Look Inside
Start a mushroom farm or grow them for home consumption.
This is a great ebook that is useful to both the back yard and commercial producer of edible mushrooms – covering all the basic fundamentals. Written by John Mason and staff at ACS, this book has brought together information and resources collected by our staff over more than 25 years of operating our mushroom production home study course. We have included a lot of information that our students have often found difficult to find. Information about mushroom spawn production and mushroom diseases, for instance, has not been published widely. These and other aspects of mushroom growing are all brought together in the one place, in this book.
Although it focuses on the most commonly grown mushroom Agaricus bisporus (button mushroom or champignon) and its various strains, (which accounts for around 36-40% of mushrooms produced and consumed worldwide) the knowledge acquired from this book may be applied to the cultivation of many other species of edible fungi.
93 pages
Contents
Forward
Chapter 1. Nature and Scope of Mushroom Production
Nature of Mushroom Growing
Nutritional Value of Mushrooms
The Science
Other Types of Edible Mushrooms
Typical Mushroom Growing Procedure
Chapter 2. Spawn Production
Introduction
The Agaricus Genus
Stages of Maturity
Other Agaricus Species
Agaricus Bisporus Strains
Selecting Strains
Starting Out: A Note on Sterilisation
Spawn Manufacture
Spore Culture
Multi-spore and Mono-spore Cultures
Preparing Spore Cultures
Tissue Culture
Mycelium Transfer
Spawn Disorders
Chapter 3. Compost Production
Compost
Preparing the Substrate for Spawning
Materials used for Composting
Phases of Compost Making
Chapter 4. Structures and Environment Control
Growing Structures
Selecting a Site
Choosing a Structure
Environmental Control
Chapter 5. Growing Methods
Choosing Methods
Spawning
Different Growing Systems
Chapter 6. Mushroom Health: Pest and Disease Control
Pests and Diseases
Pests
Diseases
Virus Diseases
Bacterial Diseases
Other Health Problems
Hygiene
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Chemical Controls
Chapter 7. Harvesting, Processing and Storage
Harvesting Conditions
When to Harvest Mushrooms
Processing
Storage
Storage Disorders
Chapter 8. Using Mushrooms
Edible Uses of Mushrooms
Potential Health Risks of Consuming Mushrooms and Contraindications
Health Benefits of Mushrooms
Foods Using Mushrooms or other Fungi
Preserving Mushrooms
Mushroom Recipes
Other Uses of Mushrooms
Appendix
Read the review on the ebook Growing and Using Mushrooms written by Tracey Bool and published in the Canberra Weekly in 2017 here.