Button Mushroom Farming

These mushrooms thrive in nearly all regions of the country, provided there is access to shelter, a reliable water supply, and consistent temperatures ranging from 15-30 degrees Celsius. Not only are they versatile in their growth requirements, but they also offer significant nutritional value, serving as an excellent source of lean proteins, antioxidants, and essential vitamins.

Step-by-step guide

Prepare a Suitable Structure: First and foremost, you’ll need a well-constructed structure, preferably a permanent one. This structure is essential to create an ideal environment for mushroom cultivation. It provides the necessary humidity and protection from adverse environmental conditions.
Obtain Mushroom Spawn: Procure high-quality mushroom spawn, which serves as the starting material for your mushroom cultivation.
Mix Spawn and Substrate: Mix the mushroom spawn with sterilized substrate material. Afterward, pack this mixture into small gunny bags. Approximately 2 kg of spawn mixed with substrate is sufficient to fill around 50 gunny bags.
Plant the Spawn: Create holes in the growing medium and place the spawn at a spacing of 9-12 inches apart. Additionally, sprinkle some spawn on the surface to expedite colonization and minimize the risk of contamination.
Incubation Period: During the incubation phase, store the bags in a dark area, away from direct sunlight, for about 21 days. Once the spawn becomes visible as white, grainy particles on the surface, proceed to the next step.
Casing: Add a layer of about 2 inches of high-quality soil onto the growing bags. This process, known as casing, is essential to initiate fruiting. Cover the bags with a polyethylene sheet for approximately 2 days to eliminate any soil fungi and tiny insects. When mycelium begins to appear on the surface, it will trigger the fruiting phase.
Maintain Humidity: Introduce humidity into the cultivation environment. You can achieve this by using a humidity generator or a knapsack sprayer filled with clean water. Spray the air in the room, as well as the floors and walls, ensuring the water disperses as a fine mist. Adequate humidity is crucial to stimulate mushroom growth.

By following these steps and maintaining consistent care throughout the mushroom farming process, you can enjoy a successful and profitable venture in button mushroom farming in Kenya.

Sequence from	Sequence to	Description
00:00	01:20	Introduction
01:21	02:45	Button mushroom is full of essential nutrients like fiber, proteins, vitamin D and phosphorus. White button mushrooms are low in calories and sugar are an excellent source of vitamin B12 regular consumption is good for anemia patients, improves immunity, good for bones and also helps in weight loss
02:46	03:55	Button mushroom farming requires money to build farm structure or get equipment to maintain climate conditions and valuable time and patience to cultivate. It also requires knowledge and training lack of both is a great contributor to failure, its really worth it if you know what you are doing.
03:56	04:57	Commercially button mushroom farming is done indoors and can be cultivated through out the year all it requires is a place you can control the temperature, moisture and the air flow. Its not necessary to invest huge capital on farming construction it can be done in a small and economical way generally good for seasonal farmers but to avoid recurring maintenance cost in long lasting farms its good to get permanent structures
04:58	06:22	For button mushroom cultivation you require 2 different kinds of temperature for 2 phases of growth, the vegetative growth requires 21-25 degrees for proper mycelium growth. The fruiting stage requires 12-18 degrees the relative humidity must be in the range of 80-90%.
06:23	07:00	Carbon dioxide plays a very vital role in button mushroom cultivation hence proper aeration and ventilation because during the initial stages it requires high amount of carbon dioxide. To start cultivation you will need to prepare compost, you will need spawn and casing material.
07:01	08:41	Compost is the substrate for button mushroom cultivation in the compost its all about the ration of carbon to nitrogen. The quality of the compost is paramount when it comes to button mushroom cultivation.
10:01	11:22	Buttom mushrooms do not eat fesh substrates hence they require a special kind of substrate which are a little bit rotten or infested with bacteria and does have proper carbon and nitrogen level. The substrate in which button mushrooms grows is mainly prepared from a mixture of plant waste and you will need to further add urea or gypsum and water, its always prepare out in the open in dry season beacause rain could dilute the amount of nutrient required for cultivation.
11:23	12:51	During the firsts stages of compost preparation the plant waste used is placed in layers. Water is added to the stuck along with several kind of fertilizes is added in every alternative day and rotated regularly for a proper mixture.
12:52	14:19	Spawning is the process of mixing the spawn with the compost the different method for spawning include spot spawning spawn is planted 5cm deep into the compost, the other method is where the spawn is evenly spread on top of the compost then mixed in a depth of 2-3 cm. In layer spawning about 2-3 layers of spawn are mixed with the compost, the quantity of spawn required is 1% of the weight of compost.
14:20	15:09	After spawning is over it takes around 2 weeks for a spawn running and the temperature maintained should be around 21-25 degrees. The compost beds should be covered with a layer of casing soil of around2-4 cm thick and it is essential to induce fruiting, the casing material should be of high porosity, high water holding capacity and a pH of 7-7.5.
15:10	16:39	The casing soil before application should be pasteurized at around 66-70 degrees. Under favorable conditions the mushroom will start fruiting and a total mushroom cycle will be around 60days, good harvest will depend on the moisture condition in the casing soil and proper ventilation
16:40	17:21	Summary

Sequence from

Sequence to

Description

00:00

01:20

Introduction

01:21

02:45

Button mushroom is full of essential nutrients like fiber, proteins, vitamin D and phosphorus. White button mushrooms are low in calories and sugar are an excellent source of vitamin B12 regular consumption is good for anemia patients, improves immunity, good for bones and also helps in weight loss

02:46

03:55

Button mushroom farming requires money to build farm structure or get equipment to maintain climate conditions and valuable time and patience to cultivate. It also requires knowledge and training lack of both is a great contributor to failure, its really worth it if you know what you are doing.

03:56

04:57

Commercially button mushroom farming is done indoors and can be cultivated through out the year all it requires is a place you can control the temperature, moisture and the air flow. Its not necessary to invest huge capital on farming construction it can be done in a small and economical way generally good for seasonal farmers but to avoid recurring maintenance cost in long lasting farms its good to get permanent structures

04:58

06:22

For button mushroom cultivation you require 2 different kinds of temperature for 2 phases of growth, the vegetative growth requires 21-25 degrees for proper mycelium growth. The fruiting stage requires 12-18 degrees the relative humidity must be in the range of 80-90%.

06:23

07:00

Carbon dioxide plays a very vital role in button mushroom cultivation hence proper aeration and ventilation because during the initial stages it requires high amount of carbon dioxide. To start cultivation you will need to prepare compost, you will need spawn and casing material.

07:01

08:41

Compost is the substrate for button mushroom cultivation in the compost its all about the ration of carbon to nitrogen. The quality of the compost is paramount when it comes to button mushroom cultivation.

10:01

11:22

Buttom mushrooms do not eat fesh substrates hence they require a special kind of substrate which are a little bit rotten or infested with bacteria and does have proper carbon and nitrogen level. The substrate in which button mushrooms grows is mainly prepared from a mixture of plant waste and you will need to further add urea or gypsum and water, its always prepare out in the open in dry season beacause rain could dilute the amount of nutrient required for cultivation.

11:23

12:51

During the firsts stages of compost preparation the plant waste used is placed in layers. Water is added to the stuck along with several kind of fertilizes is added in every alternative day and rotated regularly for a proper mixture.

12:52

14:19

Spawning is the process of mixing the spawn with the compost the different method for spawning include spot spawning spawn is planted 5cm deep into the compost, the other method is where the spawn is evenly spread on top of the compost then mixed in a depth of 2-3 cm. In layer spawning about 2-3 layers of spawn are mixed with the compost, the quantity of spawn required is 1% of the weight of compost.

14:20

15:09

After spawning is over it takes around 2 weeks for a spawn running and the temperature maintained should be around 21-25 degrees. The compost beds should be covered with a layer of casing soil of around2-4 cm thick and it is essential to induce fruiting, the casing material should be of high porosity, high water holding capacity and a pH of 7-7.5.

15:10

16:39

The casing soil before application should be pasteurized at around 66-70 degrees. Under favorable conditions the mushroom will start fruiting and a total mushroom cycle will be around 60days, good harvest will depend on the moisture condition in the casing soil and proper ventilation

16:40

17:21

Summary

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