Growing mushrooms at home is a lot easier than you think, and what is especially great is that you really don’t need a ton of space.
Then once they’re grown and harvested, you can try out one of these stuffed mushroom recipes too!
Mushroom growing is very easy if you know exactly what you’re doing, and it’s not difficult to learn the different steps involved in the process.
Just like anything, it takes practice and a dash of patience.
The basics of preparing growth medium and containers have been covered elsewhere, but the actual basics of how to plant and care for mushrooms will be covered in detail in the course of this article.
Just think about growing them, harvesting your mushrooms, slicing, dicing, cooking, frying, dehydrating…
The opportunities and dishes that you can make with mushrooms are really awesome!
Don’t forget that if you grow too many, don’t waste them! There are a few very easy ways that you can store your mushrooms.
And as any gardener knows, the satisfaction you get of growing your own food and actually EATING your own produce (and feeding others), is a.m.a.z.i.n.g!
Getting the mushroom ‘seeds’
Of course, mushrooms are fungi and do not have seeds as tomatoes and pumpkins do.
To be able to grow mushrooms at home, you will most likely buy mushroom spores or spawn when you first learn to grow them, and before you learn to harvest the spores from mushroom caps for yourself.
Now, there are two types of this spawn available.
- It is available in flakes
- It is also available in bricks
How you plant the spores or spawn depends on what sort you buy. I would suggest if you’re thinking of planting mushrooms regularly, that you buy and plant both types, and see which one works better for you. If you buy and plant both types, there are very different planting methods.
Planting the mushroom bricks
The bricks need to be broken into chunks, each about 1 inch/ 3 cm in diameter. These chunks are put into the growing medium, spaced about half a foot from each other. You need to make holes about an inch or two/ 3 – 6 cm deep before you put these chunks in.
Planting the mushroom flakes
Flakes are mixed right into the growth medium.
Take about a quart of these flakes and spread them over 15 square feet/ 1.5 square metres, and continue until you have the growth medium evenly covered. You need to mix these into the growth medium while doing this.
Make sure that the flakes are not visible on the surface of the growth medium.
Whether you use chunks or flakes, the next steps to mushroom growing are the same.
Adding water to your mushrooms
When you’re growing mushrooms at home, you don’t need a lot of space. You can hang bags, grow them in buckets, and some you can even grow on logs. But just like any plant, they still need water.
Use an ordinary spray bottle and spray a mist of water onto the mixture regularly and keep them in the dark.
Soon the mushroom spawn will begin to put out mycelia, which are the fungal version of roots. Once these are out, the mushrooms will really start to grow.
As a matter of fact, in time you will see an intricate web of these pale white mycelia form.
Temperature and maintenance
Slightly increasing the temperature to about sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit at this time will encourage growth. Remember to water daily. In a few weeks, you should be able to see the mushrooms.
You should not water in the period between when the mushrooms appear and the harvest.
Using coffee grounds
To recycle and stop taking up space in the dumps, start collecting your coffee grounds. And if you don’t have coffee grounds yourself, then approach local roasteries and coffee shops and ask them to keep this for you.
But, don’t use coffee grounds on their own when you’re growing your mushrooms at home. They will become too compact prohibiting air to circulate around the mushroom spawn. Add the coffee grounds to straw or hydrated sawdust pellets and give them a really good mix. A tumbling composter can do this job easily for you.
If you can use the coffee grounds within 24 hours of brewing, even better as then it does not need to be sterilized because the brewing with the hot water has done the job. However, after 24 hours you will need to sterilize it.
You can harvest mushrooms when they are either very small or when they mature. Just use a sharp knife to harvest each mature mushroom, and there’ll soon be another mushroom growing in its place!
Try it yourself!
Now it’s your turn. Why don’t you grab a small mushroom growing kit as a starter and try it out at home?
Readymade kits are done for you and this company below guarantees they will grow, otherwise they will send you a replacement at no additional cost. Amazing, right?
The benefits of using Back to The Roots Grow Kit are (and the first reason is my best):
– They are 100% organic and non-GMO. No pesticides, additives, or anything awful in these kits
– Grow them all year round in this box, near a window with indirect light
– Each box will grow up to two crops (each crop is approximately three to four servings)
– They take approximately 10 days to grow, so nice and quick!
– The company gives back as part of the Grow One Give One campaign
– If you aren’t happy, Back to the Roots will replace your kit for free
In addition, these also make fantastic gifts. Think of someone who enjoys gardening, use them as stocking fillers, in classrooms, homeschoolers, or if you are looking for a new hobby.
Then when you’re ready, sign up for a full course with GroCycle (mushroom growth experts) and learn exactly how to do this at home for yourself without using a kit with limited regrowth.
And don’t forget to STORE all of the mushrooms that you cannot eat – don’t waste them – they can be turned into a really amazing and flavorful ingredient! There are many ways that you can stuff mushrooms too!
Give this a try, after all, there isn’t MUSH-ROOM for error!
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