[trahn008]

Bencuri, yes you have some issues with contaminants. I would not through it in the trash but put in a place outside where you think morels would grow. The orange is good when growing morels it is at these places the myc is resting from it's nutrient eating path. This is the point as the myc network starts to for sclerotium.

 

[sb]

My antidote to "Morel Season-end Postpartum Depression"

Taken this afternoon, 3-4 days after a 24 hr soak of Shiitake inoculated oak logs.

If only Morels behaved like that! Ha!

 

[farsouthsider]

Hi all, this thread appeared in search results and brought me to this site. I planted morel spawn (morchella importuna) in spring of this year, and I'm hopeful for good results. I'm using the layered bed technique from Tradd Cotter's Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation. I produce my own morel spawn.

I found an interesting article today, talking about "the mysteries" of Chinese morel cultivation. There is a claim that the spawn is applied to the top surface of the soil, allowed to colonize into the top layer a little ways, and then the spawn is "removed", forcing the stranded high-energy mycelium to keep pushing outward, seeking to establish itself and fruit ASAP as a survival strategy. https://plantpath.psu.edu/research/news/2017/china-trip-unveils-morel-cultivation-mysteries

Cotter's technique is to leave the spawn where it is. I'm thinking that good grain spawn will be attacked by bugs and pests and microbial competitors anyhow, creating the need for a similar survival strategy.

Cool discussion

 

[guillaume]

Hello everyone,

I introduce myself, Guillaume, French and passionate about the cultivation of mushrooms, especially morels.

You will excuse my english which is not necessarily correct.

It's been a few months now that I'm looking for information on the growth of morels.

I was able to find and translate the various patents on this culture but I am always eager to learn and exchange about it.

I want to get in touch with people who cultivate, do tests, all for the sole purpose of improving the theory.

I could work concretely at the beginning of October, because I will receive correct strains to do it.

Thank you in advance to all those who will help me to realize, humbly, this dream.

 

[sb]

Welcome to this thread, guillaume.

In you statement that "I was able to find and translate the various patents on the culture . . ."; Are you saying you've downloaded & translated some of the 30+ or so Chinese patents on various aspects of technique on Morel cultivation as done in China?

 

[trahn008]

Is it just me when I hear Chinese and patent together I LOL! Not knocking the Chinese, but don't they just do what they want with are patents, but patent what they do.. That's just crazy funny!!

 

[guillaume]

@ sb: yes that's exactly it. The patents were for the most part in English which made it easy for me to translate. Those in Chinese, on the other hand, are a little less understandable. I used for this google translation. It is very interesting but I think everything is not ..... it would be really easy!

@ trahn008: I can not understand what you mean (at the translation level). You mean, the Chinese are smarter than that. That is, it does not really patent their actual inventions but rather a pale copy - a copy that does not really represent their advanced?

 

[farsouthsider]

Hello guillaume, I wish you success with your research. Do you have a plan in mind for how you will sow your morel spawn? We have been discussing recently that a nearby impermeable barrier can be conducive to producing morels, due to the morels' desire to "leap over" such a barrier.

So far I have used the layered bed method where morel spawn is left in place on top of the prepared bed, under a layer of straw - with morchella importuna spawn. I'm planning to attempt the technique of "applying spawn to top of soil for 2 weeks and then remove the spawn" as well, next. Personally, I've started to wonder if the addition of a plastic sheet on the long sides of the morel trench would be a good idea - to provide an impermeable barrier beneath the soil.

 

[farsouthsider]

Guillame, cheers to you, for an excellent tip in regards to the China patent office search function. (State Intellectual Property Office, or SIPO). I will just paste this here...

"
Method for cultivating morchella

Application Number 201310129134 Application Date 2013.04.15
Publication Number 103202177A Publication Date 2013.07.17
Priority Information
International
Classification A01G1/04
Applicant(s) Name Sichuan Chuanye Food Company Limited
Address
Inventor(s) Name Chen Wen;Wu Guangshun
Patent Agency Code 51214 Patent Agent wu panfeng
Abstract: The invention belongs to the field of morchella cultivation, and particularly relates to a method for cultivating morchella. The method is characterized by comprising steps of firstly, performing field preparation: spacing ridge compartments and ditching; secondly, sowing the morchella and wheat: broadcasting 75-150kg per mu of strains of the morchella on compartment surfaces, covering a soil layer on each compartment surface, applying compound fertilizers after the strains of the morchella are watered, broadcasting 2-5kg per mu of wheat on the compartment surfaces in 1-10 days after the compound fertilizers are applied, covering a sunshade net on the compartment surfaces, and watering the strains of the morchella and the wheat every 2-3 days; thirdly, applying morchella growth promoters: applying the morchella growth promoters in the compartment surfaces in 35-45 days after the wheat is sowed; fourthly, performing fruiting and harvesting field management for the morchella: shading and watering the strains of the morchella and the wheat; and fifthly, performing field management for the wheat: weeding and applying additional fertilizers. The width of each compartment surface ranges from 90cm to 110cm, the width of each ditch ranges from 30cm to 40cm, the depth of each ditch ranges from 20cm to 30cm, and the humidity of each compartment surface keeps within the range from 60% to 80% in the fourth step. The method has the advantages of low cost, high and stable yield, simplicity in operation and easiness in popularization.
"

I don't see any info regarding removal of the spawn. Nor, unfortunately, do I see a way to get more than the patent application abstract.

I'm wondering if "mu" above refers to a square meter.
"morchella growth promoters"?
"additional fertilizers"?

I've got some reading to do...

 

[sb]

1 acre = 6.01 Mu
or
1 Mu = .16437 acre

or differently; one Mu is abut 1/6 acre

 

[sb]

guillaume -

As you understand French language, check out this site: https://francemorilles.com
Please share what insights you find.

France Morilles licensed the Chinese Morel Cultivation technology and secured rights to all Europe about 5-6 years ago.

From my perspective, following the pics on their web site in the immediate years afterward, it appeared that they were getting light fruiting density compared to pics of the Chinese harvests.

Perhaps it is different now - or not.

The Chinese update web link from Penn State University: https://plantpath.psu.edu/research/news/2017/china-trip-unveils-morel-cultivation-mysteries
provided by farsouthsider (above) seems to characterize a Chinese cultivation issue of many small farmers having difficulty achieving positive cash flow and positive profitability.

I just spent time on the French site and it appears that they are now sublicensing and home licensing the techniques they payed to license and are selling the supplies to do it. I can't see evidence that they are harvesting commercial quantities of Morels for the wholesale or retail markets.

I hope you check this out and share with us what you find as they have been doing this a few years, now.

Whatever they are doing, it is not the end-all of techinques. What I have been trying to do is understand the universal aspects common to different techniques that seem to offer some degree of success.

Then again, I can't stand before anyone and claim any repeatable success. Ha! My view is that every failure is a step closer to success.

 

[sb]

farsouthsider:

Over past years, I've downloaded 14 Chinese Morel patents in their Google translation. Two
patents, I paid to have translated from Chinese into English. I used different translators for each and neither were scientists, much less biologists, much less familiar with mycology.

None the less, I found some trends and generalities.

The field is continuing to evolve in refinement of techniques and varieties of morel becoming subject to cultivation and in the number of people making incremental additions to the body of experience and knowledge.

The Chinese Gov has supported this effort as it is an attractive income opportunity for the Chinese small farmer and commands ready saleability into the European market.

The cultivation of Morels has opened up and there are many contributing to the extant body of understanding besides the original couple of scientists who broke this open, after 30 now years of continual experience and experimenting.

So, we're going to get a home run in one season -- well yes, of course . . . in our dreams!! Ha!

More later on my ideas on the have/have not dynamic.

 

[sb]

Note: In the last year, Google changed out or upgraded their machine language translation algorithm resulting in less stilted and inverted phraseology in converting from Chinese to English.

farsouthsider, I see this in your tanslation. I have that patent, but only in Chinese--not the Google translation. My titling of the file is: Morel Intercropped with Wheat.

So some of the steps there may be directed toward getting the wheat growing as an additional crop.

 

[guillaume]

Hello farsouthsider,

Yes I already have my cultivation plan, I'm going to do this under shade net - 75%, it will be 1m wide x 1m long, there will be irrigation ditches of 30cm wide on 20 cm deep. These ditches are intended to irrigate crops and move into the structure. The seedling white - sclerotia - will be planted and covered then the exogenous food will be brought a few days later for a while (to be determined) ..... the rest will be in the spring until the good weather comes.

I do not yet produce my seedling white - nor exogenous food but I continue to gather as much information as I can to do it.

I did not see the patent you are talking about, I was able to download it completely (if you wish, I can put you a link to do it).

The translation is not very understandable, in the details. It would be a method to improve the morel yield (maybe like a symbiosis), wheat bringing some elements - but there are not really any details. There is also an addition of liquid fertilizer that is done (to see if the mushrooms are not saturated with chemical elements, which would greatly reduce the commercial potential of the latter, even if there is more to pick). In addition, I also see an interest in the production of semi white if we use wheat in the composition of the recipe to do it.

As SB said, 1 mu is 666.67 m2

Hello SB, FM actually sells licenses, including the supply of semi white, exogenous food and accompaniment in culture. This can be interesting if you only want to produce morel. On the other hand if you wish to produce your recipes of white of sowing and your recipes of exogenous food, it will not accompany you to see you brake. Nobody knows the returns, it does not communicate on it.

My first attempts to produce semi white and exogenous food will be done soon, for now, I have not yet defined a recipe plan. If you have experiences sharing me on that, they are welcome.

I would be happy to give you feedback on the crop and express the yields obtained.

I also wish to be interested in the interior culture, to improve myself on the external culture.

On this last point, do not hesitate to share your experience.

 

[guillaume]

It seems that the cultivation of the morel, following the article that SB has transmitted to us, is exhausting the soils (but of what?) Is added some things on the ground, which has the consequence of reducing or eliminating all fructifications. One of the solutions could be to renew the land with forest humus, to make crop rotations ..... but as long as we are not enough on what happens in the soil, it will be really "haphazardly" luck " ....

 

[primal man]

Resurrecting this thread hoping to get some feedback. Anyone here want to update their knowledge on what sort of bed works best for fruiting morels?

One of the main issues I'm stumped with: should the ground around the bed be tilled and mixed with other media...or left alone with sod intact?

Another thing: it appears some make their beds on top of ground with log frame whereas others dig into the ground before layering their substrate. I can't see what purpose a log frame would serve in any case, fruitings occur outside the spawned nucleal area, outside of attempts at framing a bed. Which is why I think it is important to know what to do with the ground surrounding the main bed up to where it meets a barrier wall. Any ideas?

Also, when creating a barrier far outside (assuming up to 15 feet outside) the main bed...how deep should the bricks, rocks, plastic sheeting, etc., be buried in ground?

Thanks for any input.

-A

 

[sb]

redfred said:
How has the morel growing experiment been going??

Hi Redfred--Thanks for asking.

--Basically on hold. I have still on occasion been collecting spore prints.

Somewhere I read a source I had found credible, that only 1 in 4 1 in 8, or something like that actually sporulated.

I thought about this a few days ago, as I left my 56 Black Morels on a green deck table, out in the sun after taking the pics I posted. What was there when I took the morels from the table several hours later was a statistical sampling of how many sporulated anything during that warm afternoon. The identifiable grey-white spore shadows on the green table surface showed only 6-7 prints out of 56 mushrooms.

So, maybe 1 in 10 or 10%.

 

[sb]

Shiitake Mushroom Logs got Woken Up from their Sleep!

Two weeks ago I soaked my Shiitake logs from 2016 & 2017.

Then I whacked them on the end with a sledge hammer, about 4 times each log.

Covered them with Burlap

and VOILA! Magic! happened in 4 days.

I cut perfect Shiitake each day for 4 days in a row; getting enough to make the Shiitake Bacon I've posted about on here, before.

Treat yourself. You deserve it!
Get out into the woods!! 😎 🍾🍷