The mushroom mycelium is the mushroom seed needed when cultivating mushrooms. You cannot cultivate plants without seeds Right? Well it is the same with the case of mushroom cultivation. The mycelium it is commercially produced in specialized labs doted with proper equipment. The source where buying mycelium is very important because the quality of the mycelium purchased is crucial. A quality mycelium it is produced in a sterile environment and such conditions are existent only in specialized laboratories. Any attempt of producing mycelium in open air ends up with a total fiasco because of contamination with competitive bacteria, virus and other fungi species existing in the surrounding air. A clean mycelium is the key of successful mushroom cultivation and every mushroom cultivator knows this, therefore they always choose trustful persons from which they buy a quality mycelium.
Another important aspect is the type of mycelium purchased, and I'm referring here about chosen species in order to use for cultivation and strain. Each mushroom species has unique characteristics in terms of growth, conditions requirement, substrate requirement, etc. This is the reason why when preparing to grow mushrooms you should know about the tolerance grade of the mushroom that you want to cultivate. For example there are oyster mushroom species that grow and develop without any special requirements (e.g., the famous oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus), while some other species are more sensitive and require more attention (e.g., the yellow oyster mushroom: Pleurotus citrinopileatus). In addition some species grow faster than others (e.g., Pleurotus spp. compared to Maitake-Grifola frondosa), while they have different grades of productivity (the amount of mushrooms that you can collect).
The strain that you are going to use in the cultivation process is another very important aspect. Each strain is unique with specific environmental or substrate conditions requirements. There is a bunch of excellent strains available on the market and is important to choose the best one. But how can you know which one is the best? Well, this is a rather difficult task because there are some companies selling strains without giving you any information about them.
When purchasing a strain you should know the following:
- What strain is it? what are its temperature preferences? [because there are strains growing well on low medium, or high temperature]
- Does the strain need a cold temperature shock? Many excellent strains on the market do not need anymore a cold shock; however, this has to be asked.
- What are the strain substrate requirements? does the strain prefer to grow on oak or on beech wood?
- What is the growth rate of the strain? This is important because strains with low growth will colonize the substrate in more time than strains with higher growth rate.
- What's the possible final yield associated with the strain? A vigorous strain will normally give a higher mushroom yield.
Usually it is best to purchase a strain that you know about few things. Famous strains are usually recommended on the market but the one buying them should know that even a famous strain looses it's strength in time. Therefore it is needed to change strains from time to time with new ones more potent than older ones.
Here is a list of some companies selling mycelium:
Amycel
Italspawn
Sylvan
Aloha Medicinals
However, best is when you make your own spawn because you are not dependent on spawn from other sources. If you consider in building your own lab with less than $400 Mushroomers Club offers 2 packages that will help you produce your own muchroom spawn. In order to see these two offers click here
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