fully comply with the technology, you must adhere to step-by-step instructions. In our article we will tell you how to grow champignon mushrooms at home.

What is needed to grow champignon at home?

To grow champignons at home, you should ensure there is a cool room. A home basement or cellar is suitable for these purposes.

To grow champignons at home, you will need:

• basement or other darkened room;
• fans to create good air circulation;
• boxes made of plastic or wood (in extreme cases, bags are also suitable) for the substrate;
• thermometer for measuring the temperature of the substrate and air;
• hygrometer for monitoring air humidity.

Preparing soil for growing champignon at home

The first step is to prepare the soil, for which you will need:

• straw – 100 kg;
• chicken manure, cow or horse manure – 100 kg;
• tomato or potato tops – 50 kg;
• grains winter wheat– 50 kg;
• urea, superphosphate – 2 kg;
• plaster or alabaster – 7 kg;
• water – 300 l.

The straw must be thoroughly wetted and mixed with manure, laying them in layers, sprinkling them with urea and superphosphate every 3-4 layers. All layers are mixed well and sprinkled with alabaster or plaster and chalk. When all the layers are ready, mix them thoroughly several more times. This will create a stack 1.5 m high, which should be covered with film and left in the garden for 2-3 weeks. This is the time of the so-called burning. The mixture gets hot and smells quite unpleasant. Now you need to wait until the mixture stops emitting an unpleasant smell of ammonia.

The technology for growing champignons must be followed exactly; the quality of the prepared substrate and, of course, future productivity depend on it. Making a substrate is the most difficult process. It requires care and careful adherence to proportions. It is important not to forget to constantly mix all the ingredients thoroughly and moisturize well. If the proportions are observed, the output should be about 300 kg of finished soil, which is quite enough to prepare a mycelium with an area of ​​up to 3 m2.

Mycelium for growing champignon at home

Today, purchasing champignon mycelium is not difficult. Pages on the Internet are filled with advertisements for mycelium of various packaging and price categories. It is much more difficult to choose really high-quality planting material. Sterile grain mycelium of champignons is a mycelium, the carrier of which is boiled and sterilized grain. Champignon mycelium is usually produced on rye grain, which at the initial stage of development provides nutrition to the mycelium. Grain mycelium is sold in plastic bags with gas exchange filter. Good viable grain mycelium is uniformly overgrown (white) on all sides and has an intense mushroom smell. A slight greening indicates the presence of mold fungi, and a sour smell indicates infection with bacteriosis. At room temperature and in closed packaging, grain mycelium is stored for 1-2 weeks, and in the refrigerator - up to 3 months. Before planting, the mycelium stored in the refrigerator must be kept for a day at room temperature without opening the packaging in order to adapt the mycelium before immersion in a warm substrate. Compost mycelium is compost on which mushrooms grew and which is a carrier of mycelium.

Choosing a place to grow champignons at home

Before determining a place for a mushroom plantation, weigh all the pros and cons, decide where it will be more convenient for you to care for the plantings without spending a lot of effort.

• In containers - for a small amount of mushrooms, mainly for your own consumption.
• In plastic bags - this method is universal; you can use bags in small spaces and in large greenhouses.
• On special racks (Dutch method) - used for production volumes, cultivation in order to make a profit from the sale of champignons.
• On plots in open ground, a plot in a greenhouse, a designated area in outbuildings: sheds, cellars, vegetable stores, storerooms.

Lighting for growing champignons at home

Unlike green onions and other plants, champignons do not need additional lighting. They can be grown perfectly in the dark. The light bulb should be screwed in only to make it convenient to work in the cellar or basement.

Ventilation for growing champignons at home

The cellar must be equipped with a ventilation system, since the compost on which the champignons grow actively releases carbon dioxide during decomposition. But mushrooms cannot tolerate mustiness. Carbon dioxide must be removed and fresh air taken in its place. However, drafts should not be allowed. The ventilation pipes are covered with fine mesh to prevent insects from getting inside.

If conventional supply and exhaust pipes are not enough for good ventilation of the cellar. You will have to take care of forced ventilation of the room. To organize air circulation above the boxes with champignons, you can use additional fans. If possible, it is worth installing additional air purification filters.

Temperature and humidity for growing champignons at home

To monitor these indicators, install a thermometer and hygrometer in the room for growing champignons. You can increase the humidity by spraying the shelving and floors with a spray bottle. Reduce through ventilation. Temperature in summer time can be adjusted using ventilation, but if you plan to grow champignons all year round, take care of additional heating of the cellar.

Sowing champignons at home

Before sowing, mandatory heat treatment of the planting substrate is carried out, after which work is carried out in compliance with the following order:

Cooled compost is poured into beds or filled into wooden boxes. The thickness of the soil layer is about 30 cm.

At a distance of 20–25 cm, planting holes 4–5 cm deep are formed in a checkerboard pattern, lifting the soil with a small peg.

Seed material is introduced into each hole - compost mycelium the size of chicken egg or a handful of grain. Inoculation with grain mycelium can be carried out more in a simple way, scattering it over the surface of the soil and covering it with a thin layer of soil mixture (about 4–5 cm).

For the correct and rapid development of mycelium, plantings must be provided with competent and complete care.

Harvesting champignons at home

When growing champignons outdoors, it is unlikely that you will be able to do this more than once a year; indoors – up to seven times! The whole process takes from one and a half to four months. Fruiting lasts two to three months. But champignons ripen unevenly. You need to collect mushrooms that have already formed a film connecting the stem to the edge of the cap.

Make sure that your harvest does not fail: if the plates have darkened and burst, they cannot be eaten, they become poisonous. And the mycelium will collapse. The champignons are not cut with a knife, but twisted out. The remaining holes should be filled with casing soil and lightly watered. The next “harvest” will take place in a week. But more than half of the total harvest occurs in the first two or three harvests. With good care, mushrooms can produce up to five to twelve kilograms per square meter. Champignons are unpretentious and will grow in any case.

Of course, a big advantage when growing mushrooms is that they do not require constant attention, weeding, a lot of water and the specialty of an agronomist. It is enough just to adhere to the conditions necessary for them, such as humidity and temperature, and also harvest on time.