Fungi are sometimes incorrectly classified as plants, but due to their position between plants and animals, they are grouped together in their own order “Funga”. After all, mushrooms differ from many plants in their special way of growing.
Under what conditions do mushrooms grow particularly quickly?
Mushrooms grow particularly quickly in warm temperatures, sufficient moisture and humid weather, causing their fruiting bodies to sprout from the ground within a few hours to days. They are independent of the incidence of light because they do not photosynthesize.
The fruiting body as the tip of the iceberg
What people usually harvest and sometimes eat as mushrooms is actually just part of a mushroom. The fruiting body above the earth's surface is usually only a small part of the actual fungal network. This above-ground part is needed for the distribution of the spores and thus the reproduction of the fungi.
Environmental conditions for rapid fungal growth
Experienced collectors of edible mushrooms know that certain weather conditions can promise a particularly rich yield during walks in the forest. Populations of forest mushrooms grow rapidly from the ground, particularly under the following conditions:
- when the air temperature is consistently warm, for example in July and August
- if there is sufficient moisture due to persistent rainfall
- in humid summer and autumn weather
The constantly high temperature and humidity levels cause many species of mushrooms to sprout their partially edible and tasty fruiting bodies from the forest floor within a few hours and days.
The stages of mushroom growth
If mushrooms are grown as edible mushrooms for consumption, cultivation is usually carried out by applying fungal spores to a growing substrate such as straw. When growing mushrooms, bales of straw are soaked and, after inoculation with spores, stored in a room with constant temperatures and high humidity. Within about two to three weeks, the fungal mycelium then grows through the entire bale of straw. It then only takes a few days for the mushroom mycelium on the surface to form the fruiting bodies in the shape of mushrooms.
Tips & Tricks
The apparent appearance of mushrooms “overnight” is not necessarily related to the incidence of light on a mushroom population. Since fungi have no chlorophyll or mechanisms for photosynthesis, they are largely independent of light. However, dew usually forms at night, which is why the moisture causes accelerated growth of the fungal fruiting bodies. As quickly as the mushrooms grow from the forest floor, they also have to be harvested for use because they often only last a few days.
