AlboPepper - Drought Proof Urban Gardening's video: How To Grow Wine Cap Edible Organic Mushrooms: Wood Chips Straw -Identify Cultivate Preserve

Wine cap (Garden Giant / King Stropharia) mushrooms, are great for beginners to grow. This single variety appeals to guerrilla gardeners, permaculturalists, organic gardeners, homesteaders and urban gardeners alike. Visit my site for more photos and info: http://albopepper.com/wine-cap-mushroom-bed-cultivation-stropharia-rugosoannulata.php CORRECTION (4:15): When I said March 12th, I meant June 2th. IDENTIFICATION: Stropharia rugosoannulata are very easy to identify, and are less likely to be confused with other indigenous fungi. The trademark traits include a red-wine colored cap, grey-violet gills and a creamy-white colored stalk that displays an annulus or ring. If spotted soon after emergence, the cap may still be tightly closed, hiding the gills and perched at the height of the annulus. Over time the cap opens up exposing the gills which then darken with spores. CULTIVATION: Cultivation can be scaled to any property size. Site preparation is quite easy. Wine cap spawn can be purchased in pegs or sawdust. Unlike shiitake which do well with log cultivation, wine caps are best suited for in-ground or raised bed cultivation. Rather than logs, common stropharia substrates are wood chips, saw dust or straw which can be placed on or into the ground. Old wood chips are acceptable or new ones will work too. Allowing hardwood chips to age for a few weeks can improve colonization. Shade to partial shade seems to work well. Areas that tend to stay moist are ideal. Fall or Spring are the preferred seasons for inoculation. HARVEST: If prepared in the Spring your first harvest may occur as soon as 8 weeks later. Weather fluctuations in moisture and temperature seem to signal mushroom emergence. But keep in mind that the process is quite random. So you need to visit your garden on a frequent basis. Placing your spawn in zones of frequent activity ensures that you won't miss any of your precious harvest. To pick them, simply cut them at the base with a sharp knife. PREPARATION: Wine cap mushrooms are fairly versatile in cooking recipes. Many people suggest preparing them in the same fashion as portobello mushrooms. They work very well in sauté recipes. They have a slight nutty, earthy flavor. We've added them to homemade soups. And we've even stuffed the caps and baked them. PRESERVATION: The mushrooms store well in a paper bag in the fridge for several days. Just be sure not to wash them. They also dry very well with a food dehydrator. This methods allows for long-term storage. Then they can be rehydrated and used in stocks and soups. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? Do you have a small piece of land? Do you have access to free wood chips, perhaps from an arborist? Would you like some free organic mushrooms? Growing wine caps allows you to use existing resources to produce healthy food. At the same time you build rich soil and soil biota. A perfect example of stacking functions. The gardening technique in this video can work even in HOAs (home owners associations) where people often have major restrictions on their garden activities. Wine cap mushroom cultivation is the solution! ================================== Support AlboPepper.com and get some cool garden shirts that I designed myself: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/albopepper/ ==================================