mushroom farming

[countrygrrrl]

Every payday, I allow myself one treat.

So, today was payday --- I ran home and sat down and paid the bills, then sprung for my this month's treat: two indoor mushroom patch kits, one reishi and one oyster mushroom spawn for growing in coffee grounds and shredded paper.



I sprung for indoor kits because I have no idea how to grow mushrooms and my outdoor areas are still a bit too insane and wild for me to even begin thinking of doing mushroom farming out there. Although I hope to be heading myself in just exactly that direction (outdoor mushroom gardens/patches), and am using the indoor kits as learning curves.

Does anyone else here grow their own mushrooms? I'd love to hear what you do and how!

Needless to say, I'm very excited --- I've been wanting to do this for a long time!

[diane]

I really want a full report from you as to how it all works!! We did one of those mushroom farms that the seed catalogs were offering about 15 or 16 years ago and it was fun, but I didn't think we got our money's worth of mushrooms out of it. I would really like to learn how to go my own, as it is something we dearly love.

[countrygrrrl]

Yes, exactly, diane - expense is a problem and I've also wondered if, say, I spent $24 on reishis instead of $24 on a reishi mushroom kit, which would yield more? Which is one reason I'm considering this a treat, and not a necessity.

What I'm hoping, however, is to figure out how to set it up indoors myself, then simply purchase the spawn (and maybe other necessary supplies) to do it. Then, someday --- it's going to be a while, though --- figure out how to set up outside.

My hope is that I only have to purchase the cultivation kits once. Unfortunately, I'm a learn-by-doer (AKA kinetic learner, for those inclined to big names) ( ), so it never does me much good to simply read about something without actually doing it.

It also helps that I think I've found about the most reliable supplier around, or one of them, at least. It's a nice place to browse, if you like mushrooms.

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

[srj]

hiya countrygrrrl sounds like great lil project ,i'm still doing the wild shroom hunt's, morels were weak here this year, but had a bumper of chantrellies & corels & boletes ,,,anyhow here's a link for ya lot's of info. some step by step instructions ,,it's one of the main sites i use if i have shroom that's questonable
http://www.mykoweb.com/
take care

[diane]

Wow, neat links!!

Another kinetic learner here.......I live by the old 4-H motto.....learn by doing. I am able to learn a bit from reading but to retain I am best able to learn by doing. I was not very scientific about it when I did the mushroom farm as I did not have a good scale at the time so I was judging by volume and didn't keep records.

I wild craft myself, but I am afraid to eat most of what I find because I don't trust my identification skills. Still studying on that one!!

[bethlaf]

your best bet is to get the puffball kits!!! let a couple of them go black , and then in a dry low grass area, preferably kind of sandy/rocky, wiht good sun , "pop" the puffballs, it might take till a year or two with good weather for the little mycellium threads to grow, but , twhen they do you will be in gourmet heaven !
pesonally i think puffballs are among the best "wild "mushrooms out there with meadow mushrooms "fairy ring" being a close second !
you can have your slippery jacks and morels, ill take a 20 lb harvest of meadows in one rainy fall afternoon any old day ! or harvest of puffballs all summer long !....

kit wise, if you have horses , get a portabella kit !
then when its spent , or if you feel like "sacrificing" a couple of mushrooms, you can put them out on the horse compost pile, and with luck , they will grow for you course they might take a couple of years....

srj , with the rain weve been having my meadows have been producing bumper crops !

fall, black walnuts and persimmons and paw paws and mushroooms oh my !
good luck with your kits, if you dont get bitten by the mushroom bug you should be fine !
Neth

[countrygrrrl]

We have way too many mushrooms growing outside here for me to feel comfortable growing anything outside yet.

What I'm hoping is to figure it out indoors and establish something permanent in my plant room ( ), then figure out some kind of loose structure of a sort to grow outside.

::lightbulb:: bethlaf, your plan could work, once I get some confidence up. Howeveer, I'd definitely need to contain it somehow --- it's still just way too wild here (which, in fact, is why i like it here!) for me to set much of anything loose. Except tomatoes.

LOVE the link, srj!