A mushroom is the fruit body of a mycelial network and in a sense it is the beginning and the end of the reproductive cycle. The mycelium spreads throughout it's environment by sending out hypha that are thread like strands that search out and absorb nutrients from the surrounding area. This grouping of hyphae grow and expand the mycelium network when conditions conductive for growth are present.
The mycelium network is capable of expanding and living for a very long period of time. The mushroom or fruit body however is usually very short lived and is basically a preservation method for the mycelial network. As conditions move from ideal the mycelium detects these changes in their environment and respond by funneling its growth efforts into to fruit body production versus network expansion.
Conditional changes usually include changes in temperature, moisture and overall humidity. When the mushrooms emerge from their environment (soil, fallen trees, live trees) they will rapidly grow in size in a short period of time until the mushroom "opens" and begins releasing spores. The spores released from the mushrooms are microscopic and can easily total in the billions that fall from the mushroom.
There are different types of mushrooms regarding exactly what type of spore they produce and the manner in which the spores are discharged from the mushroom. In general, the spores will be released from the fruit body and carried away from the fruit body and the mycelia network in an effort to seek out and settle in more favorable conditions where the mycelium network can start anew and begin to expand again.
This process then continues on and the reproductive process continues. While this is a very simplified overview of what a mushroom is and it's role in the life of the mycelium network as a whole, it covers some of the basics.
The role of the cultivator:
As a cultivator of gourmet mushrooms, our job is to create the environmental conditions needed for the mycelium network to expand and ultimately to produce the fruit bodies that we consume. In essence, we guide the mushrooms through all the phases of growth that they would encounter in nature to reach the same end result using controlled environments to manage each phase.
There are many active steps involved in the cultivation of gourmet mushrooms. In many cases the cultivation of mushrooms requires much more intervention and management that traditional crops do. While it is not difficult to grow mushrooms from a procedural point of view, it is a science and requires a very high level of attention to detail and processes and procedures.
Going forward we plan to introduce new topics detailing the cultivation of gourmet mushrooms and how these steps work together to bring these amazing mushrooms to your table for you. We will be working on posting photos and videos that show you the steps that we take and how our operation functions in order to make this happen for you. Please feel free to reach out to us through our site with questions and comments or requests for information that you are interested in and we will do our best to help you answer those questions.
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