Growing Mushrooms At Home - Part 1

What Is This

I have managed to grow mushrooms in a home with 5 cats and a dog. Mostly reliably. This will document my conglomeration of what I’ve read, what I remember from high school science, and other wild guesses that might help, but probably won’t hurt.

I’m going to include links to actual things I have purchased, so you can more easily replicate what I’ve done. Get what works for you.

After Part 1, the subsequent sections will appear live as I reapply what I’m writing, and including pictures.

As Summarized as I Dare

This whole process takes between 12 and 7 weeks.

• Get spores
• Prepare growth medium
• Prepare jars for medium
• Sterilize medium in jars
• Inoculate jars
• Wait 3 - 6 weeks
• Prepare bulk substrate
• Mix medium into substrate
• Wait 2 - 3 weeks
• Fruit
• Enjoy

What remains is a quick summary of each step. I hope it’s a quick enough to get the gist, as well as enough to know whether it’s something you might give a try.

Get Spores

This documents what I’ve done around early 2022 with Lion’s Mane. These steps are fairly universal, so Lion’s Mane is just a start.

What You Need

• I recommend Premium Spores Lion’s Mane. This company is reliable, responsive to email, and quick.
• Ability to make a Zelle, or several other non-credit-card-based payments
• Somewhat fine motor control to use a syringe
• Ability to place order online (phone may be possible, as is regular USPS)

Time

Approximate time 1 week to place an order and get it.

If you are not ready to start, you can store for months in a cool dark place, or even loner in the refrigerator.

Prepare Growth Medium

There are many choices, but my current choice is hard red wheat berries.

What You Need

• Palouse Brand Hard Red Wheat Berries.
• a pot to hold the wheat berries
• gypsum (optional)
• coffee grounds (optional)
• stove
• pasta strainer
• slightly more than ability-to-boil-water-on-the-stove-level cooking skills

Time

1 day of mostly waiting.

Prepare Jars for Medium

We’ll be using 8 oz mason jars, but larger is fine. You’ll be using a hammer and a nail to punch holes in a lid, and then placing filers over those holes.

What You Need

• Mason jars with lids
• Nail and Hammer
• 8 pieces of cardboard cut into 4 x 4 squares
• Synthetic Filter Paper Stickers
• Ability to use hammer and nail on a stack of cardboard

Time

15 - 20 minutes

Sterilize Jars in Medium

Load each jar to 3/4 full. Cover jar with tin foil. Sterilize in an Insta Pot. A pressure cooker is fine.

What You Need

• Tin foil
• Insta Pot
• Wire rack to keep jars off bottom

Time

7 hours, mostly waiting

• 30 minutes prep
• 60 minutes (check notes) for 8 oz. jars
• 90 minutes (check notes) or 32 oz. jars
• 4 hours to cool slowly

Inoculate jars

This is where things can start to go wrong. I have built a still air box for about $40, use 99% isopropyl alcohol, and I also use a strong uvc light.

You place the spores and sterilized jars in the still air box, spray the inside of the box with 99% alcohol, use a UVC light, then put the spore in the jars.

What you need

• Still Air Box (see below)
• 99% isopropyl alcohol
• Professional Spray Bottle
• UVC Light

Build a Still Air Box

• Large clear plastic storage container
• Still Air Box Port Kit
• Drill
• 4.5” hole saw (4.25” in my case, and a Dremel to extend)
• 8 pieces of 6”x6” cardboard
• Ability to use said drill

Time

• 1 hour to build the still air box (1 time only, you’ll get a lot of use out of this)
• 1 hour to inoculate the jars, 10 minutes preparation, 30 minutes waiting, 20 minutes inoculating

Wait 3 - 6 Weeks

You want to leave the jars in a dark place, at about 78°f, 25.5°c. A cardboard box and a heating mat with a temperature controller makes this reliable.

What You Need

• Seeding Heating Mat
• Cardboard box
• Room/closet with moderate temperature around 72°f, 22°c - 76°f, 24°c
• Towel or small shelf so jars do not touch heating mat

Prepare bulk substrate

There are several mixes, and I recommend having a look at kinoko cultures. For this journey, we’ll be using coconut coir and vermiculite. That is a mix you can pasteurize, making it a bit easier to work with.

What You Need

• Coconut Coir
• Vermiculite
• Scale
• 1 Gallon Bucket
• Rice Spoon Stirring Stick
• Coffee Grounds (Optional)
• Gypsum (optional)
• Oven Thermometer
• Synthetic Filter Paper Stickers
• Foil Pans
• (Optional) Bamboo from your back-yard

Time

About 8 hours, mostly waiting

• 15 minutes mixing
• 3 hours pasteurization
• 4 hours to cool

Mix Medium Into Substrate

Back to the dry air box where you will mix the mycelium-covered grain into the bulk substrate. This is another place where things can go wrong, but you’ll be using some familiar equipment.

What You Need

• Dry Air Box
• 99% Isopropyl Alcohol
• UVC Light

Time

30 Minutes

Wait 2 - 3 weeks

Let this container hang out for 2 - 3 weeks in the same place the grain was sitting.

What You Need

Patience

Time

2 - 3 Weeks

Fruit

You’ll put your turkey container of sprouting mushrooms into a fruiting chamber, which you’ll build. And now the manual stuff really starts.

What You Need

• Fruiting Chamber (another plastic box you can build)
• Heating Mat
• Perlite
• Distilled Water
• Spray Bottle
• (Optional)Inline Duct Fan with Carbon Filter
• 4” duct for the fan

Time

2 - 3 more weeks

Enjoy

You’ll have mushrooms if all has gone well. Pick and eat fresh. Or dry.