Over the years, Black fungus growing has been firmly grasped as the powerful industry that supports poverty alleviation in region of Da Hinggan Mountains, Heilongjiang Province of China. In the meantime of producing economic benefits, it also results in environmental pollution. Each year, a great number of Black fungus bags are seen as useless garbages after the production, which wastes resources and causes  environmental pollution.

“The majority of Lignin and Cellulose contained in bags of Black fungus are decomposed during the cultivation process, after that, the remaining nutrients meet the growth requirement of Stropharia rugosoannulata,” introduces one of growers in Tahe County, Da Hinggan Mountains of Heilongjiang Province warmly, going on that recently, Stropharia rugosoannulata cultivation implemented via waste Black fungus bags got succeeded, which fills in local market blank while exploiting a prosperous road for growers.

On August 9, The Third National Black Fungus Innovation Development Meeting is fiercely in progress.

Since 2016, National Black Fungus Industry Innovation Development Meeting has been successfully held for two times in Harbin and Shangzhi City of Heilongjiang Province of China. This time, number of visitors and participants reaches over 20,000 person-times.

Mushrooms carry the intrinsic characteristic of circular, high-efficiency and ecological as well as showing broad development prospect. As the key platform that focuses on technical exchange and communication, economic and trade cooperation and display of Black fungus products, The Third National Black Fungus Innovation Development Meeting organized by CEMBN provides 100 standard booths and over 20 special booths, involving in above 200 Chinese mushroom enterprises. The successful organization of the meeting will undoubtedly accelerate the further development of China’s Black fungus industry.

NAMWON, Jul. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A rare type of puffball mushroom has been discovered yet again this year in Korea at an apple orchard near the foot of Mt. Jiri in Namwon, North Jeolla Province.

This is the 15th mushroom of the same category found in the same region over the last five years.

The city government of Namwon revealed yesterday that 55-year-old orchard owner Ju Ji-hwan of Sannae-myeon had discovered the rare Calvatia nipponica mushroom recently.

Measuring 18 to 20 centimeters in length, Calvatia nipponica are puffball-shaped mushrooms with a typical white exterior.

Two of the same mushroom types were discovered in Ju’s very orchard in 2014, with two to eight being discovered each year.

Calvatia are known to be effective in detoxification and other remedies and are found nationwide in the provinces of Gangwon, and North and South Jeolla from time to time.

Lina Jang (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Climate in the growing room
All growers recognise the importance of climate in the growing room. How the climate feels when you enter the growing room is a good indicator. Sometimes what your instinct says goes against what the data from the climate control computer suggests. Experience can help you finetune that “instinct” if you go into the growing rooms daily. In this blog I will be give you some simple tips of things to check in relation to RH measurements every time you inspect the growing rooms. This can help avoid errors in measurements and climate control.

Clean the water reservoir
The growing room is cleaned after it has been emptied. Cleaning the RH measuring box should be part of this routine. Ensure the water reservoir of the RH measuring box is emptied and cleaned. It wouldn't be the first time a slimy bacteria forms in the reservoir, so that even the new sock or wick feels slimy. This reduces evaporation, resulting in a higher RH measurement than in reality.

Replace the sock
When you clean the growing room remove the sock from the wet bulb sensor. Do not replace it immediately but wait until the room is filled. While there is no sock in the wet bulb, the wet bulb and the dry bulb should both give the same temperature reading. This is a routine action that can prevent a lot of headaches. On many farms, this is only done sporadically - or not at all - so a long time passes before anyone notices any deviations. And problems can occur fast, as just 0.1OC deviation is already a 1% difference in RH!

The fan
There is a fan in the RH measuring box in the majority of climate control systems. This ensures a constant flow of air over the sensors. The fan can sometimes malfunction. This is not reflected at once in the RH measurement, so checking whether the fan is still running by listening when you look at the RH measuring box is a small, but very worthwhile, task.

Replace the sock later on?
During mycelium growth the RH is not that important as water is still sprayed onto the casing soil. If drier air causes the casing to dry out faster, it is easy to add more water into the casing.
So you could think: “Let's just replace the sock later”. Completely wrong. Why? The Mollier diagram of course! By also measuring the wet bulb temperature, the computer can determine the energy level in the air. This enables the computer to decide whether to use outside air for cooling. If there is no sock, the computer will always measure a higher energy level because it “thinks” the RH is always 100%. The result will be extra costs for cooling because the computer decides too quickly to use outside air which has a higher energy level than the actual air in the growing room. You will use more energy and risk burnt compost due to an insufficient cooling capacity.

Mark den Ouden
Mushroom Office

Next Masterclass Compost and Mushroom course are:
22 to 27 October 2018
18-23 February 2019
See www.mushroomoffice.com

Mushroom farming is considered as The Third Agriculture in China. Along with the constant enhancement of its personal value, some regions have listed it as Non-Staple Food Project or Rural Poverty Alleviation and Prosperous Project.

In recent two years, 27 markets which professionally engage in mushroom operation have been formed, spreading over 16 provinces and autonomous regions in China.

Now, China is entering into the development period of mushroom industry. After summarizing on experience of success, it is acknowledged that exploiting the market and propelling the deep processing industry is the crucial path.

1. Storage and freshness retaining help put off the marketing period of mushroom products. On the one hand, now, in China, the market price of fresh Shiitake, Straw mushroom and Enoki mushroom is respectively at 9-15 CNY, 12-18 CNY and 5-6 CNY per kg, and they enjoy good sales. On the other hand, in the case that fresh mushrooms are preliminarily processed into dried products, canned products, or dried meat and mushroom floss, soup stock and other series products, freshness of mushroom could be maintained while mushrooms enrich customers’ basket throughout the year.

2. Comprehensive development facilitates boosting the added value of mushroom products. At present, in addition to Shiitake Can, Shiitake Preserve, Shiitake Beverage and Shiitake Snack, a series of medicinal and health mushroom products such as Shiitake Polysaccharide Capsule, Shiitake Oral Liquid, White Fungus Polysaccharide and Monkey Head Mushroom Polysaccharide have been successively developed in China and oversea nations, which exploits mushroom values and promotes the transformation from simple and preliminarily-processed dried products to high-revenue series products.

3. Brand formation is good for seizing international market. Authorities working in mushroom field suggest all manufacturing enterprises to firstly enhance the technology content of products and develop new high-quality series products on the basis of original export brand so as to meet different consumer demands in international market. Secondly, look steadily at the shortcomings. After China joins in WTO, relevant international organizations strengthen the  performance check on comprehensive quality index of China’s mushroom export, thus, it is necessary for China to strive to make technological breakthrough, and implement mushroom production in accordance with International Health Quality Standard, strictly carry out inspection and monitoring work so that more superior mushroom products gush into international market.

For successive days, sufficient rainfall promotes the peak production period of wild mushrooms in Yunnan Province of China.

A few days ago, a giant Ganoderma showed its emergence in Kaiyuan City, Yunnan Province of China.

“Bottom of the giant staff is 44 cm in length and it is 24cm in height, diameter of its waist and cap respectively reaches up to 42cm and 16cm,” introduces Mr. Li, forager of the Bolete excitedly.

Over the years, Africans have been showing special preference to canned food. Affected by the convenience and long shelf life, market of canned food leads rapid development momentum in Africa.

According to analysis from China-Africa Trade Research Center, in recent years, canned food products keep on gushing into African market from China, of which Shiitake can is the STAR product in Algerian canned market.

Now, there are a wide range of mushroom cans for preference of African customers, including Grey and White Oyster mushroom, King oyster mushroom, Monkey head mushroom, Enoki and so on, referring to Original, Salted and Vinegared flavor.

China’s canned mushroom products launched into Africa in an early time, as a result, they currently occupy 70% of market share in Algeria while holding prominent advantage in the market of South Africa.