Flammulina is a winter honey fungus, you can read more about it in my publicationsSince mushrooms grow on trees, especially in winter, they can easily be grown. About 12 years ago, my husband and I did this for two winters in a row, but then we gave it up. The mushrooms are quite tasty, though.
In general, flammulina is grown commercially in Eastern countries. It's easy to grow and requires absolutely no care. We tried three growing methods.
In the substrate with pieces of mushrooms
Unfortunately, there are no photos, as it was a long time ago, but I will try to describe the method more clearly:
- First, we made the substrate. We used sawdust, sunflower husks, bran, buckwheat husks, and ground corn cobs. We didn't use exact proportions, but everything was roughly equal.
- Then they created "beds." They took three-liter jars and filled them with substrate, leaving about a third of the space empty.
- Now it's imperative to sterilize the substrate. To do this, cover the jars with a plastic lid and make a small hole. Place the lid in water (be sure to place a sterilization pad at the bottom of the pan, or, if you don't have one, at least a folded towel). Turn on the heat and pasteurize for about two hours. Repeat the process the next day.
- Next, we started planting the mushrooms. We had some mycelium nearby, so we brought it home and, with clean hands, broke it into small pieces. Incidentally, mycelium can be purchased at a specialty store, but we had our own, growing on a tree.
- We placed these pieces in jars (we made 12 at a time), lightly crushed them with our fingers, covered them with lids, and put them in a warm place.
The first mushrooms began to appear after 28-35 days.
Mycelium in the substrate
This method is good if you don't have mycelium but can buy it. Initially, we made the same substrate as in the first case. Next:
- Mixed with dry gypsum. For 2 parts substrate, you need about 1 part gypsum.
- They were baked in the oven for disinfection.
- The resulting and thoroughly mixed mass was placed in regular bags, mycelium was added, and mixed.
- Then the container was placed in a room where the temperature was about 15 degrees.
Mushrooms grew within a month and a half.
On wood
We liked this method the most because you don't have to make a substrate, sterilize it, maintain a certain temperature, etc. To make it clearer, look at my photos – how exactly flammulina grow in the wild, where they start growing, etc.:
As you can see, they settle in cracks. We had a couple of old trees (an apple tree and an apricot tree), and my husband also brought six logs. We laid them near these trees. Then we took the mycelium, crushed it slightly, and poked it into all the cracks. We harvested the mushrooms after about a month and a half. The only thing we had to do was cut off the overgrown mushrooms, leaving room for the new ones.
By the way, if you're interested, you can read some very interesting articles here on the website:
- about methods and technologies for growing honey mushrooms;
- How to make a mushroom farm;
- How to make a greenhouse for growing mushrooms.
The articles contain a lot of useful information that can be applied to winter honey mushrooms.
We uprooted the old trees and hauled away the logs because we needed space for new plantings. Honestly, I regret it…