After the mushroom bed is made up it should, within a few days, warm to a temperature of 110° to 120°. Carefully observe this, and never spawn a bed when the heat is rising, or when it is warmer than 100°, but always when it is on the decline and under 90°. In this there is perfect safety. Have a ground thermometer and keep it plunged in the bed at all times; by pulling it out and looking at it every now and again, one can know exactly the temperature of the bed. Have a few straight, smooth stakes, like short walking canes, and stick the end of these into the bed, twelve to twenty feet apart; by pulling them out and feeling them with the hand one can tell pretty closely what the temperature of the bed is.
All practical mushroom growers know that if the temperature of a twelve inch thick bed at seven inches from the surface is 100°, that within an inch of the surface of the bed will only be about 95° indoors, and 85° to 90° out of doors. Also, that when the heat of the manure is on the decline it falls quite rapidly, five, often ten degrees, a day, till it reaches about 75°, and between that and 65° it may rest for weeks.
Some years ago I gave considerable attention to this matter of spawning beds at different temperatures. Spawn planted as soon as the bed was made (five days after spawning the heat in interior of bed ran up to 123°) yielded no mushrooms, the mycelium being killed. The same was the case in all beds where the spawn had been planted before the heat in the beds had attained its maximum (130° or over). Where the heat in the middle of the bed never readied 115°, the spawn put in when the bed was made, and molded over the same day, yielded an email crop of mushrooms. A bed in which the heat was declining was spawned at 110°; this bore a very good crop, and at 100° and under to 65° good crops in every case were secured, with several days delay in bearing in the case of the lowest temperatures. But notwithstanding these facts, my advice to all beginners in mushroom growing is, wait until the heat of the bed is on the decline and fallen to at least 90°, before inserting the spawn. Writing to me about spawning his beds, Mr. Withington, of New Jersey, says: “I believe a bed spawned at 60° to 70°, and kept at 55° after the mushrooms appear, will give better results than one spawned at a higher temperature, say 90°.”
For the sake of your mushroom crop, you must pay close attention to the temperature of your bed, or beds. You don’t want to lose an entire crop to the fact that the mycelium was killed by the heat. So, especially beginners, keep a close eye on the temperature of your bed. As you progress in experience, you won’t have to watch as much.
Author Resource:
Jackson Forrest is a mushroom growing enthusiast and runs the popular http://www.MushroomGrowingSecrets.com website where he offers the best-selling ebook "How to Grow Mushrooms for Fun and Profit". Get your copy today!
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