Learn how to cultivate mushroom and get into mushroom business that really sell well in the market. Here are the important things you need to know about mushroom cultivation.

Mushrooms are not only rich in needed nutrients, but are very tasty, as well. Moreover, they can fetch a high price in the market as mushroom cultivation can be a good business venture. You can start cultivating mushrooms either for private consumption or as the start of a business venture.

To start the cultivation of tropical mushrooms, cut the tissue from the button-stage mushrooms and place in a medium, called potato dextrose agar or PDA slant. This will be incubated for five to seven days at room temperature and will be further propagated into PDA slants for a second generation of culture, serving as “seeds” after this process. You can continue the process up to the fourth generation but avoid getting further so as not to damage the quality and yield of future mushrooms.

After, use the culture to prepare the spawn. The spawn is the equivalent to seedlings in plants. Prepare the culture from substrates made of banana leaves, tobacco midribs, ipil-ipil, kakawati, chopped rice straw, water lily, and other kind of leguminous leaves. Combine these with rice bran, urea, and sawdust.

The prepared substrate will take about three to five days. Sterilize this for an hour, cool, and then inoculate with the culture. Incubate the spawn at room temperature for about seven to 14 days then plant them into beds of banana leaves, rice straw, or water lily.

Soak the beds with clean tap water for three to 12 hours and after planting, cover it with a plastic sheet. Make sure the sheet doesn’t have punctures in order to retain moisture and raise the temperature. After five to seven days, expose the bed to air by removing the plastic cover for almost an hour early in the morning. Put back the plastic cover afterwards. Be careful not to touch the pinheads though.

On the 14th day, you can now harvest your first batch of mushrooms, and you’re on your way to your mushroom business!