Milky mushroom (Calocybe indica) is a white, warm-climate mushroom cultivated across South and Southeast Asia on bagged rice-straw substrate with a casing layer, prized for its high biological efficiency and tolerance of hot, humid weather that stalls temperate species.1
Inputs
- Substrate: rice straw gave the best yield of several substrates tested (biological efficiency 91.75%, vs. 51.86% for sugarcane bagasse); chopped to 3-4 inch lengths, supplemented with 0.2% CaCO3 and 30% wheat bran by dry weight, wetted to 65% moisture, bagged (500 g per bag), autoclaved at 121°C/15 psi for 1 hour.1
- Spawn run: dark room at 30-32°C for about 30-35 days.1
- Casing layer: a 3-5 cm layer applied after full colonisation; cow dung and loamy soil (3:1), farm-yard manure, loamy soil and sand (3:1), or spent oyster-mushroom sawdust substrate all performed similarly (biological efficiency 61-63%), each sterilised at 65°C for 4 hours before use.1
- Fruiting: culture house held at 30-35°C and 70-80% relative humidity; primordia appear 13-19 days after casing, with total harvest spread over roughly 66-92 days depending on substrate.1