Do you live on the waterfront or have a yard or garden within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed?
Do you wish there was something that YOU could do to HELP SAVE THE BAY?
If so, then Wine Cap Mushrooms are the answer you are looking for!
After every rainfall, The Chesapeake Bay becomes laden with large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus due to surface runoff water. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the number one environmental threat to the bay. They cause a chain reaction of massive algae blooms which drown out the light, killing off underwater aquatic plants, while consuming all the available oxygen in the water which then creates giant patches of deoxygenated zones that result in massive fish kills. To make matters worse, when the algae dies it then blankets the bottom with a thick layer of silt that suffocates our beloved oysters.
What if we could stop this before it ever happens?
What if you could stop this before it ever happens?
Would you?
If so, then you should add Wine Cap Mushrooms to your Lawn or Garden. Wine Cap Mushrooms have proven to be able to consume excess nitrogen and phosphorus in their environment. They also have shown they can absorb up to ten times their mass in water weight. Wine Cap Mushrooms in particular, out compete and consume a lot of harmful bacteria including Salmonella and Ecoli.
What does this mean for you? Every time it rains your property will now act as a giant filtration unit that purifies the water running through it while reducing the rate at which runoff water enters the watershed.
That's not all. Mushroom mycelium (the part that grows underground) is incredibly strong. As it expands it creates an underground net that holds soil in place. This is particularly useful if your property is on a hillside or is prone to erosion.
If all the environmental benefits of having Wine Cap Mushrooms in your Lawn or Garden have not yet convinced you, then before you turn away, know that Wine Cap Mushrooms give back. Infact, during the summer and fall, after each rainfall your Wine Cap Mushroom patch may reward you with a harvest of delicious gourmet mushrooms. That's right. Wine Cap Mushrooms are a delicacy that have traditionally only been available to mushroom hunters and now you can have them in your own backyard!
How to Plant Your Wine Cap Mushroom Patch
Tools you will need:
Wine Cap Mushroom Grain Spawn
1 bag per 5’x5’ bed or 1 bag per 10’x10’ bed
Hardwood Wood chips or hardwood Mulch ***do not use pine***
Shovel and/or Rake
Designate your area. While wine caps are field mushrooms and can survive in direct sunlight, they prefer shade as any other mushroom. Be sure to pick a location that offers some refuge from the sun throughout the day. If using your patch for run off remediation, place it on a low spot on your property that feeds a stream or river, or place it in a spot where you notice water pools after a storm.
Prepare your bed. Spread wood chips 1-6” deep across the area you wish to inoculate. This will create a barrier between your mushrooms and the other fungi in the ground giving them a chance to get settled before having to compete and will improve the overall strength of your Wine Cap Mushroom Patch. The deeper you make this barrier the more food your mushrooms will have and the more resilient your Wine Cap Mushroom Patch will be.
Inoculate: there are two methods that work well with Wine Cap Mushrooms, each with different purposes. In both cases break up the “brick” of mushroom spawn prior to opening the bag. It should be a bag of individual seeds and will break up easily.
Layering: To create a small but dense mushroom bed quickly that will have high yields. Each bag can create two layers in a 5’x5’ bed. More layers will create a stronger mushroom bed faster than a bed with fewer layers, and more bags can be used to achieve this.
Start by evenly broadcasting half the bag over the prepped garden bed.
Add an inch of wood chips or mulch over the whole bed
Broadcast the remainder of your Wine Cap Mushroom Spawn over the bed
Cover the bed with one to two more inches of wood chips or mulch
Checkers: One bag can cover a 10’x10’ bed. This method will be best used for environmental purposes as it creates a larger less dense bed over a greater surface area. In this application, the Wine Cap Mushrooms will spend more energy colonizing the substrate than they will creating fruit so this application is best not to be used if your main purpose is to harvest lots of edible mushrooms. However, this application will create a larger bed over a greater time.
The purpose of this method is to create individual small colonies that will expand into each other to create one large bed over time.
Think of the garden bed before you as a checkers board. You may even wish to use a stick or shovel to actually draw a grid onto the bed. You should be imagining a grid pattern with alternating white and black squares.
Evenly broadcast the Wine Cap Mushroom Spawn in its entirety over only the squares that would be white.
Cover the entire garden bed with 1 to 2 inches of wood chips or mulch
***This method creates individual small colonies that will expand outward. When they meet they will fuse together and become one. Over time your checkers board bed will go from many colonies to one colony.
Water well to set the bed.
Caring for your Wine Cap Mushroom Patch
Wine Cap Mushrooms are very low maintenance once they are established. However, some care is needed after planting and after harvesting to ensure your new Wine Cap Mushroom Patch lasts for years to come.
After Planting
In this stage it is critical that the newly planted mycelium does not dry out. If planted in the spring or fall you should water it once or twice a week to ensure the wood chips or mulch are damp but not wet. In the summer this may need to be done daily.
Yearly Maintenance
Wine Cap Mushrooms are susceptible to frost. Therefore, it is a good practice to cover your bed with an additional two inches of hardwood wood chips or mulch each fall to insulate them. One could even use raked leaves! This practice will also restore the nutrients the Wine Cap Mushrooms need to live for the following year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can’t I use pine? Pine and other conifers create a tar like sap that have natural anti-fungal properties. This will reduce the rate at which your mushrooms grow if it doesn't kill them entirely.
Do I have to change anything about my yard maintenance? You might find that the needs of your lawn change on their own. Mushrooms create symbiotic relationships with plants and act as a vascular system for their environment transporting water and nutrients to areas that need them the most. This means that you may find you need to water or fertilize less often than you have in the past. The only major change is that you will no longer be able to use fungicide.
If Wine Cap Mushrooms are used to clean run off water and their environment are they safe to eat? While it is not recommended that you eat mushrooms used to clean up oil spills or toxic waste, mushrooms that grow in your yard are not likely to be exposed to such conditions. All mushrooms use nitrogen and phosphorus to grow and feed any excess to the plants they form relationships with. Wine Cap Mushrooms in Specific are parasitic to bacteria and consume them eliminating any risk that would otherwise be of concern. For this reason they should be used if you have a garden near livestock or pets as they will eliminate the risk of E Coli, Salmonella and other bacteria associated with food borne illnesses and livestock. Having said that, it is of the utmost importance that you are able to correctly identify any mushroom you eat. Even mushrooms planted in a bed will have competitors growing in those beds and should be considered a wild mushroom. It is your responsibility to know and understand the environment you have picked them from and that eating a wild mushroom always has risks.
How long will it take before I get mushrooms? The answer to this question will be different for each person as it is dependent on the environment in which they grow. Generally speaking Wine Cap Mushrooms that are planted densely enough in early spring may fruit late summer that year. However, it is likely that most mushroom beds will not fruit until the following year. It is important to understand that environmental conditions have a great effect on mushrooms producing fruit so it is possible that a mushroom bed that is poorly placed may not fruit at all.
Will this affect other plants in my garden? Yes it is likely that the mushrooms will create a symbiotic relationship with many of the plants in the garden. They will deliver water and nutrients to the plants and in turn the plants will give them leaves and other organic matter when it is their time.
Do I need to replant them each year or will they come back in the spring? A healthy mushroom patch will come back for years so long as it can survive the frost and has enough organic matter to digest.