Mushroom Growing

The path

1. 1
   Level 1Free

   Oysters at Home

   Harvests from a kit, coffee grounds and straw

   15 Steps, about 25 minutes each. Anyone curious about growing food indoors. No garden, sunlight or experience needed. Expect about $65 for a kit, grain spawn and supplies.

   1. Chapter 1: First flush. A grow kit fruited, mushrooms harvested and cooked, and a spore print made.
   2. Chapter 2: Coffee grounds. Used coffee grounds turned into a mushroom grow, colonized, and fruiting.
   3. Chapter 3: Straw bucket. Straw pasteurized, a bucket packed and colonized, and a mushroom dinner from your own harvest.

   1. 1
      Open your grow kit

      Your kit cut open, set in a good spot, and misted for the first time.

      A mushroom grow kit is a block of material, usually sawdust or straw, already fully colonized by mushroom mycelium. Mycelium is the living, root-like network of the fungus. The mushrooms you eat are its fruit, and they appear when conditions tell the mycelium it's time to reproduce.

      Oyster mushrooms are the easiest to grow at home. They grow fast and fruit reliably. Three things trigger fruiting: fresh air, high humidity, and a little light.

      The detail beginners miss is placement. The kit needs indirect light, like a kitchen counter away from a window, not direct sun. Direct sun dries it out. A spot near a heater or air vent does the same.

      Here's an example. Block checked: white and firm all over. Hands washed. A 2-inch X cut in the bag where the instructions say. Set on a counter in bright, indirect light, away from the radiator. Misted lightly around the cut. Phone reminder set for misting.

      Right is a kit in a bright spot with moist, white mycelium at the cut. Only eat mushrooms you grew from a kit or spawn you bought, and never forage wild mushrooms in this Era; many deadly species look like edible ones.

      North Spore
      Show your group
   2. 2
      Build a humidity tent

      A simple humidity tent over your kit, and a daily misting routine set up.

      Zombie Mycology
   3. 3
      Watch for pins

      Tiny mushroom pins spotted, and misting adjusted as they grow.

      Zombie Mycology

   See all 15 Steps

   1. 4
      Harvest your first flush

      Your first cluster of oyster mushrooms harvested at the right moment.

      GroCycle
   2. 5
      Cook them and take a spore print

      Your harvest cooked, and a spore print taken from one cap.

      GroCycle
      Show your group
   3. 6
      Gather for a coffee grow

      Fresh used coffee grounds collected, and a clean container and workspace ready.

      GroCycle
   4. 7
      Mix and pack

      Grain spawn mixed into the grounds, packed into your container and set somewhere dark and warm.

      Grow with soilLow Impact
   5. 8
      Check colonization

      Your coffee container checked for white mycelium and any signs of contamination.

      GroCycle
   6. 9
      Soak the kit for a second flush

      Your first kit rested, soaked and back in its fruiting spot.

      North Spore
   7. 10
      Fruit your coffee grow

      Your fully colonized coffee container opened up to fruit, under a humidity tent.

      GrowVeg
      Show your group
   8. 11
      Pasteurize straw

      Chopped straw pasteurized in hot water, drained and cooled.

      Mushroom Appreciation
   9. 12
      Pack the bucket

      A bucket drilled, layered with straw and spawn, and set aside to colonize.

      mushroom shedEpic Gardening
   10. 13
       Harvest flush two

       A second flush harvested from your kit or coffee grow, and cooked a new way.

       The Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner
   11. 14
       Check the bucket

       Your bucket checked for colonization and contamination, and readied to fruit.

       North Spore
   12. 15
       Bucket harvest and dinner

       Mushrooms harvested from your bucket and a mushroom dinner made to share.

       Chelsea Green Publishing
       Show your group
2. Level 2Unlocks after Level 1

   Grain and Jars

   Your own grain spawn and lion's mane

3. Level 3Unlocks after Level 2

   Outdoor Beds

   Wine caps in the garden and shiitake logs

Where it ends: mushrooms from your own grows

Free lessons in Oysters at Home come from North Spore, Zombie Mycology, GroCycle, Grow with soil, Low Impact, GrowVeg, Mushroom Appreciation, mushroom shed, Epic Gardening, The Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Planner, Chelsea Green Publishing. We link to their work and never copy it.