A practical guide to growing mushrooms in IndiaA joint educational initiative by MushroomWale & DMR Solan ↗
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A joint educational initiative by

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Your first mushroom crop

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Contents · choose a chapter or topic
Start here
  1. 01Your first mushroom crop
  2. 02What you need before starting
Understand the basics
  1. 03The mushroom is not the whole organism
  2. 04Three mushrooms, three different crop arrangements
  3. 05What are you actually buying?
Records that make sense
  1. 06Follow one batch from input to sale
Learn before scaling
  1. 07What to ask from a practical training programme
The process
  1. 08Choose with evidence
  2. 09Recognise what each material does
  3. 10Walk through the work
  4. 11Learn from the whole cycle
In the field
  1. 12Choose a crop using four pieces of evidence
  2. 13Choose a crop using four pieces of evidence · continued
  3. 14A first-crop decision sheet
  4. 15Understand what is inside the bag or bed
  5. 16Understand what is inside the bag or bed · continued
  6. 17Write it in your farm notebook
  7. 18Prepare the workflow before opening spawn
  8. 19Prepare the workflow before opening spawn · practical sequence
  9. 20Judge the first crop by records, not by one photograph
  10. 21Practice record: harvest is not the same as a sale
  11. 22Where the field guidance comes from
What Mushrooms Are
  1. 23What Mushrooms Are
  2. 24A fungus, not a plant
  3. 25A fungus, not a plant · continued
  4. 26Mycelium: the hidden body
  5. 27The mushroom: a fruiting body
  6. 28The mushroom: a fruiting body · continued
  7. 29Why this changes how you farm
  8. 30Why this changes how you farm · continued
  9. 31Read the numbers in context
  10. 32Read the numbers in context
  11. 33Read the numbers in context
  12. 34Watch a fungus work this week
  13. 35Avoid these mistakes
  14. 36Check your understanding
  15. 37Check your understanding
  16. 38Check your understanding
  17. 39Words used in this lesson
  18. 40Sources and field reference
Major Cultivated Mushrooms
  1. 41Major Cultivated Mushrooms
  2. 42Five mushrooms, two kinds of food
  3. 43Five mushrooms, two kinds of food · continued
  4. 44Temperature is the first filter
  5. 45Temperature is the first filter · continued
  6. 46Season and region
  7. 47Season and region · continued
  8. 48Speed, cycle and skill
  9. 49Speed, cycle and skill · continued
  10. 50Read the numbers in context
  11. 51Read the numbers in context
  12. 52Read the numbers in context
  13. 53Build your own temperature calendar
  14. 54Avoid these mistakes
  15. 55Check your understanding
  16. 56Check your understanding
  17. 57Check your understanding
  18. 58Words used in this lesson
  19. 59Sources and field reference
Mycelium, Spawn & Substrate
  1. 60Mycelium, Spawn & Substrate
  2. 61What spawn is and where it comes from
  3. 62What spawn is and where it comes from · continued
  4. 63Judging spawn on arrival
  5. 64What a substrate must do
  6. 65What a substrate must do · continued
  7. 66Three ways to prepare it, and the spawn rate
  8. 67Three ways to prepare it, and the spawn rate · continued
  9. 68Read the numbers in context
  10. 69Read the numbers in context
  11. 70Read the numbers in context
  12. 71Spawn and straw checks before your first batch
  13. 72Avoid these mistakes
  14. 73Check your understanding
  15. 74Check your understanding
  16. 75Check your understanding
  17. 76Words used in this lesson
  18. 77Sources and field reference
Environment
  1. 78Environment
  2. 79Temperature: the bed, not only the air
  3. 80Temperature: the bed, not only the air · continued
  4. 81Humidity: keeping water inside the mushroom
  5. 82Humidity: keeping water inside the mushroom · continued
  6. 83Fresh air and carbon dioxide
  7. 84Fresh air and carbon dioxide · continued
  8. 85Light, and reading the crop
  9. 86Light, and reading the crop · continued
  10. 87Read the numbers in context
  11. 88Read the numbers in context
  12. 89Read the numbers in context
  13. 90The two-thermometer week
  14. 91Avoid these mistakes
  15. 92Check your understanding
  16. 93Check your understanding
  17. 94Check your understanding
  18. 95Words used in this lesson
  19. 96Sources and field reference
Hygiene & Contamination
  1. 97Hygiene & Contamination
  2. 98Who wants your straw
  3. 99Who wants your straw · continued
  4. 100Pests and disorders
  5. 101Pests and disorders · continued
  6. 102Prevention: the cheap rules
  7. 103Prevention: the cheap rules · continued
  8. 104Observe before you act
  9. 105Observe before you act · continued
  10. 106Read the numbers in context
  11. 107Read the numbers in context
  12. 108Read the numbers in context
  13. 109Draw your clean line this week
  14. 110Avoid these mistakes
  15. 111Check your understanding
  16. 112Check your understanding
  17. 113Check your understanding
  18. 114Words used in this lesson
  19. 115Sources and field reference
Cultivation Cycle
  1. 116Cultivation Cycle
  2. 117Stage 1: prepare the substrate
  3. 118Stage 1: prepare the substrate · continued
  4. 119Stages 2 and 3: spawn and colonise
  5. 120Stages 2 and 3: spawn and colonise · continued
  6. 121Stage 4: switch the room to fruiting
  7. 122Stage 4: switch the room to fruiting · continued
  8. 123Stages 5 and 6: harvest in flushes, then reset
  9. 124Stages 5 and 6: harvest in flushes, then reset · continued
  10. 125Read the numbers in context
  11. 126Read the numbers in context
  12. 127Read the numbers in context
  13. 128Draw one crop on a calendar
  14. 129Avoid these mistakes
  15. 130Check your understanding
  16. 131Check your understanding
  17. 132Check your understanding
  18. 133Words used in this lesson
  19. 134Sources and field reference
Harvest & Post-Harvest
  1. 135Harvest & Post-Harvest
  2. 136When to pick
  3. 137When to pick · continued
  4. 138Handling and grading
  5. 139Handling and grading · continued
  6. 140Cooling: the cold chain
  7. 141Cooling: the cold chain · continued
  8. 142Packing and choosing the channel
  9. 143Packing and choosing the channel · continued
  10. 144Read the numbers in context
  11. 145Read the numbers in context
  12. 146Read the numbers in context
  13. 147Time your first hour
  14. 148Avoid these mistakes
  15. 149Check your understanding
  16. 150Check your understanding
  17. 151Check your understanding
  18. 152Words used in this lesson
  19. 153Sources and field reference
Business Reality
  1. 154Business Reality
  2. 155Four numbers, not one
  3. 156What the institutes actually give you
  4. 157What the institutes actually give you · continued
  5. 158Cost per saleable kilogram
  6. 159Cost per saleable kilogram · continued
  7. 160Capital, schemes and the assumptions you must prove
  8. 161Read the numbers in context
  9. 162Read the numbers in context
  10. 163Read the numbers in context
  11. 164A one-crop cash calendar
  12. 165Avoid these mistakes
  13. 166Check your understanding
  14. 167Check your understanding
  15. 168Check your understanding
  16. 169Words used in this lesson
  17. 170Sources and field reference
Which Mushroom Fits Me?
  1. 171Which Mushroom Fits Me?
  2. 172Constraint 1: climate and season
  3. 173Constraint 1: climate and season · continued
  4. 174Constraints 2 and 3: materials, skill and control
  5. 175Constraints 2 and 3: materials, skill and control · continued
  6. 176Constraint 4: market and shelf life
  7. 177Constraint 4: market and shelf life · continued
  8. 178Three Indian cases and a first batch
  9. 179Three Indian cases and a first batch · continued
  10. 180Read the numbers in context
  11. 181Read the numbers in context
  12. 182Read the numbers in context
  13. 183Score your fit on one page
  14. 184Avoid these mistakes
  15. 185Check your understanding
  16. 186Check your understanding
  17. 187Check your understanding
  18. 188Words used in this lesson
  19. 189Sources and field reference
Practise and review
  1. 190Mistakes to avoid
  2. 191Teach the process back
Sources and next steps
  1. 192Keep learning with the field guides

Mycelium, Spawn & Substrate

Field notes

What a substrate must do

The substrate is the food, but it must also hold water, let air in, have the right acidity and be free of competitors.

Water: DMR's straw treatment aims at 65 to 70 percent moisture. The farm test is a squeeze: no drops fall and the palm feels slightly damp. Air: straw is chopped, 2 to 3 cm in the oyster folder or 5 to 10 cm in the manual, so the mycelium can breathe. Acidity: oyster mycelium likes pH 6 to 7, button compost 7.2 to 7.8, shiitake sawdust 5.5 to 6.

Your first mushroom crop64

English learning edition · Independent technical review pending. Keyboard: focus the reading page and use ← / →. Page turning does not mark practical competence.