How to grow Volvariella volvacea
How to grow Volvariella volvacea
Moss Mushrooms (Volvariella volvacea (Bull.) Singer), also called Straw Mushrooms, are fungi grown and marketed for food, especially in Asia; on the other hand, this fungus is rarer in its natural state. The cultivation of this mushroom has distant origins (China) and seems to have started in the year 1822 and then spread to other Asian countries.
It is a fungus that can obviously be grown under controlled conditions all over the world but especially in the tropics due to the high cultivation temperatures. However, if you also have small rooms where you can control temperature and humidity, cultivation can also be done at home. Another not insignificant aspect is the finding of mycelium; difficult to find in Europe can be found in some commercial sites for sale online.
For the preparation of the growing substrate many by-products and waste materials from agricultural activities can be used: for ex. rice straw, water hyacinth, scraps of palm oil processing, banana leaves and sawdust, waste from the processing of cotton and sugar cane; in short, there is a wide range of waste to use. Before starting inoculation of mycelium, these materials must undergo a short composting (3-4 days) and a short pasteurisation of about 2 hours at 60-65 ° C. during the incubation phase the substrate must be kept at 31-35 ° C for 4-6 days, while during the fruiting phase the ambient temperature should be kept between 27 and 31 ° C; this is why the cultivation of Volvariella volvacea lends itself well to the tropics, due to the high temperatures of cultivation.
In the cultivation of these fungi it is also not necessary the presence of covering earth. Usually the waste (waste) of the working of cotton (available and coming from the textile industries) is good; these give good results, both in terms of yield (as biological efficiency of 30-45%) and as fruiting times (4-5 days from sowing) and harvesting times (9 days after sowing).
During the whole period, both incubation and fruiting, the light intensity must be very low (as in a very dense undergrowth), therefore without direct rays of natural or artificial lights; even the drafts must be absent.
Obviously only the experience and the comparison between the various substrates makes better understand what is suitable for the particular conditions in which you operate.
Straw Mushrooms are mushrooms that lend themselves very well mainly for preservation in oil, or dried.