GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

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GROWTH PARAMETERS
Figure 342. A soft, delicate, fleshy Iruitbody arises
from a scierotium.
Logs of beech, birch, willow, maples and/or
oaks are given multiple cuts into which sawdust
spawn or slices of fresh sclerotia are
packed. The logs are re-buried underneath a
layer of sandy soil and covered with rich humus
and deciduous leaves. After three years,
the trenched logs are unburied and new sclerotia
can be harvested. For sclerotia harvest, late
spring is best. Fruitbodies are generated from
the sclerotia in the late summer to early fall,
when the ground temperature hovers between
50-60° F. (10-15° C.). For more information,
consult Fungi Sinica, 1980. (See Figure 343.)
Recommended Courses for Expansion of
Mycelial Mass to Achieve Fruiting: Liquid
culture to grain to sawdust to supplemented
sawdust/chips. The cultivation of this mushroom
initially parallels that of Maitake,
frondosa, another fleshy polypore, according
to Jong (1992). My own successes with this
mushroom have been limited. G. umbellata
can be grown via two methods: from a sclerotium or directly from the mycelial mat by-passing the
sclerotial stage. Sclerotial production is stimulated by the microflora in soils, and by the absence of
light. Therefore formation of sclerotia under laboratory conditions is difficult. However, there is an
alternative strategy.
Zhu Ling behaves as a secondary saprophyte, depending upon the degradative abilities of other
fungi to render a wood substrate into usable platform for fruiting. In my experiments, fruitings did not
result when the same formula was prepared from fresh starting material (i.e. sawdustlchipsfbran). I
have had limited success at fruiting this species on the remains of sterilized, recycled Shiitake and
Reishi blocks. Nevertheless 45-60 days of incubation preceded any mushroom formation. This
method has only resulted in short, lateral, hardened plateaus with pored surfaces, which achieved
only a few centimeters in height. The pores contained sporulating basidia. This abbreviated fruitbody
formation may be a function of an insufficiently developed scierotial stage. Scierotia store nutrition
prior to fruitbody initiation. More research is required before indoor cultivation yields fruitings comparable
to other Polypores like Reishi or Maitake.
Suggested Agar Culture Media: MYPA, PDYA, OMYA or DFA.
1st, 2nd & 3rd Generation Spawn Media: Two expansions of grain spawn with the final spawn
stage being sawdust.
Substrates for Fruiting: Outdoor plantings require the placement of either spawn or scierotia into
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