Specialty Mushroom
Production for Small Farms
Jeremy Sisson
West Virginia State University
Gus R. Douglas Land Grant Institute
What is A Specialty
Mushroom?
The basic definition of a “specialty”
mushroom is any mushroom produced for
the market that is not Agaricus bisporus
(white button, portabella, crimini)
A specialty grower is defined as having at
least 200 natural wood logs in production or
some commercial indoor growing area and
$200 or more in sales.
Specialty Mushroom Examples
Pink Oyster
Reishi
What is a Mushroom?
A mushroom is the
reproductive
structure of certain
species of fungi.
The majority of
the organism is
underground an
cannot be seen
Mushroom Ecology
The fungi that produce mushrooms
are heterotrophs
They obtain their nutrients through
secreting enzymes that break down
large molecules and absorbing
smaller ones. (saprotrophs)
They form partnerships with tree
roots for absorbing sugars.
(myccorhizal)
Mushroom Ecology (cont.)
Needed for
growth
Moisture Protection from direct sunlight Optimum temperature Food
Fungi are critical
for ecosystems
as decomposers
General Steps for Producing
Edible Mushrooms
Initial growing media
Surface for spores to germinate and
mycelia to begin growing.
e.g. : Agar
Secondary growing substrates
Surface for the mycelia to proliferate =
“spawn” e.g. : rye, sawdust
“Bulk Substrate” formulation that
supports production of fruit bodies
Bulk Substrate
Bulk substrate
selected will
depend on species
you are growing
and cultivation
method employed.
Selection will also
depend on which
“waste materials”
you have readily
available.
Producing your own vs.
buying commercial spawn
At the beginning of your operation, it
may be a benefit to buy spawn from a
commercial supplier.
The steps that I described for starting
from scratch are tedious,
time-consuming, and require a very clean
environment.
Once you’ve mastered producing a
consistent crop on a bulk substrate, it
could save you money to produce
Examples of Commercial
Spawn suppliers.
Fungi perfecti, LLC
www.fungi.com
MushroomPeople
www.mushroomp
eople
.com
Sun Shitake
Brazillian Spawn
Company
www.sunshitake.c
om.br
As a grower, how do you
“POWER UP” your operation
with mushrooms?
Mushrooms can
supplement your annual income.
Mushrooms can benefit
your crops by increasing available nutrients in your field.
So, there is an economic
and environmental benefit.
U.S. Mushroom Crop
For the 2010-2011 Season,
the total sales were 862M lb with a value of $1.02 B
This production comes
from a total of 282 growers.
It is estimated that the
Agaricus portion of these
Market Considerations
In a grower/farmer’s best interest to start with a
species that has a history of marketability, best two specialty mushrooms for this job are Shitake and Oyster.
It will be beneficial to identify and establish buyers for
your crop before you even begin production.
If it is possible, a detailed market survey of potential
buyers in your neck of the woods is highly desirable.
Perhaps the local extension service can help with
Direct Sales of Fresh or Dried
Mushrooms
If you are selling your mushrooms fresh, this
will fetch you the highest prices for your
investment.
It may be possible to market your product
directly to local restaurants, whole food
stores/grocery stores and at farmers’ markets.
You could also directly market your product by
Problems with Direct Sales
A restaurant
owner/chef or grocery
store may have
existing contracts
with wholesalers.
Seasonal production
may not be good
enough, since
business owners have
to provide a
consistent,
year-round, quality product
for their customers.
Approaches to Direct Sales
May have to guarantee year-round
production to the restaurant or grocery
store.
This could be done, by having a part of
your crop in indoor facilities.
This could also be done by forming a
Co-op of mushroom growers
Wholesale Market
You could always sell your mushrooms to a
wholesaler.
This will be the best strategy for a producer
that does not have the time to engage in
direct marketing.
Selling dried mushrooms to the wholesale
market can also be a way to avoid lower
prices you will get in “peak season”
Lentinula edodes -Shitake
The most popular specialty
mushroom
For over 1000 yrs. Have
been grown in Asia on
hardwood logs.
Have now also been
adapted to an indoor
method of growing on a
supplemented saw-dust
based media
.Log Cultivation Method with
plug spawn
Hardwood logs are cut from recently felled trees into
3-4ft long pieces ~ 4 in.-10 in. in diameter
Logs should be stored covered, off the ground until ready
to inoculate
Holes are drilled in the wood, in a diamond shaped
pattern, approximately 30-50 per log and a mallet is used to drive in the mycelia covered dowels (plug spawn)
After inserted, the dowels are covered with some sort of
Log Cultivation (cont.)
After inoculation, logs can be placed in a proper
habitat for fruiting, they need to placed in a well
shaded area and preferably close to a water
source.
After 6months to a year, logs can either be
induced to fruit by “force flushing”, or you could
let nature take its course and harvest when
weather conditions are right.
This could be a good method if you have many
acres of woods on your property, West Virginia in
general has a lot of land that is suitable to outdoor
cultivation.
Pleurotus ostreatus-Oyster
Mushroom
Delicious edible
mushroom with a crude protein content of ~30-40%
Can be produced on a
variety of waste materials that contain lignin and
cellulose
Has medicinal benefits
such as reducing
cholesterol and boosting the immune system
Oyster Mushroom Production
Like shitake, oysters can be grown on logs for
outdoor cultivation using plug spawn
Oysters can also be grown indoors on materials that
are high in lignin, cellulose, or hemicellulose
Common examples of bulk substrates are: all of
the cereal straws, sugar cane bagasse, coffee
grounds, hulls, cottonseed hulls, and corncobs
Yields can be increased by supplementing the
subsrate with materials like millet, rice bran,
gypsum, etc.
Indoor Cultivation
When producing mushrooms indoors, the
substrates must be either sterilized or pasteurized
Environmental conditions have to be tightly
controlled, this includes humidity, temperature,
fresh air exchanges, incoming air purification.
An appropriate container that allows fruitbodies to
form for whichever species you are growing, it is
necessary that this container encloses the
substrate while the mycelia is running, but allows
for gas exchange.
Potential Fruiting Houses
Warehouses
Greenhouses
Airplane hangars
Barns
Mines
Caves
Poultry Sheds
Basements
General Outline for Growing
Indoors
Sterilization / Pasteurization of the Substrate
Inoculation of substrate with spawn after cooling
Filling containers, sealing and allowing mycelia to run
through (second spawn run)
Placing in grow room and adjusting conditions of the
environment to promote mushroom initiation, growth, and development
Sterilization
Can be achieved by
autoclaving (pressure cooking) the substrate materials.
Main purpose here is to
kill competitor
organisms, discourage their growth, and give mycelia free reign.
Disadvantage is that it
takes expensive equipment.
Pasteurization- Hot Bath
Method
A Low cost way to do this involves a 50 gallon drum, a
propane burner, a wire basket and a thermometer.
Heat the drum full of water from below with the
burner until it reaches a temperature of 130°C
Dunk in dry substrate materials in a wire basket and
keep submerged with something heavy for~1h
Carefully remove, drain off excess water, spread out
Inoculation
Substrate is placed
into fruiting
container
Spawn (4-10%
volume of mix) is
added and
thoroughly mixed
.Harvesting the Crop
The production cycle happens in waves called
“flushes”, the number of flushes that will be produced depends upon species being grown.
It is important to harvest the mature
mushrooms at the right stage, because this affects the quality of the mushrooms for sale, the health of the harvester, and yields in later flushes.
Important to clean the house out of all left over
materials, and disinfect all surfaces with something like 10% bleach
Spent Substrate
This is the material that is
leftover from the fruiting containers.
Can compost this further
to put into your soil, mix directly in as a soil
amendment.
Or, If you are using straw,
Can use this directly to grow……….
King Stropharia Mushroom
An edible mushroom that
can be produced directly with your plants in the garden.
Can also be grown in
raised beds in a moist shaded area of your property.
Grifola frondosa-maitake
mushroom
Can be grown with
several different outdoor cultivation techniques on logs and stumps.
Would be a good
candidate for stump
removal if you are doing selective cutting for
timber on parts of your property.
Help to create an “edible
Stump Cultivation
Wedge technique
Spawn disk
technique
Plug spawn
technique
Implementing a whole farm
approach
If you are growing plants and animals at your site,
you can use the wastes from both to produce
mushrooms.
You can then use the “waste” mushroom substrate to
add organic matter and nutrients to your soil, or as a
highly nutritious fodder to feed your animals.
If you are also selective cutting parts of your land,
you can inoculate stumps with delicious edibles or
medicinals to provide food for sale or for the table
and to improve the health of your woodlot.
Summary
While growing at the commercial level is a tough thing to
get into, there are niche markets that could be exploited if producing on a small scale.
If it is an activity that you want to do for pleasure, using
materials that you already have access to produce food for your family, friends and neighbors using outdoor
techniques could be a rewarding venture.
Your summer and fall walks in the woods will be enriched
with the various new mushrooms you see sprouting up on your property.
Contact Info
Jeremy Sisson
Research Technician
W.V.S.U. G.R.D.I. A.E.R.S
sissonjm@wvstateu.edu
(304) 720-1050
(304) 766-5768
