Pseudomonas tolaasii causes brown, slightly sunken blotches on maturing mushrooms. Hence the name Brown Blotch Disease. These bacteria usually exist in the casing layer used in the button mushroom industry. This casing layer consists of materials with a good water-holding capacity. Even though no casing layer is needed to cultivate oyster mushrooms, the brown blotch disease is one of the most devastating diseases for the cultivation of them.

Trichoderma is the source behind the severe green mold infection. According to many studies, this infection is reported all over the world. From South Korea, Italy, Hungary, and Romania to the US, the Philippines, Germany, etc. If Trichoderma appears, it can wipe out enter mushroom productions. Therefore, many attempts were made to prevent Trichoderma from spreading. But if you want to do that, you have to stop it right at the beginning. And here comes the tricky part. On the mycelium level, Trichoderma can’t be distinguished from other fungi because, at this level, Trichoderma is white like most fungi. Only if it starts to sporulate it changes the color to green, hence the name green mold. There are currently 89 known species of Trichoderma.

Are you cultivating Shiitake on logs, or are you thinking of using this cultivation method? Then this video is for you. In it, I will first go over the economics of the log cultivation method and then compare it to two variations of the bag cultivation. The first variation compares the log cultivation and bag cultivation according to the mushroom yield. In the second version, I compare the two methods regarding working time

In the last video, we talked about the re-use of spent mushroom substrate for the cultivation of oyster mushrooms. In today’s video, we will go in a totally different direction. On 25 July 2020, at around 16:00 UTC, the MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef south of Mauritius. It is estimated that 1,000 tonnes of oil spilled into the ocean. That is over 1 million liters. And that is not the only oil spill that happened. There are over 240 oil spills since 1968 or 4 ½ every year. What has this to do with mushrooms? I will tell you. Take your notebook and let’s keep growing.

The cultivation of morel has fascinated mankind for more than 130 years. Many have tried to grow them outdoors as well as indoors. But they failed. Now it seems that the Chinese found a method which is working – at least for the outdoor cultivation of morels. But new challenges are on the horizon.

Learn the main mistakes many mushroom farmers and I did in the beginning. Knowing them gives you a head start.