What is the preferable season to grow shrooms?
Mushrooms grow naturally in a warm and humid climate. Many starters, out on a mushroom hunting, report that they find the mushroom crop denser when they witness the winter season’s start. To understand which season is the best, one needs to pay attention to the species of mushrooms chosen for cultivation. Warm and humid conditions are not the only conditions in which mushrooms grow. Some species of the shrooms will grow substantially in icy weather too.
Places where you can find shrooms most often
Since the requirement of climatic conditions differs according to the species chosen for cultivations, let’s take a look at the places where different species are grown exclusively.
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Devil’s Cigar (Chorioactis geaster):
It is the rarest fungi. This species is found only in central Texas and in a few remote areas in Japan. Mushroom foragers travel throughout the world to find where they can find the mushrooms in clusters and also most often. This species was recently located in the mountains of Nara too.
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Morels:
These are another species of mushrooms about which the growers are very secretive. These are also rare because cultivators grow them at secret spots and do not sell them at stores. They are particular about collecting these mushrooms for their consumption and celebrate harvesting as a family occasion.
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Agaricus Bisporus:
It is an edible mushroom and the most cultivated one too. It is usually cultivated on animal manual and wheat straw. The clusters of this mushroom are found in the areas such as China, Europe, North America, and Australasia.
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Psilocybe cyanascens:
This mushroom variety caught everybody’s attraction when it grew in astronomical numbers on a small patch at a racecourse in England. While many other species are edible and are used for making soups, curries, etc., Psilocybe has psychoactive compounds, and it is used for making recreational drugs. Due to its psychoactive nature and high demand among recreational drug users, the growers maintain secrecy about its cultivation. However, many secrets are now in the open, and there are lots of books that teach techniques of growing Psilocybe in artificial conditions.
By taking a cue from the places mentioned above, let’s try to decode the most favorable seasons and climatic conditions when mushrooms’ fruiting abilities are at their all-time high. The most important climatic conditions for species mentioned above are:
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Psilocybe:
grows prolifically when the temperature ranges between 50-65oF. So, these require cold temperatures, moderate humidity for fruiting.
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Morels:
Morels grow substantially when the below the ground temperature reaches 55oF. And its growth ceases when the temperature reaches 62oF. Wet and dark conditions are required for its growth. However, frost is not suitable for it and can wreck the morel’s crop. That is why these morels are grown solely in the spring season.
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Agaricus Bisporus:
Also known as button mushrooms, caves were the original habitat where this variety grew. So, cave-like conditions like dark, humid, and warm conditions are created to achieve cloning purposes in artificial cultivation. The ideal temperature to induce its fruiting is 25oC. Researchers reveal that 22-25oC is the temperature range for its mycelial growth. The conditioning temperature range wanted is 50-52oC.
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Charioactis geaster:
It is the rarest fungus typically found in cold areas of Japan and Texas where dead oaks and cedars forests are in abundance. Thus, it is the cold weather fungus.
Conclusively, one can find some or the other form of mushrooms growing throughout the year. There is no universally accepted environment for mushroom growth. It all depends upon the type or species of mushrooms that one intends to grow. Thus, one can find all climatic conditions like hot and humid, warm and humid, cold and humid, and wet seasons suitable for the sizeable crop of mushrooms. The only common factor is humidity or moisture that has to be in abundance to initiate the cloning or fruiting process. Temperature maintenance within a suitable range is another requirement to fulfill to make mushroom growing a big success.
