Growing mushrooms

Does anyone here have a source they like for logs or spores?

Well back in the day there were ad’s for spores in the back of High Times. Oh wait…

Ha! Those grow naturally on the manure pile by the barn.

We have a pandemic project underway using a king oyster spawn block from Everything Mushrooms. We inoculated our own logs cut from liquidambar and made a straw bed. It’s too soon to say whether they will take outside - its pretty warm & dry here. But the spores were definitely live - the extra are fruiting nicely in the wine cellar.

Are you looking for indoor or outdoor? I have used both of these indoors.

https://www.trueleafmarket.com/products/yellow-oyster-mushroom-grow-kit-pro-gro?variant=40543945096

I think this list has some outdoor options too.

Linda, do you have a favorite indoor ?

I’ve grown Lion’s Mane indoors- super easy.
https://farwestfungi.com/collections/farm-cultivation-products/products/lions-mane-take-mini-farm

Both kits I used worked equally well. They were all oyster mushrooms.

I love Back to the Roots! We gifted many of their kits over the holidays.

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I buy indoor kits from the mushroom guy at the local farmers market. $20 kit yields about 2.5 to 3 pounds of mushrooms.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Fantastic article.
There are a couple of different mushroom grow kit sources mentioned. If you can’t open the link, I can email you a copy of the article.

I saw that this AM and immediately ordered some grow kits from Far West Fungi. They are a fun project for the kids.

Same! I ordered a Lion’s Mane kit and Shiitake kit from North Spore. It’s been awhile since I’ve grown them.

Is there a discernable difference in home grown versus what you get in the store? Or between home grown and wild foraged? I am not familiar with how much soil or growing medium affects mushroom flavor.

Its not so much about flavor as it is about species and freshness. What you can buy fresh at a store, through foraging, and grow at home are typically different types of mushroom.

This link has lots of options to grow your own…Where Did Our Ready-To-Grow Mushroom Kits Go? — Fungi Perfecti

I tried several years ago with the Fungi Perfectii plugs in stumps with no success. It’s not like planting seeds and forgetting them until the plants grow. You need the exact right wood species in the right condition, proper moisture (checked and adjusted regularly) and temperatures.

RT

I bought a SubPod composter last year. I didn’t want my worms to die over the winter so I put a bunch of them in a large Rubbermaid container in my garage where they have been very happy for many months now. The container is getting very full so I took a bunch of the material and put it into a large plant pot, covered it with some potting soil and put it in my basement. I figure there are a bunch of worms in there so I’ve been keeping the soil moist the last few weeks. I just looked and there are many small mushrooms growing. I have no idea what kind. Once they get bigger I’ll post a picture.