Maria asks…
Am I taking the right steps to grow mushrooms?
So i recently got interested in growing some mushrooms and have made a kind of starter kit if you will. Its a 10 gallon fishtank with 1 inch of gravel at the bottom for drainage, 2 inches of miracle grow moisture soil, single strip flourescent tube and a full hood to trap the moisture inside. I was thinking about just injecting the spores into the soil but i was wondering if i needed anything. I also heard they need fresh oxygen but idk.
GardenersCardiff answers:
Dump the florescent tube. Mushrooms do not need light, as they do not use photosynthesis to create energy to grow. Miracle grow potting soil is also not the best. What they need is decaying matter. An aged piece of wood, kept moist in a dark place, is best. Under the kitchen sink is ideal.
Start by getting a mushroom kit sent to you on the internet. It will have everything you need. Then you can start expanding by finding your own nurse logs, and collecting spores as you gain experience.
An old log, in a cardboard box, lined with plastic, under the sink, is all you need. Cover with plastic loosely to keep moisture in, but don’t seal it. Mist daily if the humidity seems low.
Richard asks…
Do any of you vegans grow your own food?
I need a survey of how many of you grow your own food. This is for my personal research.
GardenersCardiff answers:
Currently growing beetroot, pumpkins/squashes, tomatoes, maize, olives, goji berries, curry leaves, parsley, mint, rosemary, aloe vera, purslane, strawberries and eggplant. Have grown other things in the past, including beans, kohlrabi, mustard, rocket, potatoes, capsicum and chillies. Tried growing mushrooms, but didn’t succeed.
It would be nice to be able to be self-sufficient, but what we’re growing wouldn’t cover more than a tenth of what we eat. So, we still have to keep buying fresh, frozen and canned produce from the supermarkets and grocers. It also helps having friends, family and colleagues who grow lemons, oranges, grapefruit, kiwifruit, berries, etc. Or who have a surplus from *their* friends, that they want to share.
Nancy asks…
How/where can I buy Mushroom Spores/spawn?
I’m interested in growing my own mushrooms (Button, Shiitake, Oyster, Chicken of the woods, etc)… The only problem is that the mushroom spores are either VERY hard to come by, or they are VERY expensive. I’d like to be able to get a good deal on it… somehow.
GardenersCardiff answers:
You can cut a fragment of a fresh mushroom in sterile conditions, and place it in sterile substrate. That is how mycologists start mushroom spawn, more often than using spores.
Mushroom spawn costs about $20. If you can create a sterile lab setup, you can keep the spawn running indefinitely. You can create a semi- reliable setup with alcohol and a pressure cooker.
Paul Stamet’s book “growing edible and medicinal mushrooms” is the advanced manual for the field; there are probably simpler methods, but I don’t know where to find them.
Button mushrooms, paddy straw mushrooms, and shiitakes can be propagated with natural, low tech methods. Stropharias in wood chips will keep producing as long as you keep adding fresh wood chips. I’ve grown these; I don’t like them much.
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Sandy asks…
Does anyone know where online or in-store I can find button mushroom spores (not the illegal mushrooms)?
I’ve searched all over the internet and all I can find for Button mushroom spores is results from Google and Bing that say “Button mushroom spores” and then when I click on the link, all the website has is spores for the hallucinogenic magic mushrooms. I don’t want to grow that stuff.
Last year and the year before I grew Pink Oyster mushrooms, Blue Oyster mushrooms, and Shiitake mushrooms from mushroom kits. But I don’t want to use a kit because then I can’t grow as much as I want. I’m not trying to start my own business. I don’t want to grow as many Button mushrooms as possible so I can sell them off. I don’t even want to give them away as freebies. I just love the taste and I’ve had success in the past with the kits and I’d like to try Button mushrooms.
A friend suggested to me why I don’t just buy Button mushrooms at the produce section at the grocery store and try to collect spores from the gills underneath the caps that way. I’ve already read about that. It apparently doesn’t work because many of the spores are collected through the air ducts in the warehouses where companies grow mushrooms and also the fact that who knows how old the mushrooms themselves are, plus the fact that they’ve been refrigerated can kill off the spores.
I’ve heard the best way to inoculate your medium (in my case, my friend’s mother in southern Illinois has a sheep farm and collects the dung and sells it as fertilizer for plants, and I bought some of that in bags) is to use a plastic syringe that has a mixture of some kind of liquid (probably distilled water) and the spores themselves and to put the needle into the middle of your medium and inoculate that way. I’ve seen the syringes they sell online for the magic mushrooms, but I don’t know if they do it the same way for gourmet mushrooms.
I’ve already checked Ebay. No one sells spores of any mushroom kind there. Probably because they don’t want people growing their own mushrooms and competing with their business of selling dried mushrooms on Ebay.
Thanks for any info. I really appreciate it =)
GardenersCardiff answers:
Here is a long list
http://www.shroomery.org/8689/Mycology
I grew a whole bunch of oysters a few years ago. Straw works great. The basic instructions are that you pasteurize the straw by dipping it in very hot water to kill the mold spores and then innoculate it with your grain spawn. I used about half a gallon to each basket. I got the baskets at the 99 cent store by the way.
I grew a culture by scrapping off some store bought mushroom onto a potato dextrose agar pitri dish..
Http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy122/bob45ana/threebasketsstraw.jpg
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy122/bob45ana/Largestrawoyster.jpg
Carol asks…
What is Permiculite? (vermiculite?)?
I need to know what Permiculite is!
I think it has something to do with cultivations so ill put it in the gardening section.
I saw it on this video>> http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-grow-your–own-hallucinogenic-mushrooms-1642/
he says it at 6:03 and 8:52
please get back to me (osciaran@hotmail.com)
I need to know what Permiculite is!
I think it has something to do with cultivations so ill put it in the gardening section.
I saw it on this video>> http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/…
he says it at 6:03 and 8:52
please get back to me (osciaran@hotmail.com)
ps id rather if you didnt use Wiki to get answers i want expirence not people looking for points
GardenersCardiff answers:
Mark T has it correct…I mix 1/3 vermiculite 1/3 perlite and 1/3 peat moss to start my seed in…If you ar3e running large areas you can buy this stuff in large bags at Home depot for 12.99 verses paying 3.99 for a small bag that is about 3 gallons… You get at least 20 of these small bags in in one large bag..lowes and ace does not have larger bags…That will be 80.00 buying in small bags verses paying 12.99 for the same amount..
Chris asks…
Your Question Where can you buy White Button (Agaricus Bisporus) Mushroom Spawn in the U.S.?
I am trying to grow my own mushrooms, without a kit, from scratch. It is my impression that I need spawn not spore, but am having a very hard time finding them to purchase. I appreciate any help anyone can give.
GardenersCardiff answers:
Http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGkxxH91RK_5IAanFXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByZWgwN285BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA3NrMQR2dGlkAw–/SIG=119v8jc10/EXP=1247168711/**http%3a//www.fungi.com/
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Paul asks…
Magic mushrooms growing kits?
What I wanna know is are these illegal or not?! Also is it easy to grow your own magic mushrooms? where would you recommend I buy a kit from?
To add, I live in the UK. I’ve seen kits for sale on the net, but this confuses me if they’re supposed to be illegal?!
GardenersCardiff answers:
Psylocibin mushroom spores are legal to purchase in every state except California, Georgia, and Idaho. They can be somewhat tricky to grow, and can become deadly if there is any contamination during growth. I recommend going to the following site: http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtml
James asks…
grow your own mushrooms?
GardenersCardiff answers:
I’m trying to grow oyster mushrooms right now. I’ve not had luck as of yet but I understand that it can require a lot of waiting. I bought a kit that consists of a small log with holes drilled into it. The holes filled with spores packed into what appears to be sawdust. I bought it at my local co-op about four months ago and I’m still waiting for signs of life.
I’ve been told by someone that grows mushrooms as a hobby that I will probably have better luck ordering kits from Fungi Perfecti. Http://www.fungi.com/
Susan asks…
how do you grow your own magic mushrooms?
wondering and thanks
GardenersCardiff answers:
Get a mushroom growing kit and some magic mushrooms. Use the magic mushrooms as the spores and keep moist. Mushrooms don’t need light to grow and will grow in your cupboard.
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