Contents
Very few people think about how mushrooms grow – people just go to the nearest thicket or grove, for the so-called “quiet hunt”, and if the season is good, then their basket turns out to be filled to the top with these amazingly tasty gifts of the forest. But if your plans include growing mushrooms in your area, then you won’t be able to do without certain knowledge. And first you need to imagine what ecological groups fungi are divided into, and what is their difference.
How mushrooms grow (with photo and video)
Fungus and mycelium – these are synonyms for the vegetative part of the fungus, which is located in the ground, in the forest floor or in another substrate. Mycelium is a network of long threads called hyphae. Mushroom mycelium looks like a pale bluish cobweb. Oyster mushroom mycelium resembles white silk made of thin threads, and shiitake mycelium resembles white fluff or thin silk fabric. In the ringworm and other litter fungi, the mycelial hyphae are thicker, they look like harsh threads.
In the practice of growing mushrooms, mycelium is also called the substrate mastered by the fungus, intended for the vegetative propagation of fungi. This can be packaged non-sterile substrate mycelium or “sterile” grain mycelium. Grain mycelium is a boiled and sterilized grain (wheat, barley or millet), mastered by the mycelium of the desired fungus under sterile conditions.
With the help of a set of enzymes, the mycelium decomposes the polysaccharides of the substrate, consumes atmospheric oxygen and, at the same time, releases carbon dioxide, water and heat.
Forest litter or bed, in which the mycelium of fungi develops, constantly increases its humidity and heats up.
After the mycelium has mastered most of the substrate available to it, the formation of the rudiments of fruiting bodies begins. The transition of the mycelium from the stage of vegetative growth to the stage of fruiting is facilitated by a decrease in air temperature, the depletion of readily available nutrition in the substrate, and obstacles to the spread of mycelium. Thus, fruiting bodies are often formed near mechanical obstacles, paths, or other soil compactions that prevent the growth of mycelium.
[ »»]
Mycelial hyphae can unite into thick strands, on which small nodules are formed – the rudiments of fruiting bodies. There can be a lot of such primordia, but only those rudiments that evaporate water with the required intensity can grow and turn into fruiting bodies. The fact is that mushrooms (fruiting bodies), unlike plants, can grow only due to the evaporation of water from the surface of the cap. Evaporation causes the entry of new portions of nutrients from the mycelium under the action of osmotic pressure. Even at 100% air humidity, evaporation of water from the surface of the fungus occurs if the temperature of the fungus is higher than the ambient air temperature. Therefore, the fruiting bodies of mushrooms grow most rapidly at night and in the morning, when the temperature of the air and the upper layers of the soil drops. The presence of a temperature gradient in the soil allows the fungus to lift the substrate layer with its cap and crawl out.
Consider the growth of the fruiting body of a fungus using the example of a ringworm. First, more often in the morning, a layer of wood chips rises, then a round, shiny, wet hat appears with a diameter of 3-5 cm. The lower part of the hat is connected by a veil to the stem. At this stage, the mushroom is ideal for freezing and cooking. After 6 hours, the hat has a size of 7-12 cm, the shape is convex. White plates are opened, the mushroom has a dense texture and good taste. By evening, the plates begin to acquire a gray-violet hue, and by the morning of the next day they become bright purple. The leaves and grass near the fungus are already covered with a highly visible spore powder. The stage of biological maturity has come, when the spores have matured, the hymenophore began to dust with spores. At this stage, the mushroom is only suitable for frying.
See a photo of how ring mushrooms grow:
For reproduction of fungi with the help of spores, it is not necessary to make a spore print, as is customary in mycological laboratories. For sowing spores, you can use water with spores washed from mature caps, or water with a suspension of particles with spores obtained by grinding the hymenophore. Hymenophore – this is the lower part of the mushroom cap in the form of plates or tubes.
For oyster mushrooms (oyster mushroom) and summer honey agaric (Kuehneromice changeable) you can simply spread the spore-bearing mushroom caps on a cut of a wooden block for sowing it. It should be noted that when mushrooms are “seeded” with spores, all properties are not preserved in hybrid forms. So, when forcing a hybrid strain of oyster mushroom (NK-35) in the garden, oyster mushroom Florida grew on nearby willows. This is one of the “parents” of the hybrid.
You can see how mushrooms grow in the video below:
Next, you can familiarize yourself with the classification of the main groups of mushrooms and their characteristics.
Where and how do edible tree mushrooms grow (with photo)
What groups are mushrooms divided into and what is their difference? The main groups of fungi include arboreal, litter, humus and mycorrhizal.
Edible tree mushrooms are called mushrooms that grow naturally on trees and stumps. Their mycelium is not located on the roots of trees, but under the bark or inside the wood.
[ »wp-content/plugins/include-me/goog-left.php»]
The main characteristic of this group of fungi is the ability to break down and use wood polysaccharides, including cellulose, with the help of special enzymes. With the growth of mycelium inside the wood, the concentration of carbon dioxide becomes very high. The mycelium of tree fungi under these conditions grows much faster than molds and other competitors. Therefore, growing tree mushrooms is quite simple. It is necessary to create conditions for them with a high content of carbon dioxide (for example, inside a plastic bag) and take a substrate with a high content of cellulose without easily available food (wood chips or straw).
The mycelium of wood fungi grows inside natural wood, almost under sterile conditions, so a pasteurized or autoclaved substrate is best suited for their cultivation, and sterile grain mycelium is used for vegetative propagation of wood fungi.
Oyster mushroom, or oyster (oyster mushroom), is the most suitable mushroom for artificial cultivation.
As you can see in the photo, this edible tree fungus grows on any hardwood except oak:
Fruits in spring and autumn. It can be grown on stumps or logs, but large yields are obtained only on a loose substrate of wood chips, straw or sunflower husks in plastic bags. Oyster mushroom mycelium, due to its high growth rate, is able to capture and master the substrate faster than molds. Therefore, oyster mushrooms can be grown without heat treatment of the substrate or simple methods of its pasteurization can be used.
Another representative of the group of tree fungi – shiitake (Lentinula edodes).
This photo shows that tree fungus grows on oak or other hard wood:
Before sowing, it requires sterilization of the substrate in an autoclave or steam treatment at + 95 … + 100 ° С. The fungus is grown on oak stems up to 15 cm in diameter. Also, this tree fungus grows where there is a lot of loose substrate from oak chips, shavings or sawdust with the addition of grain. Shiitake has a competitive advantage over molds and other mushrooms on oak, as its mycelium secretes the enzyme tannase, which decomposes tannins.
[ »wp-content/plugins/include-me/ya1-h2.php»]
Representatives of the litter group of fungi
Speaking about what ecological groups of mushrooms are, it is especially worth highlighting the litter mushrooms that grow in the forest on the litter, in the fields on straw, in the garden on mulch.
Typical representatives of litter mushrooms are purple row (Lipista nuda), ringer (Stropharia rugoso-annulata), straw mushroom (volvariella volvacea). For the garden and vegetable garden, these are the most useful mushrooms. Mushroom bedding willingly develops beds mulched with sawdust or wood chips. It is believed that they do not form mycorrhiza with plants, but help supply plants with water. After rain or watering, the mycelium of mushrooms in the upper soil layer collects a large amount of water. This water remains available for plants for a long time. Studying the distribution of water in a bed with ringworm mycelium, it can be seen that after watering a small area of the bed, the mycelium distributes water evenly over the entire area. The mycelium of the ringworm actively penetrates into the root zone of plants growing in the garden and contributes to the conservation of water there in the absence of rain and irrigation.
Mushrooms of this ecological group have a strong immune defense, because in the forest floor their mycelium is surrounded by molds and other microorganisms. Therefore, they can grow in an unsterilized substrate. In 2015, on such a bed measuring 3×10 m, the ringworm formed from 10 to 40 mushrooms per day, during which waves of fruiting are visible.
For vegetative propagation of litter fungi on a non-sterile substrate, grain mycelium cannot be used. Molds and bacteria in the substrate take over the grain before the mycelium of the litter fungus begins to grow. In addition, the grain mycelium of the ringworm and other litter fungi is poorly stored, because. carbon dioxide is not a complete protection for him. A sterilized substrate can be sown with grain mycelium, but this greatly complicates the technology. It is easier to use non-sterile substrate mycelium for the reproduction of these fungi – a piece of the bed mastered by the mycelium.
Bedding mushrooms are easily sown with spores on moist mulch made from pine needles or wood chips. litter mushroom blue ring (Stropharia aeruginosa) can propagate by self-sowing in a bed with phlox. At the same time, phloxes grow well, and the mycelium of the fungus was visible during their transplantation.
You can make a bed for planting a ringworm from a mixture of birch chips with pine needles. On this bed, already partially mastered by the ringer, purple rows can grow by themselves.
Group of humus fungi
The mycelium of fungi belonging to this group is located in the humus layer under the litter.
The most interesting humus mushrooms are sold everywhere in stores double-spored champignon (Agaricus bisporus) growing on sidewalks double ring champignon (Agaricus bitorquis), meadow champignon (Agaricus campestris) and large motley umbrella (Macrolepiota procera). The mycelium of humus fungi completes the transformation of woody forest litter into soil humus.
The main characteristic of this ecological group of fungi is the inability of enzymes to break down cellulose. However, they can use for nutrition the compounds that remain in the soil after the work of litter mushrooms. What was sown in the garden with the ring willow whip (A willow shelf), august champignon (Agaricus Augustus) and some dung beetles, allows us to hope that after the ring plant it will be possible to plant other humus fungi on it.
Suitable for humus fungi and a substrate created by aerobic bacteria and actinomycetes in compost heaps. Such a substrate, consisting of a mixture of straw and farm animal manure, is called champignon compost. On champignon compost, you can grow not only champignon, but also other humus mushrooms.
For vegetative propagation of humus fungi, grain mycelium is produced, but it is poorly stored and takes root. More reliable is compost mycelium made on champignon compost as a carrier. Non-sterile compost mycelium is champignon compost overgrown with the right humus fungus. For the manufacture of sterile compost mycelium, a pure fungus culture from a test tube is transferred to champignon compost sterilized in an autoclave. Previously, such a compost mycelium of champignon was produced by the Zarechye state farm. Everyone could make simple compost from straw and horse manure and grow mushrooms in the basement. I remember my experience of growing mushrooms on an unglazed loggia. There, for more than a year, a jar with champignon compost mycelium, bought in Zarechye, was stored. A liquid was formed in the jar, which was poured as a fertilizer into a box with a volume of 0,5 m3, where a tomato grew on a mixture of sphagnum and horse manure. Two months later, champignons grew in a continuous carpet. With grain mycelium, everything is much more complicated. Grain mycelium needs high-quality compost to get off to a good start. How to make such compost is described in the sections on growing champignons.
Humus mushrooms include mushrooms that grow near stables and barnyards on nitrogen-enriched plots of land or on heaps of straw.
Most interesting dung beetle white shaggy (Coprinus comatus). Its fairly large fruiting bodies grow and persist for only a few days, after which the fungus begins to blur into a black mass with spores. In its young state, white shaggy dung beetle is very tasty fried, and in terms of sugar content it surpasses other mushrooms.
[ »]
What fungi form mycorrhiza with plants
There are fungi that form mycorrhiza with plants, they are called mycorrhizal.
Porcini (Boletus edulis), podereozovik (A rough coat) and chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) is a typical mycorrhizal fungus living in symbiosis with trees. This fungus forms mycorrhiza with tree roots, such a community is mutually beneficial for both organisms. These fungi supply the tree with water, trace elements and phosphorus compounds, which they extract from the ground with the help of their enzymes. The host tree controls the development of mycorrhizal fungi by supplying them with glucose and other simple sugars via mycorrhiza.
The oils (Granulated pork) and gourmet camelina (A lovely milkman) grow under young pine trees. They do not require a thick forest floor, and can grow even on a mowed lawn. For white mushrooms, boletus and boletus, it is desirable to have a layer of fallen leaves or needles. So, white fungus is most often found in a birch forest under an oak. The oak form of the porcini fungus forms mycorrhiza with oak, the birch form with birch, but for its development, the porcini fungus chooses a place where there is a significant layer of birch leaves, the moisture in which is retained due to the surface layer of oak leaves. Birch leaves rot in one season, and oak leaves last for two years.
Another representative of the mycorrhizal group of fungi is the aspen form. stepson (Leccinum orangem). This fungus creates mycorrhiza with plants such as aspen and birch. But it happens that these aspen mushrooms crawl out of a thick coniferous litter under an old pine tree, and neither aspens nor birches are visible. Only excavations have shown that a thick aspen root passes under the pine, connecting very young aspen sprouts with each other.
Some fungi are described in the literature as non-mycorrhizal, but their study raises doubts. So, raincoat giant (Langermania gigantea) could not be transplanted from the forest either to the substrate for the ringworm or to the champignon compost. Observing its growth in different places, it always grows next to the bird cherry. Maybe he forms mycorrhiza with her? Transplant with bird cherry, now wait for the result.
Of great importance for the growth of mycorrhizal fungi is lighting and air movement in the forest. In a grove of densely growing young birches, boletus grows, as a rule, on the edge of the southern side of the grove. At the edge there is more light and stronger convective air currents that promote fruiting. White mushrooms do not grow in such a grove. It needs thinning to increase soil illumination and for better air movement.