Cultivation Of Chanterelles In A Personal Plot

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

This beautiful and tasty mushroom, which is never wormy, is adored by mushroom pickers and gourmets. It's always nice to see the bright red chanterelle hat peeking out of the moss. Chanterelles are dried and pickled, harvested fried and salted. They prepare soups and pies, add to porridge and stuff pancakes with them. But there is no dish tastier than fried chanterelles with potatoes and onions. Scrambled eggs with chanterelles are also a recognized delicacy.

About the benefits of chanterelles

Chanterelle is rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids. The bright red carrot color is due to the high content of useful carotene. The mushroom is used in the prevention of various diseases, in the treatment of liver, hepatitis C, eye ailments.

The chanterelle helps fight inflammatory processes, inhibits the growth of many pathogens, and increases immunity. A couple of decades ago, it was an ordinary mushroom, widespread in our forests. Today, near large cities, the chanterelle has become a rarity, as, indeed, other valuable mushrooms.

How to grow a chanterelle on the site?

Champignons and oyster mushrooms grown in large mushroom farms have long been familiar. Forest mushrooms are still not so common in industrial production, but skilled amateur mushroom growers successfully grow noble tubular mushrooms on their plots: boletus, boletus, boletus. The chanterelle, whose genus includes up to sixty species, is an infrequent guest in the gardens, but if you create the necessary conditions for it, it is possible to get a good harvest from your site.

The mycelium of the chanterelle forms mycorrhiza - the mycelium of the fungus grows into the root system of the tree. Mycorrhiza is a symbiotic formation, the plant supplies the fungus with nutrients, the mycorrhiza supplies minerals to the roots of the partner, improves the supply of moisture. The best partners of the chanterelle are pine and spruce, the mushroom can cooperate with oak, beech and some other types of trees. Attempts to “make friends” between a forest mushroom and garden trees are doomed to failure.

So, we know the main condition, without which it is impossible to grow a chanterelle: the mushroom plantation should be located under the partner tree. If there is none, you will have to plant. It is better to choose a young tree in a mushroom forest, immediately with a mycelium. The mycelium is located at a distance of 15-20 cm from the surface, it is advisable not to destroy the fungus root. It is necessary to grab a couple of bags of the upper layer of forest soil and coniferous litter together with the tree.

It is better to plant a forest tree with a mushroom root in a semi-shady place on the site. When planting, the mycelium should be in the forest soil, covered with needles on top. The mycelium does not tolerate both drying out and waterlogging, so moderate watering will have to be carried out regularly. There is no need to fertilize the soil: the chanterelle will receive nutrients from the partner's roots.

If a pine, spruce, or other forest tree already grows on the site, chanterelles can be planted to it. Moreover, the spruce can be blue, and the mountain pine, the yield does not depend on the variety and subspecies of the tree. There are two methods: planting mycelium and sowing spores.

When sowing, choose the caps of old, overripe from a gastronomic point of view, mushrooms. Some amateur mushroom growers advise simply scattering the caps under the tree, others recommend soaking them in water, and after a day, having mixed well, pour the planting site with the solution. The main condition is to further maintain a constant level of humidity: drying out or waterlogging will destroy the planting material.

A more reliable and faster way is to plant mycelium dug out in the forest. Pits are dug under the symbiont tree, the depth is about 20 centimeters, the size in the plan is not important, but usually it is 15x15 cm. The mycelium is placed there together with the forest soil, covered with moss, coniferous or leaf litter on top. The watering regime is the same as for spore planting. Planting times are from June to September. There is one subtlety: the mycelium must be prepared under a tree of the same species, which will serve as a symbiotic partner.

Subject to the above conditions, especially the humidity regime, by the beginning of June next year it will be possible to taste chanterelles from your own garden.