Mushroom books 

Spore is proud to announce the new edition of 'Mushroom Cultivation'. We would like to thank all contributors and sponsors for their support. C Point is the official distributor. CTA will distribute the book to institutions in developing countries.  

FREE COPY FOR EXTENSION OFFICERS IN ACP COUNTRIES
CTA (The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) operates under the Lomé convention and disseminates information to ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific). 

Extension officers can apply at CTA for a free copy of the book Mushroom cultivation. Please contact CTA, P.O. Box 380, 6700 AJ, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Many international contributions in third edition of 'Mushroom Cultivation'

The third edition of the English language book "Mushroom Cultivation" is published in September 2003. This book is an extensive reference manual of 430 pages, with more than 250 illustrations, intended for all growers of commercially cultivated mushrooms.
New in the third edition is the attention paid to white mushroom strains and marketing and innovation. Like the previous edition, the book provides detailed information about the cultivation of shii-take and other exotic edible mushrooms.

The main author is Peter Oei (Spore), but experts from all over the world (USA, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, China, Zambia, and Finland) also provided articles in the book. Marc Maas of C point has written several chapters about white button mushroom cultivation, composting and casing soil, Luc Klunder of Gicom wrote chapters about constructing tunnels, growing facilities and installations, and Ruud Thielen of Thilot was responsible for the chapter on mechanisation. PPO (Applied Plant Research), the former Mushroom Experimenting Station, contributed to the chapter on diseases and pests and supplied many of the illustrations. "Mushroom Cultivation" succeeds the book of the same name published in 1996 and the first edition titled " Manual on Mushroom Cultivation" dating from 1991. 6000 editions have found their way around the world in the past 12 years. The first edition was chiefly aimed at developing countries; the second edition was very popular among growers of exotic mushrooms in Europe and the United States.This edition was made possible thanks to sponsorship by: Gicom, Unicorn, Blaak Specialty Mushrooms, Mycelia, SacO2, Limbraco, Hato and Peeten. 

Other mushroom publications
In the past years no single book has appeared covering all aspects of button mushroom cultivation. 'The cultivation of mushrooms', edited by Van Griensven and dating from 1987 was the last publication with a comprehensive and extensive treatment of white button mushroom cultivation. Many chapters are still relevant, but new developments such as indoor composting, cold and heat storage, automated processes and mechanisation are obviously not contained in the book. Cultivation of other, exotic types of mushrooms is also missing.
The opposite can be said of 'Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms' by Paul Stamets (third edition 2000); the more than 500 pages are exclusively devoted to exotic mushrooms; 'ordinary' button mushrooms and related subjects have been ignored by the author.

Essential read
'Mushroom cultivation' offers a complete overview of all commercially grown varieties with a wealth of practical tips. This makes it is an essential read for all mushroom growers. The book is an excellent textbook for employee training and will be used by the C point consultancy in all its training programmes. The book is not a heavily theoretical manuscript, but concentrates on practical applications. Various case studies bring the book to life and provide valuable information about cultivation methods used by growers from all over the world. The excellent chapter on 'Mushroom markets and marketing' outlines diverse strategies for the mushroom grower to improve profitability.

 Ordering information
Distribution is granted to C Point, www.cpoint.nl, Tel. +31 77 3984555, Fax +31 77 3984160, at EUR 52 excluding VAT, shipping and handling.

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

by Paul Stamets

2000 Third edition of  standard textbook on exotic mushrooms, a comprehensive manual of mushroom cultivation with detailed growing parameters for more than 25 species. 575 pages,  more than 500 photographs, charts and illustrations identify clearly each stage of mushroom cultivation. Advanced cultivation techniques for Agaricus blazei, Pleurotus tuberregium, Sparassis crispa, Trametes versicolor, Tremella fuciformis and Agaricus brunnescens ("Portobello") mushrooms have been added to the Third Edition. This book covers in detail state-of-the-art commercial cultivation techniques, liquid culture inoculation methods, mycological landscaping, growing room and lab designs, troubleshooting and more.

Price: 50 Euro including 6% VAT