How do mushrooms grow?
Most mushrooms reproduce asexually by releasing thousands of spores through their gills into the open air for dispersion into the environment. Every spore is capable of germinating to create a new hypha. Hyphae are masses of intertwined filaments of cells which are the morphological unit of the fungus. When a thick mass of hyphae forms it is called mycelium or mycelia. Mushroom mycelium is usually white in color with a rough, cottony texture. Root like growth is called rhizomorphic. When spores germinate they consume the water and nutrients from their environment and begin to reproduce. The medium that mushroom mycelium grows on is usually called substrate. Before the mushroom can start to form fruit bodies the mycelium colonizes the substrate fully and when the environmental conditions are right the mushroom emerges to produce more spores. A mushroom cultivator can take advantage of the rapid growth mushroom mycelium exhibits by introducing it into new, sterile substrates. The myceliu
01/18/09 : James Hammond Mushrooms are the spore (seed) producing part of a fungus. Like all living things Mushrooms can have many different shapes and colors depending on the variety. Some mushrooms are edible and choice *Like Ours!* and some are poisonous or simply just don’t taste good. The vegetative state of a fungus is called mycelium and this is typically white and cottony looking. Fungi do not manufacture their own food like plants. The mycelium grows through whatever material the fungus is feeding on and derives its nutrion from it. A fungus can live for years in the vegetative state. Changes in certain environmental conditions will stimulate the fungus to produce the spore producing mushroom as a way of reproducing itself. Spores are produced and blow in the wind to some new spot to regrow into mycelium and start the fungal process over again. At Hazel Dell, we grow our mushrooms on hardwood sawdust and mimick indoors what happens in nature. The sawdust is mixed with water an
Since mushrooms are grown from microscopic spores, Mushroom farming is a step-by-step process that involves: • two phases of composting • spawning (mushroom farmer’s collecting the spores) • casing (a soil mixture that acts as a water reservoir that is placed on top of the mushroom spores) • pinning (the growth stage where the shape of the mushroom forms) • harvesting It’s best to buy your mushrooms from a reputable grower or grocer instead of hunting them yourself, as there are many poisonous mushrooms. Incorrectly identifying them can lead to symptoms of sweating, cramps, diarrhea, confusion, convulsions, and potentially result in liver damage, or even death. Varieties There are over 38,000 mushroom varieties today. Some are edible and some are highly toxic. Here’s a small sample of the most popular edible mushrooms you’ll see in the market: Agaricus (White or Button) These mushrooms are the most common variety prepackaged in supermarkets; available fresh, canned, or frozen. White mu
By Daily Graphic Wed, 19 Nov 2008 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version News Blogs Mushrooms are very remarkable plants. They have no roots, no stems and no leaves. They grow so fast that you almost feel as if you can see them growing. They are known as fungi, which means they have no chlorophyll to manufacture their own food. The part of the mushroom that you see above the ground is only the fruiting part of the fungus. The rest of the plant lies under the surface in the form of a mass of dense white tangled threads.These threads are called mycelium or spawn. The mycelium threads grow from little spores which are tiny dust-like particles shed from the fully-grown mushroom. On these threads small whitish knobs of tissue bud out and push upwards to expand and finally break out into an umbrella shape Underneath the umbrella there are little rediating gills which are close together. It is on these gills that the tiny spores are developed. The spores then drop out and are carried away
Mushrooms as Fungi Related to molds, mushrooms cannot produce their own food through photosynthesis. They require decaying matter from which to draw their nutrients, but some varieties of mushrooms exist on living tree roots from which the mushroom gets its food and returns minerals to the roots of the tree. Since they do not conduct photosynthesis, mushrooms do not have the chlorophyll that green plants do. This makes mushrooms capable of growing in the dark as long as they can take advantage of a nearby plant or the decaying remains of one. Mushroom Growth in Nature Similar to the roots of the mushroom, the hyphae stretch out under the soil beneath the mushroom. These draw nutrients from the soil for the growth of the mushroom. Reproduction of the mushroom occurs after nutrients from the hyphae sprout a mushroom above the surface. Water fills the mushroom, swelling it. Most mushrooms have a stem topped by a cap with gills on the underside of the cap. The cap opens up as the mushroom
