Features of the growth of mushrooms in the forest
Forest edible mushrooms are a storehouse of useful vitamins and nutrients that completely replace the meat product. For their high nutritional value, it is not for nothing that they are called "vegetable" or "forest" meat. They are healthy, tasty, nutritious and, what is most important for mushroom pickers, they grow quickly. Active reproduction and growth of fungi, starting from the first spring harvesting season and ending with the last, autumn, is due to their unique biological characteristics.
Features of the growth of mushrooms in the forest
The structure of mushrooms
A common mushroom that grows in the forest consists of a stem (hemp) and a cap, which together make up the fruiting body of the fungus. The base of the leg is connected to the mycelium (mycelium), very reminiscent of a tangled weave of thin threads (hyphae).
The mycelium itself is located in the loose upper soil layer, which includes overripe leaves, dying plant debris, humus and other soil organic matter. Mycelium filaments form the entire fruiting body of the fungus - from the base of the stem to the cap. It is through them that organic nutrients obtained from symbiont trees enter the mushroom cap.
This is very important for the multiplication of the fungus, because there are spores in thin plates or tubes on the lower surface of the cap. After maturation, the spores crumble from the surface of these formations (plates, tubes) and are carried through the forest by wind, insects or animals.
Reproduction
When exposed to a warm and humid environment, fungal spores begin to germinate quickly. This is how a new independent mycelium is formed, which lies underground up to 15 cm from the soil surface.
The mushroom box has many important functions:
- contributes to the maximum consolidation of the entire fungal organism in the soil;
- “Distills” mineral substances obtained from the soil into the cells of the roots of symbiotic trees, and then delivers the organic substances formed in the process of photosynthesis by trees to the fruiting bodies of fungi;
- performs the duties of adapting to changes in the environment;
- responsible for the sporulation and preservation of fungal spores.
Fungi grow most rapidly in mature perennial myceliums, which have a numerous and branched micellar system that is resistant to unfavorable conditions for growth and development (frost and drought). When the mycelium becomes sufficiently developed, formation begins. The mushroom threads are more closely intertwined, forming small lumps - the future legs and caps of the mushrooms.
Growth features
Moisture affects mushroom growth
It takes about 3-5 days for the mushroom to reach medium size. It is such young and strong mushrooms that professional mushroom pickers prefer to collect. But not all fungi grow and develop at the same rate.
How quickly the mushroom grows is directly influenced by:
- the nature of the area where the mycelium grows;
- humidity and temperature of both air and soil;
- the very variety of edible mushrooms.
For example, boletus, russula and boletus mushrooms gain the mass of the fruiting body the fastest, so you can go to the forest for harvesting in a few days after the previous one - you will find a lot of young mushrooms.
From boletus and porcini mushrooms of full maturity, you can wait almost a week. And the chanterelles are considered the most leisurely in the mushroom kingdom; they grow much slower than other varieties.
Optimal conditions
In order for future mushrooms to develop intensively in the mycelium and grow rapidly, the fungal organism needs certain conditions.
Temperature
The mode of low temperatures has a negative effect on young mycelium, and sudden spring frosts are detrimental to developing fungi. A cold snap with sharp temperature changes can greatly slow down and even completely stop the growth of the fruiting body. Intensive and accelerated ripening of mushrooms begins at a temperature of 18 ℃ to 30 ℃, but only with a sufficient moisture content of at least 60%.
Humidity
The moisture indicator should be about 60-70%, both in the air and in the soil. If the soil is not sufficiently moist, then the mushrooms cease to grow actively, although the development of the fruiting body does not completely stop.
Irina Selyutina (Biologist):
The development of fungi is especially active when soil moisture is 80-85%. However, if the moisture content of the substrate reaches 95-100%, growth and development will begin to be delayed due to the lack of oxygen, which is necessary for fungi, as well as all living organisms, for their development. So, swampy soils contain only traces of free oxygen (O2) and in connection with this state of affairs it is possible to find in them only species adapted to such unfavorable conditions - emericellopsis, some fusariums, etc. The "slaughter" combination - high humidity and low temperature - especially adversely affects the development of fungi. Therefore, harvesting a good harvest in a cold, rainy summer is also not realistic, as well as a hot, but dry one.
The acidity of the soil (pH) is also very important for fungi - the active acidity of the environment, the value of which shows us the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) in the environment. The normal life of the fungus and its vital processes depend on it, such as, for example, the activity of enzymes, sporulation, the entry of nutrients into the cell, the synthesis of antibiotics and pigments. Most mushrooms prefer acidic soils, less alkaline ones.
Pests
Insect pests also affect the growth of forest fungi. When the mycelium and fruiting bodies are infected with the larvae of parasitic insects, the active vital activity of the fungi deteriorates significantly - the fungus is sick. Outwardly, this may be initially and not noticeable. But as development progresses, "worms" appear - insect larvae and an outwardly healthy mushroom becomes already unsuitable for collection.
With the onset of optimal conditions for fungal organisms - warm and humid weather in the absence of pests and diseases, the ripening time of fruit bodies is reduced, and new young mushrooms grow "by leaps and bounds."
The process of active growth does not stop day or night - this is a distinctive feature of the entire mushroom kingdom and one of the characteristic features of the plant kingdom.
Fruit bodies grow especially vigorously in the warm season, after rain, when the sun begins to warm up the soil saturated with moisture. Under these conditions, young mushrooms form to an average size in just a few days, and then, within 10 days, gain the mass of the fruiting body, which indescribably pleases lovers of "quiet hunting".
However, mushrooms are not only the fastest growing forest dwellers, but also the most short-lived. After the mushroom spores have fully matured, the fruiting body enters the phase of decay of the reproductive parts. The entire fruiting body begins to disintegrate. The matured spores form new myceliums, and the life cycle begins anew.
White mushrooms
White mushroom (boletus) is rightfully considered the king of forest edible mushrooms. In terms of nutritional value, it takes 1st place, and only after it come mushrooms, milk mushrooms, boletus, boletus, boletus, volushki and other inhabitants of the mushroom kingdom. Its mycelium begins to grow in early spring with the onset of stable warm weather. Growth continues until late autumn, and with the onset of autumn frosts, it stops until the next warm season.
Porcini mushrooms grow at temperatures from 18 ° C to 28 ° C, mycelium can grow at a temperature of 8 ° C. The relative humidity is in the range of 60-70%.
If drought occurs in the places of growth, then the growth of porcini mushrooms is greatly slowed down until it stops completely, and the ripening time of the spores is significantly increased. Moreover, with a decrease in the air humidity index, the fruit body also slows down growth, because it is not protected from moisture evaporation and dries up, unlike other varieties of mushrooms.
There are frequent cases when, after heavy warm rains, boletus mushrooms with a cap diameter of up to 18 cm and a leg of up to 12 cm are collected.
Under favorable conditions (rainy and warm weather), boletus grows quickly enough - after 4-5 days, the weight of a young mushroom reaches about 180 grams. Further, their mass continues to increase. The life of adult boletus takes about 2 weeks. When the spores mature, the fruiting bodies quickly age and wither. Such fruiting bodies are quite suitable for forest dwellers. The life cycle is closed, but life continues its triumphant march.
