Flammulina velutipes cultivation technology

There are many kinds of edible fungi in China. The ones that everyone is more familiar with must be black fungus, enoki mushrooms , etc. Enoki mushrooms taste very good no matter how they are cooked, and enoki mushrooms can be cultivated artificially. Let’s learn about the cultivation technology of enoki mushrooms together.

1. Bacteria culture rack and cultivation rack

The culture rack used for the propagation of Flammulina velutipes mycelium is similar to other spawn racks, and only needs to be able to hold spawn bottles and cultivation bags. The cultivation rack during the fruiting body growth stage should be slightly higher. Generally, it can be built into a rack with a length of 2 meters, a width of 1 meter, and a height of 2.1 meters, divided into 5-6 layers, and each layer is 45 cm high.

It is best to use steel as the frame material, but bamboo strips or wooden strips can also be used. If you use a shelf made of bamboo or wood , you need to paint it white. The cultivation racks treated with paint not only have fewer bacteria, but also have a longer service life. You can also build a cultivation bed for cultivation. The width of the cultivation bed is 120-130 cm, the height is about 45 cm, it is divided into 5-6 layers, and the length is determined according to the length of the cultivation room.

2. Cultivation Room

According to the different requirements of Flammulina velutipes for temperature, humidity, etc. at different growth stages, two types of culture rooms need to be built: one is a culture room for mycelium growth, and the other is a culture room for fruiting body growth, also called a cultivation room. Where conditions permit, the fruiting body culture room can be divided into a bud-inducing room and a growth room.

①Mycelium culture room: It is necessary to provide conditions suitable for the growth of Flammulina velutipes mycelium. That is, the temperature is maintained at 20-23℃ and the relative humidity is 70%. If specialized production is to be carried out, it is recommended to use a sandwich wall structure when building the culture room, and fill the sandwich walls with insulation materials such as rice husks, sawdust or foam plastic boards. After the culture room is sealed and insulated, the carbon dioxide produced by the respiration of mycelium tends to accumulate excessively, so an exhaust window needs to be installed.

② Bud-inducing room: The temperature must be 13-14℃, the humidity must be 80-90%, and it must be dark. To meet these requirements, it is necessary to install air conditioning equipment and humidification equipment, and set up air intake and exhaust holes. The air intake holes are located at the foot of the wall, one every one meter; the air exhaust holes are located at the top of the wall, one every two meters.

③ Cultivation room: In some places, the growth room is divided into inhibition room and growth room. The cultivation room needs to have the temperature conditions that allow the Enoki mushrooms to grow neatly, firmly, and in round bundles. In order to make the fruiting bodies of Flammulina velutipes grow at 10°C, the cultivation room for year-round production needs to use air-conditioning equipment to regulate the temperature.

3. Preparation of Flammulina velutipes culture medium

Based on the nutrients required for the growth of Flammulina velutipes, the formula of the composite culture medium is as follows:

①40% sawdust, 28% wheat straw powder, 20% bran, 1% gypsum, and 1% sugar.

②Wild grass powder 28%, sawdust 40%, bran 20%, gypsum 1%, sugar 1%.

4. Make mushroom bags

The production of mushroom bags requires plastic film bags, rings and cotton, etc. Polypropylene should be used as the film bag for making Flammulina velutipes. The specifications are 38 cm long and 15-16 cm wide. The thickness of the film bag is 5-6 millimeters, and the quality of the plastic film bag has a great influence on the yield of Flammulina velutipes bag cultivation.

Pay attention to check the quality of the film. There are two types of rings: plastic rings and cardboard rings. Cotton used for tampons should be exposed to the sun before use and stored in a dry, ventilated place.

5. Mixing

There are two types of mixing: mechanical mixing and manual mixing. When mixing the materials, special attention should be paid to fully mixing the various culture media and auxiliary materials, and the culture media and water should also be fully mixed. The specific method is to strictly weigh the required amount according to the culture medium formula. Except for a small amount of water-soluble auxiliary materials such as sugar, first mix the dry materials evenly, and at the same time dissolve the soluble auxiliary materials such as sugar in water.

After diluting according to proportion, spray it on the culture medium, stirring while spraying until the moisture content is appropriate. The theoretical moisture content of the culture medium for growing Flammulina velutipes is 58-65%, but due to the different types and dryness of the culture medium, the specific situation should be considered when mixing the medium. Usually it is checked based on experience. The method is to hold the culture medium tightly in the hand into a ball, let it fall to the ground and scatter, and then pinch the culture medium tightly with the thumb, index finger and middle finger. If water marks are visible, it is suitable.

6. Loading

The specific operation of manual loading is: after putting a small amount of culture medium into the bag, use your thumb and index finger to press the two corners of the bottom of the bag into the bag to make the bottom square so that the bag can stand upright, and then continue to load and compact it.

In order to shorten the mycelium culture time, a small conical wooden stick with a diameter of about 1 cm can be placed in the plastic bag when filling the material. After the material is filled and compacted, gently rotate it to take out the small wooden stick. After the material is loaded, put on the ring, plug it with cotton, and then sterilize it. The amount of nutrients filled in is about 3/5 of the total length of the bag, leaving 15-20 cm at the top of the bag without filling.

7. Sterilization

The cultivation of Flammulina velutipes in mushroom grass bags is a cooked material cultivation, which means it needs to be sterilized in an autoclave or autoclave stove. During sterilization, if sterilized with a pressure cooker, the pressure must be maintained at 1.5 kg/cm for 1.5 hours; if sterilized with a normal pressure furnace, the temperature of the culture material in the culture bag in the furnace must be maintained at 100°C for 10 hours. After sterilization, open the exhaust hole to gradually cool down the temperature, and then open the oven door to take out the bags.

8. Vaccination

The inoculation of Flammulina velutipes in bags is usually carried out in a sterilized inoculation box. If there is no inoculation box, inoculation can also be carried out in the inoculation room according to routine edible fungi operations. For vaccinations done in the inoculation room, the person who receives the bacteria must change into clean clothes before entering the room, and their hands and utensils must be disinfected with 70% alcohol. People should not enter or leave the room before all the bacteria have been received.

The cultivated varieties of Flammulina velutipes must be carefully selected. If any foreign bacteria are found, they cannot be used. The age of the fungi should be within 1.5 months. During inoculation, the opening of the plastic bag should be close to the sterile circle of the alcohol lamp flame. It is better to inoculate more. A small amount of bacteria should be introduced into the hole, and most of the bacteria should be distributed on the surface of the culture medium. In this way, each bottle of original strain can be inoculated with about 40 bags.

9. Management during the mycelium growth period

The management of the silk growth period of Flammulina velutipes cultivated in bags refers to the management from inoculation to before mushroom fruiting. The main task of management at this stage is to create the most suitable temperature for the growth of Flammulina velutipes mycelium as much as possible. After inoculation, the fungus bags should be moved to the mycelium culture room in time for cultivation. The mycelium culture room must be kept clean and dry, with a relative humidity of about 70%.

When the relative humidity in the culture room is too low, the air is dry and the moisture in the culture medium is easy to evaporate; when the relative humidity in the culture room is higher than 70%, it is easy to cause contamination by bacteria. The temperature of the culture room is controlled at around 20-23°C. After 3 to 4 weeks of cultivation, the mycelium will grow all over the culture medium.

10. Management during the fruiting period

Management during the mushroom fruiting period can be divided into bud inducing management and mushroom fruiting management.

Bud initiation: When the mycelium fills the bag, it should be moved to the bud initiation room for bud initiation management. There are two methods of budding management. One method is to remove the cotton plug and the ring, straighten the upper end of the plastic film bag into a cylindrical shape, cover the opening of the plastic bag with clean newspaper, spray water on the newspaper every day to keep it moist, or cover it with agricultural mulch.

Another method is to remove the cotton plug and the ring from the bag, straighten the upper end of the plastic bag, and then fold it to one side so that the upper end of the plastic bag is folded into a wedge shape. This method uses an inverted plastic bag to retain moisture. There is no need to add newspapers or spray water. You only need to increase the humidity in the bud-inducing room. In order to promote the uniform growth of mushroom buds, if conditions permit, the temperature can be lowered to 4-5℃ after budding, and frequent ventilation should be carried out. After about 10 days of low temperature treatment, a large number of uniform mushroom buds can be formed.

Fruiting management: When the mushroom buds appear in large numbers and in an orderly manner, the fruiting management will begin. When using the inverted folding method to retain moisture and promote budding, the plastic bag should be straightened and covered with clean newspaper or ground film. During the fruiting stage, the temperature rises from 4-5℃ during bud induction to 12-16℃, but be careful not to exceed 18℃.

If the temperature is higher than 18℃, the mushroom stems will be thin and yellow-brown, and the commercial value will be reduced. If you don’t have air conditioning, you should pay attention to keeping warm and keep doors and windows closed when the temperature is low; when the temperature is high, you should open doors and windows to lower the room temperature. When the mushrooms are growing, the relative humidity of the air in the cultivation room should be 90-95%.

11. Harvesting

Pay attention to harvesting Enoki mushrooms at the right time. If the mushroom is harvested before its stipe is fully elongated, the yield will be low; if it is harvested when its cap is fully expanded or has curled upward, the yield will be higher but the appearance will be poor, affecting its commercial value. The mushrooms for canning should be harvested when the caps begin to unfold.

Those sold fresh can be harvested when the cap is 6-7% unfolded. After harvesting, scrape away the aging mycelium on the surface of the culture medium, level the material, and refold the bag to allow the mycelium to resume growth.

The above is an introduction to the cultivation technology of Flammulina velutipes. As a nutritious and delicious edible fungus, Flammulina velutipes has a relatively good market demand and its cultivation development prospects are also good.