How To Grow Koprinus Dung Beetles - Little-known Edible Mushrooms

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Cultivation of dung beetles (Coprinus) mushrooms on the plot

Dung beetle koprinus gray

My husband and I are big mushroom lovers. Whenever possible, we go to mushroom sites, but, unfortunately, they are far from us, and therefore it is not always possible. At my summer cottage I am trying to grow forest mushrooms: chanterelles, milk mushrooms, boletus, but there are no results yet.

However, for several years now, in the fall, I have been harvesting mushrooms that grow in our summer cottage, in the place of the old apple tree - koprinus dung beetles

When I first saw these mushrooms, I could not even think that they were edible, and my neighbor in the country (an experienced mushroom picker) said that they were toadstools. As a result, for several years I mercilessly dug up and threw these mushrooms in the trash, until another neighbor at the dacha said that they were edible and even very tasty. She asked me for these mushrooms. I gave away the mushrooms, of course, but the element of doubt was so great that I hardly slept that night.

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And when the next morning I saw my neighbor in full health, my heart relieved. When I asked about the fate of mushrooms, a neighbor answered that they were simply delicious. I had to take up the study of mushrooms growing in the garden. I bought several books, went to the Internet, in a word, collected all possible information about these mushrooms. They really turned out to be edible.

Features of dung mushrooms

Dung beetle young edible and old dung beetle inedible

I have a gray dung beetle (koprinus) growing on my site, and in nature there are about 200 species of the genus koprinus, some of the dung beetles are considered conditionally edible mushrooms. This means that they must be boiled before use. Dung beetles usually grow quickly, grow literally in a matter of hours, and this is their distinctive feature.

Within 48 hours after the formation of the fruiting body, the cap turns black and spreads into a black liquid mass. And it is no coincidence that these mushrooms are also called ink mushrooms, and this is another feature of dung beetles, according to which they cannot be confused with other mushrooms.

By the way, ink was actually made from them and used to sign especially valuable documents. Dung beetles are not wormy, and this is another of their distinguishing features. Koprinuses settle on the manure of herbivores, on well-fertilized soil, on decaying stumps and other plant debris. Therefore, they are often found in gardens, vegetable gardens, on garbage heaps, in meadows where cattle graze. These mushrooms also inhabit cities, parks and lawns.

And the taste of these mushrooms is really excellent. Their flesh is sweet, tender, white, without juice. But it is necessary to collect dung beetles koprinus only at a young age, when their plates are still pure white, and immediately prepare quickly. After all, darkened mushrooms are unsuitable for food.

Fresh mushroom does not tolerate even short storage. Self-degradation often continues even in freshly frozen mushrooms. If you want to save these mushrooms, then immediately after collecting them you need to peel them, boil for about 15 minutes, cool, and then freeze. In this form, mushrooms can be stored for several months.

In Czechoslovakia, gray dung beetle is highly valued and widely used for food. In Finland, it belongs to the good edible mushrooms, and the white dung even belongs to the category of delicacies.

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Gray dung beetle (Coprinus atramentarius). This mushroom is sometimes called inky mushroom. It grows on moist and humus-rich soils, in fields, vegetable gardens, orchards, in dumps, occurs from May to November. The cap is gray, darker in the center, 5-10 cm in diameter, ovoid in a young mushroom, then broadly bell-shaped with a cracking edge. On the surface of the cap there are small darkish scales.

The pulp is light, darkens quickly, tastes sweet, the smell is pleasant. The plates are loose, wide, white in young mushrooms, then dark brown, in old mushrooms - black. Stem white, slightly brownish at the base, smooth, cylindrical up to 20 cm high, 1-2.5 cm in diameter with a white, rapidly disappearing ring, quickly darkening. Gray dung is a good edible mushroom. It is fried, stewed, boiled, dried. Pickled dung beetles taste good.

White dung beetle (Coprinus comatus). The synonym is crested dung beetle. The hat is 5-12 cm high, white-scaly, ocher at the top, first ovoid, then bell-shaped. The plates are white, free, frequent, on the second day after the formation of the fruiting body, they turn brown and turn into an ink liquid. The leg is 6-15 cm high, 1-3 cm thick, cylindrical, hollow, white, silky, tapering towards the base, has a narrow white movable ring.

The pulp is whitish, delicate, its taste and smell are pleasant. It is often found in small groups on humus-rich soils, meadows, vegetable gardens, in parks and orchards and very often in garbage dumps. Fruiting from April to November. Connoisseurs classify white dung as a delicacy mushroom. They are fried and stewed, they do not require preliminary boiling.

Flickering dung (Coprinus micaceus). Occurs in summer and autumn in groups on stumps, dead trunks and roots of deciduous trees. The cap is 2-4 cm in diameter, furrowed, ocher or brown with shiny white grains. The plates are whitish, eventually darken to black. The leg is 3-5 cm high with a thickness of 0.3-0.5 cm, whitish. The mushroom is edible.

Cultivation of coprinus dung beetles in the garden

In our country house, gray dung beetle appears in the fall at the end of October or at the beginning of November. Therefore, I propagate my mushrooms in the fall. As soon as the first mushrooms appear, I carefully dig them up along with the mycelium and transplant them into a shaded, well-fertilized place, then water. The next year, a whole meadow of mushrooms grows in this place. On my garden plot, I collect 2-3 buckets of excellent mushrooms per season.

Now mushroom farms are already selling mycelium gray dung beetle and white dung beetle. The technology for growing them is similar to the technology for growing mushrooms. Manure can indeed be grown on the same nutritional basis as champignons. They are even less susceptible to disease and give a slightly larger yield.

Dung beetle mushrooms can be grown in shady areas of the garden, in greenhouses, in beds, in bags or boxes. For the preparation of the substrate, you can use waste from the garden, vegetable garden, livestock, fallen fruits, weeds, fresh manure or lying humus, foliage, vegetable tops, etc.

Read part 2. Treatment of alcoholism with dung mushrooms →

Tatyana Lybina, gardener, Dzhezkazgan Photo by the author