Growing mushrooms on straw, coffee grounds, etc.

Mushrooms are healthy. They contain important vitamins and minerals, are rich in protein and contain hardly any carbohydrates or fat. The bottom line, however, is that mushrooms are simply delicious. They are ideal for preparing side dishes, salads, casseroles, soups and for refining meat dishes. So it's no wonder that mushrooms are one of the most popular mushrooms. So what could be more natural than growing the healthy, tasty mushrooms yourself?

Mushrooms

All known mushroom types in Europe belong to the Agaricus variety. The best known mushroom that occurs in the wild is the meadow mushroom. However, it grows less and less in the local forests and there are high levels Likelihood of confusion with poisonous doppelgangers. One more reason to rely on your own cultivation.

Well-known types are the white aniseed mushroom, the guinea fowl mushroom and the most impressive is the giant mushroom. Mainly white and brown cultivated mushrooms from the Agaricus bisporus family are commercially available.

 way of life

The mushroom and all other mushrooms are not counted among the plants. Mushrooms do not contain chlorophyll and do not photosynthesize. They feed on organic substances and belong to the saprophytes.
Fungi often live in symbiosis with other plants, mainly trees. This symbiosis is a kind of community from which both sides benefit.

Mushrooms in your own garden

Every mushroom hunter knows that mushrooms prefer the shade. This results in the most suitable places for mushroom cultivation in the garden where hardly any other vegetable would feel comfortable. Mushrooms can even thrive under a hedge or right next to the compost.

Growing mushrooms

The mushroom loves the dark

Mushrooms also thrive in the dark and are therefore easy to grow in the cellar. All basement rooms are suitable that are not damaged by the resulting moisture even with regular watering of the mushroom cultivation.

Mushrooms are very demanding in terms of temperature. Choose a dark room where you can permanently maintain a temperature of 15 to 20 ° C. The tasty mushrooms also grow in light, but they stay weed-free in the dark, which is a great advantage.

preparation

To grow mushrooms you will need

• a starter culture, the mushroom spawn
• a suitable substrate
• a plastic growing container or a wooden box lined with foil

In specialist shops you can get fully prepared boxes with mushroom spawn on a suitable substrate. You can also set up the boxes in the apartment, because the temperature can be regulated via the lid. Chopped straw, wood or a prepared mushroom substrate are recommended as a base for mushroom cultivation. The prepared sets contain all the materials you need for growing mushrooms and instructions.

Mushroom culture

The mushroom culture is offered for mushroom cultivation as grain spawn or as dowel spawn. In a grain spawn, the fungal network, the mycelium, has its threads looped around the grains. This spawn is mixed with the substrate.
In a so-called dowel spawn, commercially available wooden dowels are inoculated with the mushroom spawn. Experienced breeders use strains inoculated with a mushroom spawn.

tip: When buying a ready-made mushroom culture, give preference to manufacturers with a seal of approval.

Substrate

Chopped straw, bark mulch, sawdust or coffee grounds are suitable substrates for your mushroom cultivation. Coffee grounds make an excellent substrate, especially since they are created as a free by-product in the household.

Make mushroom spawn yourself

You can also try out your own cultivation without a starter set with starter culture and substrate from specialist dealers. You will need leftovers from purchased mushrooms as well
Straw or wood or coffee grounds as a base.

Growing mushrooms: instructions

1. Prepare a seed tray with a lid
2. Spread the mushroom culture in the seed tray
3. Cover the brood with substrate
4. Cover the bowl with the lid
5. Put the bowl in a dark room at a temperature of 15-20 ° C.

Care of the breed

The mushroom cultivation must now regularly moistened will. A spray bottle is suitable for this. Use lukewarm water without additives and cover the bowl again quickly after moistening.

First visible results

After a few days, a delicate white fluff will form on the surface. This shows that the mycelium has penetrated the substrate. Shortly afterwards, small white dots appear, later small spheres and then the small mushroom heads appear.

When the mushrooms protrude about two centimeters from the ground, you can remove the lid of the seed tray. Now we have to wait and see. When the mushrooms are big enough, you can cut them off and eat them as usual.

After four months everything starts all over again

You can supply yourself with fresh mushrooms for four months with a single mushroom culture.

Once you've got a taste for it and don't want to miss the exciting experience of growing your own mushrooms, simply start all over again.
However, before you lay out the new spawn, the seed tray must be cleaned thoroughly.

tip: When temperatures exceed 15 ° C outside, you can plant your mushroom growers in a shady spot in your garden.

Without any pesticides

Those who decide to grow the delicious mushrooms themselves are also making a contribution to health. While you have to rely on the manufacturer's information when you buy vegetables, you decide for yourself about the use of chemicals when growing your own.