Buttons mushrooms are one of the most popular types of fungi. They grow easily and they are very nutritious. They also taste great! You can find them in supermarkets and grocery stores around the country. Buttons mushrooms are cultivated commercially in about 70 countries worldwide. In India, there are two to three methods you can follow for growing buttons mushrooms.
Mushroom farming has been an exciting industry for several years now. With the increase in demand, farmers are making good returns. It’s not difficult at all. And there’s plenty of room for improvement.
You can also make your own mushrooms if you have the right equipment. Mushrooms require no special expertise or experience to grow successfully. In fact, they’re relatively easy to raise. They’re not hardy enough to survive outdoors year-round, however, so you’ll need to keep them indoors during winter months.
Health Benefits of Button Mushroom
- Firstly, it helps to reduce the inflammatory response in arterial cells and stops white blood cells from sticking together. Secondly, they suggest that eating button mushrooms could help prevent heart disease.
- Scientists believe that it is the mushroom’s polysaccharides that are responsible for its immune-boosting abilities.
- Furthermore, a healthy woman can consume up to half a serving of mushrooms per day to significantly lower her risk of developing breast cancer.
- Copper is a mineral found in plants. It helps keep our bodies healthy by helping us absorb vitamin C, which keeps bones strong.
Is Button Mushroom Farming Profitable?
The easily sellable products are fresh mushrooms. However, the canned mushrooms in brine solutions have potential retail values. These products have also longer shelf lives. Mushrooms are highly consumed in Asian countries such as China and India.
Asia is the largest consumer of mushrooms and is closely trailed by North America and Europe in terms of production and processing. Europe is the leading producer and processor of mushrooms.
The global mushroom market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4% during the forecast period (2019–2026). Major importers include the US, UAE, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel.
Increasing demand from developing economies, especially China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Turkey, is likely to drive the market further. Rising production costs coupled with growing concerns regarding safety issues and quality control are some of the key challenges faced by the industry.
Components Required For Button Mushroom Farming
- Composting Unit
- Outdoor compost piles or indoor bins for aerobic decomposition
- During the indoor phase-in peak period, heaters/
- Peak heating chamber
- Bulk pasteurization chamber
- Composting requires special care in the summer months because heat causes decomposition to slow down.
- Casing pasteurization chamber
- Spawn unit
- Spawn laboratory
- Cropping unit
- Seasonal cropping rooms
- Environment-controlled cropping rooms
- The environmental control system, heating/cooling systems, and forced-circulating fans
- Ancillary units
- Post-harvest handling unit
- Pre-cooling chamber
- Canning factory with a canning production facility
- Packaging room
These are all necessary equipment for starting up a fully functional commercial production facility. However, you can only begin growing mushrooms from fresh produce.
You may want to read this too: How to start a home-based mushroom farm
Button Mushroom Farming Basic Steps
Spawn Production
You can create your own mushroom farm from cultured mushroom spores. But, you’ll need a lab to grow them. Therefore, you may opt to buy them from an online supplier.
Also, make sure they’re of good quality. For example, if you get your mushroom spores from a reputable company, then you won’t have any problems.
Compost preparation
In compost preparation, two different kinds of methods exist. One is a short one of compost. Another is the long one of compost.
The short one of composts includes the pasteurization stage. But if the pasteurization facility is not available you may choose the long one of compost.
Spawning
Mixing spawn with compost is one way to increase your chances of having good results in your garden. There are three different kinds of mixes you can use.
Spot Spawning
If you want to grow mushrooms, you need to prepare the substrate by making small pits (5-10 centimeters) in which you place the spawn. Afterward, you must fill these pits with compost.
Surface Spawning
If you’re going to use this method, you need to sprinkle the spawn into the top layer of the soil first, and then add some more soil on top of that.
Layer Spawning
You need to mix about three to four different types of soil together before covering them with another thin layer of soil.
If you want to start a vermicompost organic fertilizer production business, read this guide first.
Spawn running
After the spawning period is over, you will have to place the fertilized eggs into the containers filled with soil. Cover these containers with a plastic sheet or a piece of cloth.
The fungi can then develop inside the container and produce mushrooms after about 14-16 hours. You should keep the temperature in your growing area at around 20 °C during the whole growth period.
Casing
The environmental conditions suitable to spawn runs are also suitable for casings. A thin 3-4 centimeter (1/2 inch) topsoil may be applied to the surface of the spawn runs prior to planting.Â
Pasteurization, formaldehyde treatments, banister in applications, and steam sterilization are all acceptable methods of treating soil. These treatments must be performed at least fifteen (15) days prior to use.
Fruiting
Under ideal environmental conditions, the fruiting bodies appear in the form of pinheads that grow slowly and then turn into buttons.
Harvesting & Yield Of Button Mushroom
The first crops appear about three weeks after casing. And you can harvest them by gently holding a mushroom head and twisting it.
You get about ten pounds of fresh shiitake per hundred pounds of fresh manure. But the short method used for preparing manure under natural conditions yields more yield in the button growing industry.
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