The other morning while rambling through the area home as well as garden show, I came across a little booth tucked away in a corner when a kind-looking gentleman was selling mushroom plug spawn. Fascinated, I stopped to chat and quickly decided that, as I had no clue in all how to grow mushrooms, it seemed a charming hobby which, I was sure, certainly was very simple and also took absolutely no time at all.
That is exactly how I concerned buy a 100-plug bag of mushroom spawn. Until that moment, I’d never actually thought of how mushrooms grow. Something about caves and dark was all I knew. Effectively, it turns out that, however, the type of mushroom you want to increase will establish your decision of spawn. Besides plug spawn, it seems mushrooms will be developed in a wide variety of ways.
Since I wanted to produce lion’s mane, I obtained that bag of lion’s mane plug spawn from the kindly gent.
So why lion’s mane? This mushroom is difficult to find commercially, but it’s delicious with a taste extremely similar to lobster. As it grows, it forms cream, frothy bubbles which look like pom-poms. This seemed the individual for me.
As told, I had taken the plastic container with the hundred plugs and left it in a dark closet for two weeks. The plugs are too small wooden dowels inoculated with the spawn. Sure enough, by the tail end of the 2 days, the plugs were today covered in mycelium which would eventually develop into older mushrooms.
I felt strangely elated, however, the plugs had done all of the effort.
In the meantime, once More info following precise directions, I’d selected a three foot log of Douglas fir and made it possible for it to age for the two weeks. At times, mushroom growers can work with a stump, but, as I was out of stumps, I’d selected a medium sized log and give it time to dry out a bit. The concept was that by aging it, any kind of parasitic components will have died and new ones wouldn’t have had some time to colonize the log. It was a moderately clean environment for the plugs.
The log was erect, setting in about 6 inches of sand which I’d prepared and then placed in a very shady area near a water source. Today, came the challenging part. I knew the moment I been aware of it, I’d have difficulty. I had to drill two- to three inch deep holes four inches apart, making a diamond pattern. At first, I’d trouble figuring out what size drill bit to use, eventually, but, I have it and wound up with aproximatelly fifty holes. My log looked as it had a bad case of acne.
Then, I hammered the plugs in with a rubber mallet. Obviously, I was scared the pounding would strip the mycelium off the plugs, but the holes had been large enough so that didn’t occur. I could hardly believe I’d managed so far.
My next and last task was to brush melted beeswax with the cracks, filling them in to make sure they were impervious to outside influences. Apparently, the wax type used in cheesemaking would also work. As a seasoned jam-maker, I did not have any trouble with this step. These days, the spawn were going ahead and grow. I had heard it could take a long time, up to a season. It appears to be indoor farming, like regular, outdoor farming, needs the long view. The fact is, for any person learning the interest of growing mushrooms, a prime requisite is persistence.
How To Grow Mushrooms From Plug Spawn
