Easiest way is get a kit from Midwest Grow Kits. They come with everything you need to make it a virtually hands off/free grow
Yup, I agree with @MattyBear on the midwestgrowkits.
You can see my journal on it above posted by @MidwestGuy and it will give you a better detail of what is needed.
Also, these guys are good to watch, very detailed info!
northspore (see growing guides)
A few of us that have participated in this thread have had a lot of contamination problems with Midwest Grow Kits. I wonāt buy from them any more. I use North Spore for substrate. Iāve never had a North Spore product become contaminated.
There are a lot of different techniques used to grow mushrooms. Thereās a lot of good posts in this thread and @Caligurl has a mushroom thread too.
Iād suggest reviewing the threads and a few YT videos (there are a couple of good mushroom channels,) picking a method, and going with it.
Sterility is incredibly important for a successful grow. Be sure that you are using sterile methods.
All that said, BRF (brown rice flower) cakes are an okay method for getting your feet wet in this hobby. Itās not too productive, but itās a good way to learn the basics. You can then move to methods like bulk substrate relatively quickly once you get down the basics.
Welcome to the party.
Agree with everything said above. Butā¦ Just like growing Cannabis there are many paths to success. A bit back in this thread I posted a little bit of a āhow toā for what Iāve been doing with nothing but a spore syringe, some packs of microwave rice from the grocery store and some Canna Coco bricksā¦
This can be more or less complicated based on the path you pick and what kind of yield youāre looking for.
Not trying to steer you in any particular direction, Iād do some reading in here and youāll likely see a few of us on slightly different paths. Choose your path then one or more of us can help out.
As sterile as possible throughout the process will surely be the common theme.
Some things that should be considered minimum requirements in your inventory regardless are IMO:
- 70% iso
- Nitrile gloves
- Facemask / covering (one benefit of COVID I guess, we all probably have at least one)
- Disinfectant Spray
- Lighter (to flame sterilize the needle (careful around that ISO / fumesā¦)
Also think about a good space to inoculate. You can go as āfarā as a still air box, or at least use a room with minimal airflow / circulation.
I have found places in my home where temps are good for colonization, another where temps are good for fruiting, etc without any added expense for heaters, lights, or building out an automated fruiting chamber.
The path I picked for myself turned out WAY simpler than I initially expected.
Besides clean, clean, clean, the other 1/2 of the game is patience. Be prepared to ignore everything for an appropriate period after each āstepā.
This whole process reminds me a lot of homebrewing beer. Steps XX, wait. Steps YY, wait, etcā¦
Not sure if any of that helps or Iām just rambling.
Yes. Having patience is truly a virtue in this hobby. Trying to rush things only results in lowered yield.
So many answers to so few questions for sure but if one thing rings true no matter what you do keep in mind that you can never be too clean/sterile in your new adventure, and any PE strain takes a lot longer than most others so donāt get discouraged by no instant gratification/results, and donāt let contamination deter you from getting to your ultimate goal it happens to everyone sooner or later!! Good luck with your new hobby youāre in a great spot to get answers to any questions you will have
@MidwestGuy beat me to the punch patience is absolutely something youāll need to have going down the rabbit hole!!
BUT, it should also be said that start to harvest is MUCH faster than a cannabis plant. It just feels like it takes forever since you only really interact with the process for a few minutes before a several week waiting period. And sometimes that interaction is nothing more than looking to see progress and watch for contamination.
Mushrooms dot com is very reliable and has never let me down but food for thought if you live where itās cold right now with all the delays in shipping I would absolutely opt for the heater pack they offer so your spores donāt freeze itās cheap and a great piece of mind
Good point. My experience has been:
Micellum growth in a bag or a jar: ~6 to 8 weeks
Colonization of bulk substrate: ~2 weeks
Fruiting: ~10 days
All very good information for sure donāt hesitate to ask thatās how we all learned yeah!!
Hey Capt happy belated birthday!!
From me too. I saw your cake yesterday and failed to say āHappy Cake Day.ā
Happy birthday.
Mushrooms makes the best syringes that Iāve found out there. Never contaminated and they are packed with spores.
Thanks for the tag. To be honest I kinda go by what these folks recommend. I can tell you I have tried the pf tek method and got ok results. Mostly my fault with fruiting conditions. I was able to harvest a few. Keeping the cakes from drying out is my biggest challenge. With that said I did a few more pk tek jars just to have something running. I also have done the ub brown rice and am waiting for some results. In the meantime I ordered a pressure canner, plastic lids, filter patches and injection ports. Iām going to try popcorn as that is what caught my eye a couple months ago when I started. Iām going to have to get more spores soon. Only have albino PE and z strain left. Good luck bro . Lots of good people here to help you out!
Youāll be happy with it. Iāve grown in a lot of mediums and popcorn is my favorite.
Big fan of the popcorn no doubt also like the bird seed. Iām starting to wonder if the difference between the two is really a big deal as far as the nutrition factor once put to substrate. Did you see any difference between one or the other in fruit production?
Yours seems to spread quickly and evenly in the popcorn. I will have to try at some point.