Spawning the beds.
After the mushroom bed is made up
it should, within a few days, warm to a temperature
of 110 deg. to 120 deg.. Carefully observe
this, and never spawn a bed when the heat is rising,
or when it is warmer than 100 deg., but always
when it is on the decline and under 90 deg..
In this there is perfect safety. Have a ground
thermometer and keep it plunged in the bed; by pulling
it out and looking at it one can know exactly the temperature
of the bed. Have a few straight, smooth stakes,
like short walking canes, and stick the end of these
into the bed, twelve to twenty feet apart; by pulling
them out and feeling them with the hand one can tell
pretty closely what the temperature of the bed is.
All practical mushroom growers know
that if the temperature of a twelve inch thick bed
at seven inches from the surface is 100 deg.,
that within an inch of the surface of the bed will
only be about 95 deg. indoors, and 85 deg.
to 90 deg. out of doors. Also, that when
the heat of the manure is on the decline it falls
quite rapidly, five, often ten degrees, a day, till
it reaches about 75 deg., and between that and
65 deg. it may rest for weeks.
Some years ago I gave considerable
attention to this matter of spawning beds at different
temperatures. Spawn planted as soon as the bed
was made (five days after spawning the heat in interior
of bed ran up to 123 deg.) yielded no mushrooms,
the mycelium being killed. The same was the case
in all beds where the spawn had been planted before
the heat in the beds had attained its maximum (120
deg. or over). Where the heat in the middle
of the bed never reached 115 deg., the spawn put
in when the bed was made, and molded over the same
day, yielded a small crop of mushrooms. A bed
in which the heat was declining was spawned at 110
deg.; this bore a very good crop, and at 100
deg. and under to 65 deg. good crops in every
case were secured, with several days’ delay
in bearing in the case of the lowest temperatures.
But notwithstanding these facts, my advice to all
beginners in mushroom growing is, wait until the heat
of the bed is on the decline and fallen to at least
90 deg., before inserting the spawn.
Writing to me about spawning his beds,
Mr. Withington, of New Jersey, says: “I
believe a bed spawned at 60 deg. to 70 deg.,
and kept at 55 deg. after the mushrooms appear,
will give better results than one spawned at a higher
temperature, say 90 deg..”
Preparing the Spawn.- If
brick spawn is used cut up the bricks (standard size)
into ten or twelve pieces with a sharp hatchet, and
avoid, as much as possible, making many crumbs, as
is the case generally when a hammer or mallet is used
in breaking the bricks. Extra large pieces of
spawn are apt to produce large clumps of mushrooms,
but this is not always an advantage, as when many
mushrooms grow together in a clump they are apt to
be somewhat undersized, and in gathering we can not
pluck them all out clean enough so as not to leave
a part of the “root” in the ground to
poison the balance of the clump, in cases where several
or many of them spring from one common base.
Inserting the Spawn.- When
brick spawn is used plant the lumps about an inch
deep under the surface of the manure, and about ten
inches apart each way. If the spawn looks very
good, and the lumps are large do not plant them quite
so close as when the spawn shows less mycelium in it,
and the lumps are small. Never use a dibber in
planting spawn; simply make a hole in the manure with
the fingers, insert the lump and cover it over at
once, and as soon as the bed has been planted firm
it well all over. Although the lumps are buried
only an inch deep under the manure, we have to make
a hole three or four inches deep to push the lump into
to get it buried.
French or flake spawn is inserted
in much the same way and at about the same distance,
only, instead of cutting it up into lumps, we merely
break it into flaky pieces about three inches long
by an inch thick, and in planting it in the beds,
in place of pushing it into the hole, lay in the flake
on its flat side and at once cover it.
Many growers plant spawn a good deal
deeper than I do, but I have never found any advantage
in deep planting. In moderately warm beds, or
beds that are likely to retain their heat for a considerable
time, I am satisfied that shallow planting is better
than deep planting. When we want to mold over
our beds soon after spawning them, shallow planting
is to be recommended. But if the beds are only
75 deg. to 78 deg., before being spawned;
then I think deep planting is better than shallow planting,
because the genial temperature gives the mycelium a
better start in life than would the cooler manure
nearer the surface.
If there is any likelihood of the
surface manure getting wet from the condensed moisture
of the atmosphere, I would again cover over the beds
with some hay or straw, and let it remain on until
molding time. And if the bed is a little sluggish, that
is, cool, this covering will help in keeping
it warm. Outside beds should be molded over in
three or four days after spawning; inside beds in
eight to ten days.
Steeped Spawn.- As brick
spawn is so hard and dry I have tried the effect of
steeping it in tepid water before planting; some pieces
were merely dipped in the water, and others allowed
to soak in the pails one-half, one, five, and ten
hours. The effect was prejudicial in every instance
and ruinous in the case of the long-soaked pieces.
Flake Spawn.- “This
is produced by breaking up the brick spawn into pieces
about two inches square and mixing them in a heap of
manure that is fermenting gently. After lying
in this heap about three weeks it will be found one
mass of spawn, and just in the right condition for
running vigorously all through the bed in a very short
time.... When flake spawn is used the appearance
of the crop is from two to three weeks earlier than
when brick spawn is used.” Mr. Henshaw,
in first edition of “Henderson’s Handbook
of Plants.” I have tried this method and
given it careful attention, but the results were inferior
to those obtained where plain, common brick spawn
had been used at once.
In all my practice I have found that
any disturbance of the spawn when in active growth
which would cause a breaking, exposing, or arresting
of the threads of the mycelium has always had a weakening
influence upon it. I have transplanted pieces
of working spawn from one bed to another, as the French
growers do, but am satisfied that I get better crops
and larger mushrooms from beds spawned with dry spawn
than from beds planted with working spawn from any
other beds.