Dirfis Mushroom Cultivation Seminar

Dirfis Mushrooms was established in 2003 by agronomists and specialists in mycology Lefteris Lachouvaris and Thanassis Mastrogiannis, who founded a farm located near Mt Dirfis, close to Pissonas village, 15 km from Halkida, on the island of Euboea.
The facilities include a substrate plant of 15,000m², 20 mushroom growing tunnels of 360m² each, a modern processing facility of 800m², and an olive grove of two acres. As a vertically-integrated mushroom plant, our products range from the substrate needed to grow oyster mushrooms, to the final, packaged products that you see on the supermarket shelf. Having control over the whole process gives us the possibility to produce a wide variety of packed products like “souvlaki mushrooms” or “baby oysters” and giant oysters (filet) and grow exotic mushrooms for both retail and food service customers.
Dirfis Mushrooms also have a well-organized network of collectors and truffle hunters, with the ability and capacity to collect wild edible mushrooms such as Porcini, Morels, Chanterelle, Black Trumpet, and Caesar’s mushrooms of highly commercial and gastronomic importance from different forests of Greece. Our wild mushrooms are hand-picked in a sustainable way within their natural environment under the care of our agronomists. Like all wild mushrooms around the world, Greek wild mushrooms appear and grow after the rain. However, Greek mushrooms are collected under a Greek sun in a low-humidity microclimate, a sun unlike any other: for it is this sun that enables us to collect our mushrooms dry.
Dirfis mushrooms thrive under fir, oak, and beech trees and their neighbors are wild roses and strawberries, thyme, oregano, and a plethora of wild herbs.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

Seminar Schedule

• 10:00 – 10:30

Welcome, introduction to the history of Dirfis, coffee

• 10:30 – 11:15

Introduction to mycology, fungal ecology, and the mushroom life cycle

• 11:15 – 11:30

Break – coffee

• 11:30 – 12:15

Pasteurization, substrate preparation, spawn & mycelium fundamentals

• 12:15 – 12:30

Break – buffet refreshments

• 12:30 – 14:00

Hands-on workshop: preparation of substrates using various organic materials

• 14:00 – 15:15

Lunch at the “Mycena Gastronomy” hall

• 15:15 – 15:30

Closing session and awarding of commemorative Certificates