Mushroom Kits?

[DWH Farm]

Thinking about buying one, we love mushrooms and I would love to be able to grow our own.. I have found several sources online for buying spores and also complete "kits". Has anyone had experience with these? Any advice is appreciated.. Thanks

[rio002]

My FIL bought us two kits one year from Gurneys, they are very easy to care for, the ones we had were cardboard boxes with a heavy duty liner, had to keep the soil damp which for here, was about once a week watering, keep in the dark then harvest when ready. We were really pleased with ours and just had them in the laundry room. Good luck!

[chickenista]

Delicious!
The fresh mushroom from your closet is nothing like the mushroom from the store.
Easy and wonderful!

[TheMartianChick]

I did this as a winter gardening project. I grew the moonlight mushrooms and they got to be the size of portabellos! I also rinsed each mushroom in water before using them and poured the water back into the kit. I believe that it may have kept the kit going a little longer than it would have if I had not done that by introducing new spores into the soil.

[EarthSheltered]

Thank you for posting this, I was just thinking about mushroom kits~

[wolffeathers]

Thank you so much for starting this thread. I had been looking at them as well, but wasn't sure how they would turn out. Good to hear everyone had a good experience with them.

[DWH Farm]

Thanks all, I found kits on both Amazon and Ebay, so my next question is, are there any specific kits or varieties that you would specifically recommend? I came very close to buying a ----aake (sp?) kit off ebay, but it is shipping from Oregon and I am in Arkansas.. We are expecting snow next week, will shipping from that distance and in cold hurt them? I am assuming that they are dormant and it will not but thought I would ask.. I am really excited to get one!

haha - i noticed that it would not let me type the name of the mushroom..rhymes with "HIT" ake..

[Dwayne Barry]

Originally Posted by Nivensfamily

Thinking about buying one, we love mushrooms and I would love to be able to grow our own.. I have found several sources online for buying spores and also complete "kits". Has anyone had experience with these? Any advice is appreciated.. Thanks

I've been thinking about doing the same. I just finished one of Paul Stamets' books, Mycelium Running.

Here's his company.

http://www.fungi.com/index.html

My impression is that for a many species once you get them going you can sustain production for many years.

[thistle]

I'd definately recommend getting the complete kit (ones that can be done indoors) . I ordered 500 spores and you have to choose the right type of wood log, season it the right amount of time, drill holes in the wood and insert them all. Then wait a year. It worked out well in the end, but it was labor intensive. There are much simpler ones.

[KIT.S]

Too bad you're so far away!
We have commercial mushroom growers here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and they regularly give away their used mushroom compost. Problem with that is that it's not finished growing. I picked up a trailer load of used compost a few months ago to half-fill a 30x5 foot raised flower bed, and had some left over, so piled them outside to wait until I got around to putting them under the berries. They are still producing more than I can ever eat. I'm not comfortable selling the mushrooms - they were, after all, free from someone who does that for his livelihood - but we've had 50 pounds or more ripe all at once. And the periodic freezing weather hasn't stopped them.
Couple years ago, we had 2 bags in the house and after about 12 months, they got tired and quit producing. Those were shiitake. These that we have now are a golden shelf mushroom.
You can keep them going longer if after a few months, you split the bag in half and add new sawdust. Soak in warm water, and wait. They'll produce again when they have more feed.
Oh, and they dry well, and can well, so if they produce too much, you can keep them for later. We just have everything we can use.
Kit

[ronbre]

most places say you get about 3 pounds of mushrooms from their kits and they cost like $30 plus..which is $10 a pound ..a lot..but Fungii Perfecti sells all the components and kits..a better deal, and tells you how to grow them on after the kit is finished in your own yard..catalogs are free

[jd4020]

I've gotten the portabello and button box kits and was very pleased at how they poduced. Perfect for my cooking needs. Kept them in the basement.
jd

[DWH Farm]

I ordered this one off of ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=130469523577
It was "buy it now" for 14.95, 12.00 shipping. They are from Oregon..

Kit, these are from Oregon also..Do you ever freeze yours? I know someone who does that with morels.. I love love love mushrooms but 50lbs is a bit much!

[tallpines]

I never knew their were 2 ways to spell S*h*i*ttake mushrooms but apparrently both S-hittake and shiitake are acceptable?

Are they the same 'shroom?

[DWH Farm]

I think it is shiitake and i mispelled it..

[salmonslayer91]

i looked into getting my self a kit but at the prices i found store boughts are much more appeling as are wild

[rio002]

Shiitake is correct and very good

[CarolynRenee]

DH was just talking about mushroom kits again & I think that once he looks them up online & is reminded how much they are, he'll "forget" about it again. Not that I'm knocking the fact that it's nice to have your OWN mushrooms & not have to go to the store, but we still have to consider costs.

I'd really like to get some knowledgeable LOCAL person who can positively ID the wild mushrooms around here as there are times we are overrun with them.

Thanks for all the opinions & links!

[How Do I]

If you want to learn to truly grow your own (no more kits to buy), this is the only book you'll most likely ever need: Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets. There's also plenty of youtube videos to help you along.

[lisa's garden]

My husband gave me a portabella mushroom log for Christmas last year. I think we got a total of 2 mushrooms off the log. I put it outside this fall and am hoping that the cold weather and moisture will bring it into fruiting in the spring.