Have you ever wanted to learn how to grow mushrooms?  The work of growing your own mushrooms may seem like a lot of pressure initially, but it is a good experience and is now easier than ever to start because of the availability of books and mushroom growing kits.  In order to grow mushrooms, you will need to know the basic process, conditions for growing, environmental conditions and several other factors.  The general process of how mushrooms grow is as follows:

•    To start, acquire spores or spawns of the mushroom you want to grow.  spores are also known as agar cultures or test tube cultures.  You can either obtain it yourself or purchase it from a supplier.

•    Step Two… put together sawdust or sterilized grain and introduce the tissue culture into it so that mushroom spawns can form.  Spawns can also be purchased from suppliers.

•    Step Three – Relative to what strain of mushrooms you are wanting to grow will decide what materials you will need.  Some types of mushrooms grow better in soil while others prefer woody materials like wood chips, straw or even a log or tree stump.

•    Once you have your material or substrate prepared, the next step is to use the spawns to initiate the growth of mycelium, the fibrous network of mushrooms.  For mushrooms that grow in soil, use compost to nourish the mushrooms because they need to gather nutrients from a source because they can’t make their own food as they have no chlorophyll

•    When mycelium is clearly evident, you will need to layer the compost with damp soil and/or peat moss, something that does not contain much nutrients.  We do this to encourage the growth of the mushrooms or fruiting bodies.  The top layer retains moisture while also preventing the growth of other bacteria and/or unwanted microorganisms, therefore the reason why you want to use something that has little to no nutrients to avoid the growth of other organisms.

•    Lastly, all you have to do is wait until the first flush appears then you can harvest and enjoy your edible mushrooms.  Usually the first flush occurs within a few weeks and every additional flush occurs within 10 or so days.  For the time being, you should be aware of keeping the compost patch moist and within the optimal growing temperature.  You can get about 3-5 flushes before you will need to purchase a new grow kit.  This applies mainly to soil based mushrooms.  A mushroom log can last much longer.

The strain of mushrooms you choose to grow will decide which steps you must go through and which you can skip.  For beginners it would be best to start out with a mushroom grow kit to avoid some of the earlier steps which require more effort and work.  You now have some basic understanding of the process of how mushrooms grow.  It can be a rewarding experience if you take the time to learn how to grow your own mushrooms.  Here’s to a successful first harvest!

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