Kozlyak is an edible mushroom in its young stage. It is used boiled (about 20 minutes of boiling), marinated, pickled, and dried. It grows: (massively from early August to early October) in moist coniferous (with pine) forests, on sphagnum bogs, singly and in groups.
Cap: 4-12 cm in diameter, flat-convex, smooth, thinner at the edge, yellow-brown or reddish-brown. The gill layer does not detach from the cap; gills have large, irregular angular pores. Stipe: 4-10 cm long and 1-2 cm in diameter, often curved, tapering at the base, firm, same color as the cap or slightly lighter. Flesh: firm, elastic, becoming rubbery with age, whitish-yellow, brownish in the stipe, sometimes turning pink when cut.
Cultivation method: The best time for planting "Kozlyak" mycelium is year-round. If you purchased mycelium between September and April, you can speed up the harvest by planting the mycelium at home into a box with substrate (see point 1) for mycelium colonization — make 10-15 holes in the substrate, place mycelium pieces into the holes, then cover them with substrate. Starting from May, plant the already colonized mycelium into the ground according to the instructions.
If you purchased mycelium between May and August, you can plant it directly into the ground.
1. Substrate preparation: mix soil with moist sawdust from coniferous trees.
2. Dig 3 holes, 10 cm in diameter and 20 cm deep, around the tree trunk.
3. Fill the holes halfway with pre-prepared substrate, then place mycelium pieces into the holes at a rate of 1/3 packet per hole. Cover the holes with substrate to the top, tamp down firmly.
4. Carefully and slowly pour 1 liter of water mixed with lime (for soil disinfection) at a rate of 50 g per bucket of water into each hole. Then moisten the soil around the holes — at least 1 bucket of lime water per planting site. Cover the planted holes with a layer of moss, leaf litter, or branches. During summer, periodically moisten the soil around the holes. Each tree requires at least 3 buckets of water once a week.
Fruiting: The first mushrooms will appear the following year after planting, under favorable weather conditions. After one year, when the mycelium has fully established, the yield will be twice as much. Fruiting lasts up to 3-5 years.
Yield: You can harvest 6-20 mushrooms per tree in one year.
