Grow Your Own Mushrooms

Grow Your Own Mushrooms FARM HOME Food 32-5-31 If you've got some extra garden space and some straw bales or logs, you can grow your own mushrooms. Field and Forest Products of Peshtigo, Wis., provides the spawn to propagate mushrooms and helpful tips for beginners. The Wisconsin family-owned company has 25 years experience and sells spawn in forms that make it easy to use: plugs can be placed in drilled holes in a log or a powder that can be sprinkled on straw or wood chip beds. "One of the fastest growing segments of the mushroom growing market is the home gardener," says Joe Krawczyk, who runs the business with his wife, Mary Ellen. In the 80's, the couple started growing fruits and shiitake mushrooms, and the mushroom part of their business took off. Besides tasting good, shiitake mushrooms are high in essential amino acids, and contain a type of fiber that helps reduce bad cholesterol. Shiitake, wine cap and oyster mushrooms are the easiest to grow in most parts of the country. "Patience is the most important thing for growing mushrooms," Krawczyk says. "That, and understanding biology." For example, mushrooms require steady moisture and partial shade. The Krawczyks offer specific growing ideas for each variety. Shiitakes grow on hardwood logs that have drilled holes. The mushrooms have a shelf life of two to three weeks, and one 3-ft. log can grow about 6 lbs. of mushrooms over its lifetime, with about 1/4 to 1/3 lb. per harvest. Wine caps grow on straw or wood chip beds. The crisp, slightly nut-flavored mushrooms are big and great for cooking and grilling. The spawn survives over winter, and a bed can last indefinitely when kept moist and properly "fed" with more straw or chips each spring. "Wine caps are well suited for perennial beds," Krawczyk adds. "They can take a little extra light, and the mushrooms add organic matter to soil." Oyster mushrooms are smaller and grow on logs, straw or wood chips. Grow them inside, by pouring boiling water over a roll of unscented, uncolored toilet paper. After it cools, slip it in a plastic bag, fill the middle of the roll with spawn grains and put the bag in a darkened area for three weeks. Open the bag, put it in the refrigerator, and in one to two weeks mushrooms will cover the roll. One roll nets six harvests, but the mushroom shelf life is only about four days. Mushrooms are best stored in the refrigerator in paper bags. The Krawczyks wrote a book, "Growing Shiitake Mushrooms in a Continental Climate" and sell it along with other books and DVD's on their website. Beginners can get started inexpensively. At Field & Forest Products, $13 buys spawn for two 40-in. logs to grow shiitake mushrooms. Kits start at $24. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joe and Mary Ellen Krawczyk, Field & Forest Products, Inc., N3296 Kozuzek Road, Peshtigo, Wis. 54157 (ph 715 582-4997 or 800 792-6220; www.fieldforest.net).

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