14 DAY TRIAL // Mushrooms can be cultivated in basements or cottages with aerating possibilities, where a 10 to 18? C temperature can be kept. This place must be clean, blanched and disinfected (with sulfur or other substances).
The substrate (compost) is made by mixing 2 parts of horse manure with one part of cattle manure or one part of horse manure with one part of sheep manure or two parts of horse manure with one part of minced of cobs. The manure must be fresh (unfermented) and as strawy as possible.
The compost can be prepared under a shed this way: it is disposed with a hoe in a layer 40 cm (1.3 ft) tall; water it (using a sprinkler) with water or manure must. Tamp using a plank you will trample. Do it this way till you make a platform 1.5 m (5 ft) tall.
During the following fermentation, the compost must be turned over for 3-4 times, breaking it with the fork and mixing the edge compost with that from the interior. After that, readjust the platform, without watering or tamping it. During the each turn add for each cubic meter of compost, a quantity of 1.5 kg of gypsum. During the last two turns, add each time 1 kg of superphosphate (a mixture of calcium phosphate and calcium sulfate) and 1 kg of ammonium nitrate.
The compost is ready when it loses the ammonia scent, has a brown color, the straws are fragile and does not leak. The mature compost must be placed on the culture site in a layer 20 cm (0.6 ft) tall.
Let it rest for several days, till it stops spreading steams and it loses the ammonia scent completely. The compost must be seeded with mycelium, bought from specialized stores, using pieces of the size of a wall nut. The mycelium "nuts" are planted 3-4 cm (1.2 -1.6 inch) deep; they are covered without pressing.
After the seeding, cover the layers with polyethylene sheet, which must be endorsed over wooden props, to allow aerating. Flick daily the water droplets.
If the compost is too wet, strew over the layers a little gypsum; if it tends to dry, water below, around the layers but not directly on the compost.
After 25-35 days you will notice the mycelium grown around the nests. Now, cover each nest with a 2 cm (0.8 inch) tall layer formed by a mixture of 3 parts of sand and one part of wet garden soil. Water a little and level the layer with a plank. Aerate moderately each day and spray water directly on the layers, with a hand pump.
After 3 weeks, the mushrooms will emerge, first like white berries but they grow quickly and form the cap. Collect them before opening the cap, detaching them carefully, in that way not to disturb the underground mycelium. During the fructification, the temperature inside the room must be 12-15?C and the place will be well aerated, but avoiding the currents formation.