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solokkhz has been a member since March 28th 2011, and has created 9 posts from scratch.

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Growing mushrooms at home

published Sunday, June 5th, 2011 at 4:52 am by

Fungi cultivation at home is a popular trend nowadays. It is mainly because people somehow are affected by inflation that buying them from stores adds to their expenses. Some also find that home grown veggies and fruits are more flavorful, tastier and nutritious than those commercially processed foods. Some people also found that growing them at home are a good business opportunity and are highly profitable.

One of the famous cultivations now is growing mushrooms at home. Because mushrooms have great demand in the market today for food and medicinal purposes, growing mushrooms at home can be a profitable hobby.  There are available mushroom growing kits at local gardening stores and online gardening shops. These kits include instructions on how to successfully grow these fungi.  These mushroom kits are useful to those who would want to start mushroom farming at home.

Before growing mushrooms at home, one must understand and know the different types of mushrooms. There are many varieties of mushrooms and each variety has different needs and requirements for growth. The amount of yield and growing period differs in each variety or type of mushroom.  Knowing their characteristics and requirements will help you produce maximum yield.

What are the common types of mushrooms that are grown at home?  The most commonly grown mushroom are the Portobello, Crimini, Common white cap mushrooms. All belongs to the same family. A Portobello mushroom can grow up to six inches in diameter while the smallest in this family is the crimini. A yield of three to six pounds of mushrooms is produced in one kit but growing period usually takes longer about three months or more. Sunlight is not needed for growing this type of mushroom.

Shiitake mushrooms are also highly regarded due to their taste and medicinal values. It also has been studied to have anti-viral properties. Shiitake can grow up to three to four inches in diameter. It has a very rich texture. Growing this type of mushroom needs a temperature of 55 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. This mushroom can produce a yield up to 2-3 pounds within three months.

Another type of mushroom which can be grown at home is the oyster mushrooms. From the name itself, this mushroom tastes like oysters. This variety of mushrooms has different types of colors namely cream, bluish gray, pink and white. The white variety is the simplest to cultivate.

This type of mushroom will grow in temperatures ranging from 55 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Oyster mushrooms do not do well in humid environment thus; it needs misting twice or thrice a day. Just by following the instructions indicated in the mushroom kits, growing mushrooms at home can be very easy and fulfilling.

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Mushroom growing kits

published Sunday, June 5th, 2011 at 4:43 am by

Nowadays the availability of plots and yards are becoming lesser. That is why indoor gardening is fast becoming popular.  A lot of plants are being grown indoors and a lot also turned to have good results based on the abundance of yield. But not only plants can be grown indoors, fungi can also be one of the many that are successfully being cultivated. Fungi such as mushrooms are very popular among indoor gardeners. Mushrooms that are grown at home can be interesting and financially rewarding. Mushroom farming is gaining popularity because of the demand for this delicacy.

Mushroom growing kits are available for those want to be mushroom growers. These kits are very useful for people who live in apartments, condominiums where there is not enough space for growing plants and the likes. These mushroom kits are affordable portable, and do not take too much space.  That is why it is ideal for cultivating in small spaces.

These mushroom growing kits are compact and easy to take care of. You just need to keep it in an area where there is a regular temperature. You also would want to store it away from direct sun exposure.  When you grow mushrooms, you need to take in consideration all the factors that are needed.  For example, when you grow mushrooms you need to have a substrate for them to grow. Some of the mushroom growing kits do not have the substrate in it so you need to buy one. Some contains log and substrates too.  You also need to consider the temperature, light and humidity aspects.

Mushroom farming is a good business opportunity and as well as an enjoyable hobby. Many go crazy over mushrooms. It can be consumed as food or for its medicinal purposes. Growing mushrooms at home can also be a fun activity where your family can be a part of it. And when you compare a home grown mushroom from those sold commercially, the taste differs a lot. Home grown mushrooms are more flavorful, aromatic ant tasty.

Using mushroom growing kits are very beneficial to those who would want to eat home grown mushrooms but to prospective mushroom growers as well. It is not only economical but also, you can choose a wide variety of kits depending on the variety of mushrooms you would want to grow. There are step by step guide and instructions included in mushroom growing kits. You just have to abide by it and you can attain guaranteed results.  These mushroom growing kits are available in online shops as well.

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Choosing the best mushroom kits

published Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 8:33 am by

There are many mushroom growing techniques that are used for growing this infamous delicacy. Nowadays, mushroom growing are done indoors. With this prevalent trend, mushroom kits for growing them are flooding the market.

These mushroom kits contain materials and resources as well as instructions for growing mushroom indoors. These instructions are often easy to understand.

Almost every type of mushroom can be grown using these mushroom kits and because they are grown indoors, you can grow them all year round.  Available types of mushrooms that are commonly grown indoors are the shiitake, oyster, portobello and morel.

These are the types that generate better produce. These types often generate three to five pounds of yield. The yield depends on the meticulousness of the mushroom grower in collecting and harvesting the mushrooms and getting the mycelium and substrate ready for other mushrooms to mature.

Mushroom kits are available in local retail stores, department stores and gardening stores. There are also mushroom kits available in online shops. There are a lot of websites that offer mushroom kits and other supplies for mushroom farming.

How do you know that you purchased and chose the best mushroom kits? Once you have purchased the mushroom kits, you have to inspect it thoroughly. If you see any defects and/or colored mold, return the kit immediately to the store where you bought it.

Ask for a refund or a replacement of the kit you bought. The price for mushroom kits ranges from twenty to thirty dollars. There are also available mushroom kits that for producing extra large fruits as huge as a saucer. These types are usually much pricey.

For shopping mushroom kits online, you can search the internet using the keyword “mushroom kits” and a vast number of websites will be displayed. Now choose from the variety of mushroom you would want to grow and you can include it in your search.

You may compare five or more web sites that offer the kits that you would want to have and determine which web site would give you the best offer including the shipping fee.

There are a lot of varieties of mushrooms and mostly each corresponding variety has available kits. Sometimes it is best to buy online because online vendors often give lower prices compared to buying at local gardening stores.

Just make sure you are buying from a reputable vendor. So you have to read and search for good reviews on the web site.

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Mushroom farming basics

published Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 8:30 am by

Mushroom farming is now becoming a popular hobby or even better, business, for many people all over the world.  Maybe because of it’s price at the market that’s why many are going into growing their own mushrooms to answer such costly vegetable that we love to eat.  For some it is actually a delicacy, and before, we leave it up to the vegetable farmers to grow mushrooms that we buy, but this time it is already very possible to grow your own mushrooms right at your own home.

The great thing about mushroom farming is that you’ll only need a small area where you can grow different varieties and in multiple numbers already.  You can grow your mushroom all day everyday and you can use rice straws that you can get after harvest as long as they are stored properly.  We will discuss here the basics and techniques needed to start out your mushroom farm.

First you will need the right materials to start your mushroom farm.  Dried rice straws or banana leaves as well as sugar bagasse, abaca waste, cotton wastes, corns stalks can be used as materials for bedding. You need to also use a soaking tank or a water container to supply water for the mushrooms. To cover the beds, you can use an empty sack or cement bag or a plastic sheet.

When you harvest, you will notice that the mushrooms grows on the bed of the medium and with the right maintenance and cultivation, the first batch usually come within the period of 13 to 15 days from the time of seeding.  Watering should be stopped while the mushrooms are being flushed and be continued thereafter.

A lot of benefits can be taken from mushroom farming.  They actually clean our environment due to the fact that they decompose dead bodies of animals or plants.  They can be used as well to clean out waste produced from agriculture.  After harvest, you can still benefit from the mushroom culture because they can be turned into fertilizers which you can use for farming.

Another way you can benefit from mushroom is its high protein content which is very nutritious.  Beyond that they also contain a wide range of amino acids.  They are of course low in fat and surely high in fiber.  Mushrooms also stimulate the immune system of the human body which today many are growing their own mushroom farms so they can easily get the right nutrition at a very cost-effective method.

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Common types of mushrooms out there

published Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 8:28 am by

Mycologists are the people who study mushrooms and according to them there are more than 10,000 types of mushrooms but are categorized into four.  These are the mycorrhizal, parasitic, endophytic and saprotrophic.  These different kinds of mushrooms are categorized in this manner because it is easier to define them on how they feed themselves for them to grow.

These mushrooms as we all know are fungi.  They start out as spores and grow on mediums that are moist and from there grow the mushrooms that we benefit from.  In this article, we will be understanding the ways these types of mushrooms are generally regardless if they are edible or not.  Some examples of these mushrooms will be stated as we go along the discussion so that we become familiar with each mushroom belonging to their respective categories.

Let’s now discuss the mycorrhizal types.  Mycorrhizal mushrooms weave on the roots of plants  which are called endomycorrhizal or they wrap around them instead which are called ectomycorrhizal.  Their mycelia produces more moisture, phosphorous and other known nutrients to the host plant in which they get from it glucose or sugars that they use to feed.  This reaction makes the plant to grow faster and healthier.  Some examples are truffles and matsutake.

Next we have parasitic types of mushrooms that also use plants as their medium.  Unlike the mycorrhizal that there is a two-way benefit for both fungi and plant, this type is actually gonna destroy or kill the plant.  An example is the honey mushroom parasitic fungi that will use the plant as its host and won’t produce mushrooms and they are unnoticeable too because of their small size when they grow on the tree or plant.

Endophytic mushrooms also are found in plants and their characteristic is to attack the tissue of the host.  They are not like the parasitic that kill this host but instead the host remains healthy and gets nutrients as well. Mycologists can easily study the endopytic types of mushrooms because they can be grown even inside laboratories without their hosts.  They too do not produce mushrooms and still a lot of studies are needed to further understand their behavior.

Finally we have the saprotrophic mushrooms which are the decomposing types of mushrooms.  These fungi discharges acids that break down the tissues into molecules that they can absorb from their host.  In that way the reaction to the host like a wood would decay it.  Even plants or animals can become hosts to this saprotrophic mushroom.  We believe this type of mushroom is one of the most important types to be able to feed on decaying matter.  Some examples of this type are the morels, cremini and oyster mushrooms.

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