Stone mushrooms are a form of the popular cultivated mushrooms that can be bought in supermarkets all year round. However, you can also grow the tasty mushrooms in the garden, on the balcony or even in the cellar without much effort - completely free of harmful substances and in organic quality.

Growing mushrooms yourself is not that difficult

For newcomers: use of ready-made broods

You can make it particularly easy for yourself and buy so-called ready-made broods from specialist dealers, which are delivered in a cardboard box with the substrate already inoculated. There is always a detailed guide attached, with the help of which you can actually do nothing wrong and gain initial experience as a mushroom grower. When using such a ready-made brood, there are actually only three things to consider:

  • The substrate must first be completely permeated with the mushroom mycelium at a minimum of 18 °C and a maximum of 24 °C.
  • Then initiate the formation of the fruiting bodies by lowering the temperature to 10 to 18 °C.
  • The substrate with the mycelium must be kept moist, but not waterlogged.

Cultivating stone mushrooms - this is how it works

If the type of mushroom cultivation described above is too boring for you, you can grow stone mushrooms yourself in the following way:

  • First the substrate is prepared.
  • You can use different materials for this, but straw or hay works the easiest.
  • Cut loose straw into small pieces and pasteurize them in boiling water beforehand.
  • Straw bales are well moistened with plenty of water.
  • Now inoculate the straw with the mushroom spawn.
  • Crumble them and work them evenly into the material.
  • Now place your mushroom cultivation in a place with a maximum temperature of 18 °C.
  • This can also be completely dark, since fungi do not carry out photosynthesis.
  • A shady spot in the garden or a cool basement is ideal.

Mushroom cultivation requires a lot of patience

Now you have to wait until the straw is completely infused with the mycelium and the first fruiting bodies finally appear. Be patient: Depending on the temperature, it can take a few weeks to months before the first harvest wave until mushrooms actually grow. Until then, always keep the straw slightly moist. Unfortunately, mushroom cultures are quickly colonized by fruit flies and other insects that are attracted by the intense mushroom smell. This can be prevented by covering the propagation box with fly gauze.

tips

Instead of buying ready-made mushroom spawn, you can also take normal supermarket mushrooms and place them on the moistened straw - the spores contained naturally inoculate the material. However, this method takes much longer before you can harvest.

Category:

Vegetable garden