The Best Books On Mushroom Cultivation

Knowledge is a powerful gift. Should we remake when we gain knowledge from the falling, rising, and success?

This is akin to the growing of mushrooms the same way. Every grower should have good mushroom textbooks on their shelves.

Cultivating mushrooms is a challenging process, and having good books to study makes the action of learning so much less stressful. Acquiring knowledge from the experts can save a lot of time from being pointless and resources from unsuccessful trials.

Trust me, I went through many unsuccessful practices in cultivating mushrooms.

So let's see some of the top textbooks that speak on the cultivation of mushrooms that will seriously help become a highly successful mushroom cultivator?

Let's go through these books now.

1. GROWING GOURMET AND MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS

Undoubtedly, the book Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets (GGMM) is the most critical and purposeful book for new and upcoming mushroom growers. Although the topics treated in it are somehow involved in-depth, the amount of information given is helpful in every manner, from the small-scale mushroom grower to large-scale commercial mushroom activities.

The author wrote this book based on the knowledge he earned hardly via intense research in the study of mushroom cultivation. He is famous and well regarded for the sialylation of mushrooms, and his book is comprehensive in the scope of growing gourmet mushrooms and making them available everywhere.

Basically, we can learn to cultivate mushrooms from zero using no other material apart from this.

WHAT’S IN THE BOOK?

GGMM has up to 500 pages and 25  chapters that explain everything from growing it outside and the importance of mushrooms in nature to a profound growth for over 30 various types cultivated around the world.

While going through my own copy of GGCM, I learned that some chapters have more smears and thumbprints than other chapters. Let's go over some of these chapters to understand the scope of the excellent and helpful information you'll acquire in the book.

CHAPTER 6: MATERIALS FOR FORMULATING A FRUITING SUBSTRATE

Chapter 6 has an abundant and valuable message on various contrary natures of bulk substrates from cereal straws and seed hulls to coffee grinds and tea leaves. It consists of a list of one hundred different natures of trees that are known to be suited for the growth of mushrooms in some capacity.

Chapter 6 also delineates contrary supplements that can add extra nutrients to the substrate to quicken yields.

CHAPTER 10: THE SIX VECTORS OF CONTAMINATION

Paul delineates the six areas you should focus on to try and eliminate sources of pollution or contamination. These are the cultivator, the air, the media, the tools, the inoculum, and MCU (mobile contamination units such as flies).

Various

methods are treated to reduce eruptions of contamination and pollution, with a theory that says it is easier to prevent contamination than to eliminate it from our activities once it has been housed somewhere.

CHAPTER 12: CULTURING MUSHROOM MYCELIUM ON AGAR

This chapter treats equipment and techniques for cultivating mushroom culture on agar. This is a critically important skill for the cultivator to perfect, yet it is the hardest to understand. It includes the 5 various recipes for agar and recommended supplements to add to the agar for developed mycelia growth. Methods such as cloning from mushroom tissue and germinating spores are touched in a good deal of detail.

CHAPTER 15: GENERATING GRAIN SPAWN

This chapter treats the process of making and enlarging grain spawn, starting from a mushroom culture on agar to ten thousand pounds of grain spawn. It includes sterile methods, management of the transfer of grains, and proper preservation steps. It also includes methods for creating sawdust spawn and cultivating liquid cultures.

CHAPTER 17: GROWING GOURMET MUSHROOMS ON ENRICHED SAWDUST

Chapter 17 explains the process of producing supplemented sawdust fruiting blocks, which is the best method for many cultivators and various gourmet mushrooms. It entails bulk substrate recipes, sterilization and inoculation methods, and hints for managing vast fruiting blocks for commercial purposes.

CHAPTER 19: CROPPING CONTAINERS

Chapter 19 shows the advantages and disadvantages of various fruiting containers, from poly tubing logs for the growth of oysters on straw to large trays for growing Agaricus species on moisturized manure. The chapter also explains growing mushrooms straight from a bottle; this method is used for enoki mushrooms.

CHAPTER 21: GROWTH PARAMETERS

Chapter 21 is the book's bulkiest and most fantastic part, which profoundly looks into the growing needs of over 30 various types of mushrooms. This includes mycelial properties, recommended agar media, recommended fruiting substrates, and yield potentials for various types.

The moderately shortlist of mushrooms experts included in the book are:

Himematsutake, Portobello, Black Poplar, Shaggy Mane, Enoki, Brown-Gilled Woodlover, Kuritake, Buna-Shimeji, Shirotamogitake, Shiitake, Nameko, Golden Oyster, Abalone, Pink Oyster, King Oyster, Tarragon Oyster, Tree Oyster, Phoenix Oyster, King Tuber Oyster, Psilocybe Cyanescens, King Stropharia, Paddy Straw, Reishi, Maitake, Umbrella Polypore, Turkey Tail, Lions Mane, and even Morels.

1. THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CULTIVATING MUSHROOMS

Stephen Russel wrote the Essential Guide to Cultivate Mushrooms, a mushroom farm expert. This book is more understandable and friendly to starters than Paul Stamet's GGMM.

Though its topics are treated less comprehensively and tactically, the book still does excellent work stating easy steps for growing various mushrooms. The book is beautiful and nicely designed with awesome fully colored photos.

This book is dissected into three segments: The first segment is the Basics for Beginners, the second segment is Intermediate Methods and Advanced Methods.

Basics for Beginners shows the cultivation needs of 5 various types of most commonly cultivated mushrooms; it shows the essence of a neatly done work and how to run from contamination or pollution and gives an idea of the various cultivating methods at hand for the cultivator.

Intermediate Methods entails sub-sections such as making grain spawn from start to, working with a laminar flow hood, making supplemented sawdust fruiting blocks, and building a midsize fruiting chamber.

Finally, the Advanced Methods section of the book goes deeply into agar work, making grain spawn on a bigger scale and using bulk substrates such as moisturized straw to grow Aton of a ton of fresh mushrooms.

The order of the topics does look a bit imbalanced, and you may be jumping around a little bit. But still, the actual content is good. Stephen truly understands what he is expressing and did an excellent job understandably expressing relatively complex topics.

New cultivators will see a lot of value in this book and will not have any issue learning the cultivation of mushrooms using his methods. I will recommend this book; check it out.

1. ORGANIC MUSHROOM FARMING AND MYCOREMEDIATION

This book emphasizes where mushrooms soothe into our world, considering the bigger environment picture. It entails the indoor and outdoor cultivating methods and is centered on Tradd's years of experience of growing and research on the mushroom.

The first part of this book focuses on the basics of mushroom cultivation, helping researchers to gain more ideas about the life of mushrooms, an essential highlight of the stages involved, selection of which mushroom to grow, and the selection of methods to give out the best results.

The second part of this book swims deeply into the ways mushrooms can fit into our world, speaking about composting and recycling with mushrooms, urban mushroom cultivation, and uses for mushroom products.

The third part of this book shows us more profound methods, such as setting up and controlling a mushroom laboratory and the production of mushroom cultures for long-term preservation. There is also an exciting and educational topic on cultivating morel mushrooms.

The final segment of this book, Part 4, is a very understandable guide to many commonly cultivated types of mushrooms.

The book contains a tremendous amount of value for both the beginner cultivator that wants to go deep into the world of mushroom cultivation and the grower that wants to add more to their knowledge about mushroom cultivation.

Its concentration on organic growing and holistic methods might encourage readers to try a new approach to cultivating mushrooms, whether at home, in the garden, or on a larger or more significant scale.

1. MYCELIUM RUNNING

This book concentrates more on the importance of mushrooms to the world and the valuable ways to utilize their unique strengths.

Yea, it may sound unusual in some places, and there are several grand, people's words that might not be equivalent to criticism, but the book is nevertheless fascinating and thoughtful read. The book is very understandable and even has encouraged people who are not interested in cultivating mushrooms.

There are also some helpful ways to cultivate mushrooms outside on logs, on stumps, or in the garden. These methods don't need rigorous laboratory terms or special instruments. For this reason, the methods spoken about in the book are very encouraging and appealing to the inactive grower who doesn't want to go deep into the technical phases of the cultivation of mushrooms.

So, it is very advisable to go through these books before going into the production and cultivation of mushrooms to use the available experiences and develop new tactics for the cultivation of mushrooms too…