A Review of Mushroom Growing
The mushroom is a fungus and is quite finicky about its food source. Mushrooms lack the ability to use energy from the sun. They are not green plants because they do not have chlorophyll. Mushrooms extract their carbohydrates and proteins from a rich medium of decaying, organicmatter vegetation. This rich organic matter must be prepared into nutrient-rich substrate composts that the mushroom can consume. When correctly made, this food may become available exclusively to the mushroom and would not support the growth of much else. At a certain stage in the decomposition, the mushroom grower stops the process and plants the mushroom so it becomes the dominant organism in that environment.
The sequence used to produce this specific substrate for the mushroom is called composting or compost substrate preparation and is divided into two stages, Phase I and Phase II. Each stage has distinct goals or objectives. It is the grower’s responsibility to provide the necessary ingredients and environmental conditions for the chemical and biological processes required to complete these goals. The management of starting ingredients and the proper conditions for composting make growing mushrooms so demanding.
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