Growing wine cap mushrooms in the garden

Growing Wine Cap Mushrooms In The Garden Dennis Morgeson Agent for Horticulture Washington County

Wine Caps or Strophariarugosa-annulata • Native mushroom to the Eastern U.S. • Can be found naturally in garden beds, forest edges, and even lawns • Easy to grow and cultivate in a garden setting

Wine Caps • Wine caps feature a white stalk with a wine colored cap • Crisp slightly nutty flavor • Good for braising, sautéing, and grilling

Nutrition Benefits

• Mushrooms have been eaten for thousands of years • Low calorie, fat free, low in cholesterol and sodium, and provide nutrients such as selenium, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D, and more • Stimulates the immune system, helps control weight by increasing satiety • Good substitute for meat!

• Some research even shows mushrooms help fight cancer and shrink tumor growth. Also promising results for Alzheimer's and other diseases as well!

Other Benefits

Notice the greener ring of grass where these non edible fairy ring mushrooms are growing.

• Fungi are natural soil builders, weed suppressors and an attractive landscape ornamental • Can be grown as annual or perennial

Where To Grow Them?

• • • • •

Create Mushroom Beds Pathways Around Perennials and Shrubs Any non-tilled beds/areas Growth and fruit can happen slowly or quickly place them in often visited areas

Sun or Shade?

• Wine caps will grow in a wide range of light conditions but…

• Prefer full sun or “garden shade”

Getting Started • Materials: – Fresh (less than a year old) Woodchips – Avoid coniferous species or make less than 50% – Fresh Straw Bale?

– Saw Dust Spawn

Getting Started • Measure a spot about 16 square feet • 5lbs of spawn will inoculate approximately 16 square feet • Doesn’t have to be one continuous section but at least 4 square feet

When To Inoculate • Spring is best time to inoculate but April-September is fine (spring inoculation generally gives fruiting in the same season)

Inoculation • Remove organic matter down to “bare soil” • Add ½” of sawdust or wood shavings evenly • Sprinkle spawn evenly over sawdust • Add 4” of woodchips or straw over spawn • Soak area thoroughly • Dry Dog Food?

Maintenance • Wine caps require very little maintenance • They can live and fruit for years • Add 2-4” of fresh woodchips in the fall to protect mycelium and as fresh ‘food’

Maintenance • After one season the patch or colony of mycelium and be broken up and sprinkled over new areas as inoculation….

• Unless?

Harvesting • Make sure to properly identify the mushrooms before consuming!!!!

• Wine caps:

– Have a reddish-brown cap that changes from dark to light as the mushroom matures – Gills that begin light black and turn darker as the mushroom matures – They have a “king crown” ring or annulus around the stem – No noticeable bulge where the mushroom meets the ground

Identifying

http://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=rq1fLandtYA

Where To Get Spawn • http://www.fieldforest.net/store/index.php?m ain_page=index&cPath=1_15_10

Eat!