Cultivation of mushrooms

1. Cultivation Methods and Techniques
There are three basic ways for mushroom planting-basswood cultivation, log wood cultivation for artificial mushroom and the field cultivation. With the constant improvement of the spawn bags cultivation technology as well as the awareness to protect the forest, basswood cultivation way has reduced a lot in recent years. Our shiitake mushroom cultivation is mainly from spawn bags cultivation in our country. The basic process is as below:  material mixing, material bagging, sterilization, inoculation, mycelium growth, mushroom growth.
2. Planting Season
There are two main sowing seasons-spring and autumn. We have several production operation modes: Sow the spawn in early spring then harvest in end of spring thru early summer; Sow the spawn in spring and harvest in summer; Sow in spring and harvest in autumn and winter.
3. Mushroom Types
There are many kinds of mushrooms, which can be divided into different types according to the needs, which can be divided according to the cultivation materials, harvest time, sales products type, the size and the planting temperature.
① Mushroom type is defined by planting materials. Shiitake mushroom can be cultivated by basswood chip mode or by spawn bag mode. If by spawn bag mode, it is divided into five types:  basswood cultivation, wood chips cultivation (by spawn bags), straw cultivation, fungus straw cultivation, basswood chip cultivation etc.
② Mushroom type is defined by the harvest time. This classification can be divided into early harvest (it can be harvested around 70 to 80 days after inoculation), and late harvest (it can be harvested around 120 days after inoculation).
③ Mushroom type is defined by sales product type. This is mainly divided into dried shiitake mushroom and fresh shiitake mushroom. The dry one is with tight texture, low water content and high dry rate, which is suitable for drying. The fresh shiitake mushroom is with more loose texture and the water content is higher.
④ Mushroom type is defined by size. It can be divided into three categories: large leaf, medium leaf and small leaf species. The large one is with a cap size 5-15cm, the small one is with a cap size 4-6 cm, the medium one is with a cap size in the middle.
⑤ Mushroom type is defined by planting temperature. It can be divided into four categories: low temperature type, medium temperature type, high temperature type and wide temperature type.
Low temperature type: the mushroom growing temperature is at 5-15 ℃.
Medium temperature type: the mushroom growing temperature is at 10-20 ℃.
High temperature type: the mushroom growing temperature is at 15-25 ℃.
Wide temperature type: the mushroom growing temperature is at 5-28 ℃. But for the mushroom which is growing under the temperature at 10-20 ℃ is with the best quality. The cultivator should choose the appropriate type of mushroom according to actual needs.