To grow mushrooms, follow these steps:
- Choose your mushroom type, such as oyster, button, or shiitake mushrooms, which are easier for beginners.
- Select a growing medium or substrate, like compost, manure, straw, woodchips, or hardwood logs. Mushroom spawn (mycelium) is needed to inoculate the substrate.
- Grow mushrooms in a controlled environment out of direct sunlight, with temperatures ideally above 15°C and good moisture retention. Indoors can be a shed, garage, cellar, or basement; outdoors can be in a shaded garden bed or logs.
- Prepare the substrate by moistening it (e.g., soaking straw, or preparing manure piles). Mix the mushroom spawn evenly into the substrate.
- Keep the substrate moist but not wet, and maintain humidity using misting or covering methods.
- For logs, drill holes, insert dowels impregnated with spawn, seal with wax, and keep logs moist and shaded.
- After weeks to months, white mycelium will colonize the substrate. Once established, small mushrooms will start to emerge.
- Harvest mushrooms promptly as they mature—different varieties may require cutting or twisting to harvest.
- Store harvested mushrooms in a paper bag in the fridge to keep them fresh.
This process can take several weeks to months depending on mushroom type and environment. Growing kits with ready spawn and substrate are also available for beginners for ease. Mushrooms need cool dark, humid conditions, and regular watering or misting to thrive.
If more detail on certain types of mushrooms or growing methods is needed, that can be explored next.
