Mycelium threads are what? How to grow a mycelium at home

Going to the forest for mushrooms is interesting and exciting, but not always we can find for this time in the bustle of modern life. But there is a way out: you can grow them at home. This will require some knowledge, materials and patience. The main task for the mushroom grower is the acquisition of a mycelium. Its value is difficult to overestimate. Mycelium hyphae are a kind of network of vessels that collect nutrients from the soil and transport them to the fruiting bodies of the fungus. The edible, terrestrial part of them grows out of special knots all over the mycelium.

Mushrooms quickly capture all the territory that is suitable for their growth. This possibility is provided by the tubular (akin to the circulatory system) structure of the mycelium. In addition, such a system allows you to quickly recover when you destroy even a large number of fruit bodies.

A vivid example of unicellular fungi can be yeast. Mycelium is absent from them in connection with the transition to habitation in liquid, nutrient-rich media.

Today we will talk about how to create a favorable environment, so that the spores of mycelium take root. It takes time, but the result is worth it.

How to grow mushrooms?

As a rule, amateurs and even those who grow mushrooms for sale, use mycelium, bought at specialized enterprises. There, under sterile conditions, spores are prepared, from which the mycelium hyphae are then formed. This is a process that requires a special microclimate. Mycelium in the form of pure cultures is transferred to cereals, and the process of growing mycelium begins. The room is ventilated with filtered air, in addition, it is maintained by an overpressure, so that air containing microorganisms does not penetrate it. This is required to ensure that the mold does not settle moldy and other harmful fungi and do not spoil the culture. However, the fungal mycelium can also be grown in more primitive conditions. Below, we will describe the entire technological process so that you can use this method at home.

What are the filaments of mycelium?

This is a system of branching tubes, hyphae, with apical growth and lateral branching. It can be cellular and noncellular. Many edible fungi have structures that perform conductive functions. The filaments of mycelium, or strands, consist of hyphae, located in parallel and in places densely pressed together. On the filamentous filaments are the beginnings of future fungi. Later, the fruit bodies themselves appear there. Heavings are spreading all over the substrate, completely covering the entire territory, favorable for growth. Accordingly, the mycelium at home will occupy the territory granted to it. The more it is, the more fruit bodies you get.

Simple laboratory

Proceeding from the fact that it is impossible to create production conditions at home, let's try to equip suitable conditions for mushrooms from improvised materials. Growing mycelium requires a spacious room, clean and convenient for cleaning. Very important is the ratio of humidity and air temperature. Too dry and cool room will greatly reduce the yield, but, conversely, heat and high humidity stimulate the growth of mold. The optimum humidity is 60-70 percent. Often a basement is used for these purposes, the mycelium feels good here. The mycelium is undemanding to light, but humidity sensors should be installed. The air temperature should be 20-24 degrees, the optimum mode can be maintained with a simple heating device. It is very important that there is no dust and drafts, since it contributes to infection of the mycelium with microorganisms and spores of harmful fungi.

Optimum is a small basement block with an area of 1.5-2 meters with a plastic rack. Do not forget that for now we need to get a pure culture, which we then put on the substrate. To work you will need glass containers with lids, a nutrient medium, a plate for sterilization, as well as tweezers, pipettes, clean plastic cups. As a pure culture, you need to take pieces of fruit bodies. Preliminary they are well washed.

Preparing the medium

We are gradually moving to how to grow a mycelium. As a nutrient medium into which pieces of fungi are placed, potato-glucose agar and agar are used on the malt extract. You can buy them in ready-made form or cook yourself. Wort agar is made on the basis of 1 liter of beer wort, add 20 grams of agar-agar and cook until completely dissolved. In hot form it should be poured on sterile vessels, then tightly closed with lids. After the nutrient medium has cooled down, the lid is lifted and a piece of healthy tissue of the edible fruit body is inserted.

After about 2-3 days, a white fluff appears in the vessel. This is the mycelium. But such a result can be achieved only in conditions of compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards. However, at home, to observe all the subtleties is difficult, so often in the vessel appear red, green, gray or moldy mushrooms, as well as mucous colonies of bacteria. In order not to risk, the contents should be discarded and tried again. However, minor inclusions are permissible, the main thing is that half of the entire nutritive surface is occupied by the pure mycelium of a cultural fungus. Then in 2-3 weeks it will grow on all surface and completely will suppress all other forms of mushrooms. It is this moment that characterizes the end of the most difficult stage, then - the matter of technology.

What is mycelium?

Mycelium requires placing it in a nutrient medium, after which rapid growth begins. However, here there is confusion in the definitions of what a mycelium is. Some call it a substrate, infected with a mycelium for further cultivation. According to other sources, mycelium is the mycelium itself, that is, the body of the fungus, ground and planted in a substrate.

We agree that the mycelium is a substrate in which the mycelium has already been settled. He only waits for it to be germinated in straw, sawdust, logs or cardboard. That is, mycelium is needed to transfer the mycelium to these substrates.

Getting mycelium

So, you have a mycelium of a cultured fungus. It is very important, but a substrate is needed in which it will grow and form fruit bodies. It's the same as if you had seeds that you want to sow in fertile soil. Most often, amateurs prefer to use a grain mycelium, that is, to sow it on the highest quality cereals. To do this, you need any grain, it can be wheat, corn or other. It must be mixed with water in a proportion of one to two (2 parts of water) and boiled for 15-20 minutes. After that, sprinkle it on a clean towel and leave to dry. Further, gypsum is added in an amount of 1.3% of the total volume, in addition, calcium carbonate (0.3%) is required. Clean banks fill the mixture with ¾ volume. The container should be wrapped in foil, closed with a lid and sterilized in the oven for at least two hours at a temperature of 120 degrees. After the banks have completely cooled, 3-4 pieces of nutrient medium must be added. After about three weeks at room temperature, the grains are completely covered with a network of white tubes. Now a handful of this grain can sow any substrate that you have at hand.

Other types of mycelium

The mycelium can be grown on sawdust. It's cheap and affordable. For this, the sawdust is sterilized by boiling or calcining in the oven. It is advisable to use medium-sized sawdust of fruit trees. After sterilization, several pieces of a nutrient mixture with sprouted white fluff of mycelium are placed in a container with them. After the mycelium from small sawdust can be populated in logs, straw or cardboard. Often a polyethylene sleeve is clogged with sawdust in production , a pipe or log is produced, which is suitable for growing mushrooms. Sawdust is very convenient, but it is not nutritious at all, so it requires various additives so that the mycelium could grow fruit bodies. To do this, bran or any other source of nitrogen is added to the packs. But the cereal mycelium is much more nutritious, we have already described its preparation.

If you want to colonize the beam with a mycelium, it is better to use a dowel or mushroom sticks. It is a dense stick of pressed sawdust, chips. Mycelium is very easy to place in a hole on a log. Already studied the wood material, he will quickly move into growth. The main condition of choice is the correspondence of the material to the substrate. For large logs dowels are suitable. Mushroom on sawdust or grain will perfectly populate the open substrate, these are sawdust, cardboard and straw. Do not forget that every fungus prefers different conditions. Oyster will perfectly grow on sawdust and straw, but mushrooms prefer a more nutritious medium, for example grain.

Technology of growing champignons

Most often, the mycelium of champignons is grown on the street. But in fact, the conditions in the room are more stable, which means they can allow a richer harvest. Basements and garages, sheds and dugouts are approaching. You can use an ordinary greenhouse, covered from direct sunlight. The room must necessarily be ventilated, the optimum temperature is above +15 degrees. Humidity should also be controlled, excess moisture leads to mold growth, not fungi.

We have already said that the mycelium of mushrooms loves a nutritious substrate. Excellent compost for these purposes, prepared on the basis of fresh manure (no more than 25%) and straw. Note that simply mixing these components is not enough. Compost preparation is compulsory, it is a complex biochemical process. In the course of it a complex of substances is formed, which is ideal for mushrooms and is not suitable for its competitors. Correctly prepared compost is the basis of the harvest, so prepare the compost pit, fill the components in it, close the mowed grass and leave it for the winter. In the spring it can be used for growing mushrooms.

So, the substrate is ready, the room is waiting, it remains only to grow mycelium. Using the methods described, you can prepare it yourself or buy in the store. Consumption - 500 g per one square meter of area.

Cultivation of oyster mushrooms

If you are new to growing mushrooms, then it's worth starting with this sort. The fact is that mycelium oyster mushrooms grow very fast, that is, it has a serious advantage over mold fungi. Even not a very professional substrate and a violation of growing conditions will most likely give an excellent result. It is very simple to produce a substrate block, it can be a polyethylene bag, densely packed with wood chips and other wood materials. However, it is somewhat more difficult to grow a good harvest of fruit bodies than to prepare a substrate.

Mycelium oyster mushrooms are quite demanding for humidity and air temperature. To obtain a good result, it is necessary to ensure constant access to moist fresh air. Do you remember when oyster mushrooms start to grow? In the autumn, when the mornings are already cool and humid. To obtain a stable crop, you need to purchase a special installation - an ultrasonic humidifier. It produces cold steam, or fog. Many people are confronted with the fact that the blocks, planted with oyster mushrooms and placed in the garden, yield only in autumn or in rainy and cool weather in the summer.

The basis of the substrate should be sawdust, shavings and chips. As a nutritional supplement, pearl barley is often used. 2.5 kg of the substrate is usually taken for 300 grams of cereals and husks of sunflower. The substrate must be boiled, and a minute before the end of cooking, add grits. When the mixture has cooled, carefully strain and place in a polyethylene sleeve, tie off both edges. After a day, repeat pasteurization is carried out. To do this, the substrate blocks must be kept above the steam for 6 hours. Then a mycelium is added to the cooled substrate. To do this, several incisions are made in the sack, which are embedded in a teaspoon of cereal mycelium. After 20-30 days the block will completely turn white and will be ready for fruit bearing. Now one side of the polyethylene block is opened, and it is installed vertically.

Let's sum up the results

As you can see, there is nothing difficult in growing mushrooms at home. Mycelium can be bought in the store or completely grown independently. This process is not too long and complicated, but requires great care and compliance with the basic rules. To accelerate it and bring the long-awaited moment of harvesting, use ready-made mushroom pickles, which are sold in specialized stores. This will reduce the time of forcing fruit bodies for at least two weeks.

Do not forget to follow the purity of the mycelium, a large number of molds, rot and other formations in the substrate indicate that the process was violated, which means that the use of such material for further planting into the substrate can be dangerous.

Try to grow mycelium oyster mushrooms for the first time. This mushroom is unpretentious. If you timed him in the substrate by the beginning of autumn, you can get a rich harvest right in the garden, without creating special conditions.

If the collection of mushrooms is primarily associated with the smell of needles and forest silence, then go for a walk. Such an event is remembered for a long time, and fresh air, rich in oxygen, will help restore health and gain strength for a long working week.