You can grow many types of mushrooms on your own. And morels are no exception. Growing them in a backyard garden on specially created beds or cultivated areas in the forest is an exciting and not too laborious process. The main thing is to acquire high-quality mycelium of morels and strictly follow all the recommendations for cultivating this type of mushroom.
Morels belong to the Morchkovy (Morshellovy) family. The most famous are c. tall, with conical, with steppe, s. edible (real) and morel cap. All of these species can be cultivated.
Where do morels grow and what do they look like?
In the wild, mushrooms of the morel family grow in the temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere from Europe to America, and are also found in Australia and on a number of islands in the Southern Hemisphere. Morels grow mainly in the forest zone, preferring broad-leaved or mixed forests, but sometimes they also vegetate among pines, often living in parks and forest park areas. All 5 most famous species of morels grow in Our Country, they are found almost everywhere – from the forest-tundra zone in the south to the forest-steppe zone in the north, from the western outskirts of the European part to the Far East, they are widespread in the Urals and Siberia. In the southern regions of Our Country, they often vegetate in front gardens and lawns, preferring sandy soils, therefore they often grow in floodplains, along the banks of streams, they like to settle in clearings and forest ashes.
Morels are traditionally considered spring mushrooms, in the southern zone of the European part of Our Country they grow from April – early May, in the middle and northern zones they begin to bear fruit from the second half of May to June. Under favorable weather conditions, mushrooms can also be found in warm autumn.
By the nature of their nutrition, morels are characteristic representatives of saprophytic fungi, therefore, fungi of this family prefer fertile calcareous soils for growth among grass enriched with plant litter, but can also be found in city dumps, usually rich in decomposing organic compounds.
In Europe, morels began to be grown in their own gardens, parks and just in the beds already in the middle of the XNUMXth century. The Germans were among the first to notice that morels grow better on the ashes, and began to sprinkle ashes on the beds.
In industrial mushroom growing, mainly 3 types of morels are cultivated: real morel, conical morel and morel cap – as the most common representatives of this family.
Outwardly, morels look different than other hat mushrooms. The cap of the morel, depending on its type, has either a conical or an ovoid-rounded elongated shape, the surface of which is covered with a network of deep folds. The color of the mushroom varies from gray-brown to dark chocolate, almost black. The edges of the cap in some species adhere to the stem. The stem is cylindrical, like the cap, hollow inside.
The height of the fungus reaches 10 cm. The pulp of the morel is fragile, easily broken and crumbled, pleasant in taste, but does not have a pronounced mushroom smell. In most countries of Europe and America, the conical morel is a delicacy.
All types of morels are considered conditionally edible mushrooms, suitable for human consumption after their preliminary boiling.
How to breed morels
You can grow morels using one of two technologies: French – in specially created beds – and German, in the garden. Both methods are related to extensive mushroom growing, which requires large areas to obtain a high yield. Intensive methods of cultivating this fungus on nutrient substrates indoors are currently being actively developed by American scientists, but these methods of cultivating mushrooms have not yet been widely used.
Morels in nature prefer well-lit areas with organic-rich soils; mushrooms are very responsive to the introduction of ash and nutrient-rich apples into the soil. It is these features of natural mushrooms that formed the basis of the French and German methods of their cultivation.
It is better to breed morels in an orchard or in a specially designated area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbdeciduous forest, where the natural shade from the trees provides the mushrooms with the necessary level of illumination and at the same time protects them from direct sunlight. When creating beds, it must be borne in mind that mushrooms do not tolerate spring stagnant water, therefore, in a dedicated area, it is required to make a good drainage system to drain melt water.
Before you start growing morels on the site, the topsoil must be replaced with a specially prepared substrate. It is prepared from garden soil for flowers mixed with sawdust and ashes according to the following formula: for every six volumes of garden soil, add half the volume of sawdust and one volume of ash. The prepared soil mixture should be mixed and laid out in a 10-centimeter layer on the equipped beds. The laid substrate must be watered at the rate of 10 liters of water for every 1 m of the bed.
As with the cultivation of other types of mushrooms, for sowing it is better to use not sexually mature mushrooms collected in the forest, but morel mycelium purchased from trusted suppliers. After the bed is prepared, the mycelium is distributed over its entire surface, then it is covered with a 6-cm layer of earth removed from the beds during the construction of the beds. The soil is slightly moistened with a small watering can or a special sprinkler, after which the bed is covered with stored natural material: straw mats, small branches, foliage; you can use, as the French do, apple pomace.
After sowing the beds with mycelium, it is necessary to monitor the moisture level of the substrate. As the soil dries up, it should be moistened with special nutrient concentrates that promote accelerated and enhanced growth of fungi. One of these compounds, called Baikal-EM-1, is produced by the domestic agricultural industry. To enhance fruiting, the bed is sprinkled on top with a thin layer of ash. When using apple pomace, ash can be omitted additionally. Fruiting occurs one year after sowing, lasts in one place from 3 to 5 years, and practically does not require large expenses and is especially suitable for small mushroom farms or amateur mushroom growers. In autumn, beds sown with mycelium must be additionally covered with straw, grass, and leaves. In the spring, immediately after the snow melts and the positive temperature is established, this protective cover is removed, leaving a thin layer of plant material. As a rule, 2-3 weeks after the removal of the protective cover, the mushrooms begin to bear fruit.
Morels are collected very carefully because of their fragility, twisting the mushroom, holding it by the leg or cutting it off with a knife. Ready-made mushrooms can be dried or delivered to the markets raw, but morels, due to their fragility, quickly lose their presentation during transportation.