How do we grow mushrooms?

[Brooke Walker]

Does anyone know how to grow mushrooms? There must be an easy system. I've heard about growing mushrooms in a cardboard box. Or buying a log that already has spores in it.

[Daniel Andrews]

I dont Know anything about growing mushrooms but i know a little about collecting them. Field mushrooms knock the spots off anything you could grow and all of the rubbery supermarket kind general rules for collecting are to never collect from under trees as these are often poisonous and to only collect from out in open ground away from buildings etc last season i worked for a college and the locals picked the mushrooms in the morning while walking their dogs the mushrooms i picked had a white cap but had a pink flesh underneath and tasted delicious but they are best picked fresh as little bugs will quickly get into them i would like to learn more and be able to identify more edible types for this coming autumn.

[Denise]

this is a sidetrack to the question but...has anyone ever eaten the mushrooms that come up in commercial compost after the rain? I've living earth compost and zoodoo on my garden and my garden has sprouted several varieties recently - they look really nice! I imagine they've come from commercial producers so should be safe but I'm such a novice...what do you think?

[Christy Ralphs]

I gave my son a 'grow your own' kit for his fourth birthday and I think one of my most successful presents - he got to spray the bag with water every day and it was such a rewarding experience for him, not the most economical way to go, I think it worked out slightly cheaper than buying store bought oyster mushrooms, but not much. (It was a bag about the size of two shopping bags, with hay stuffed in, with slits cut in sides, and that's what the mushrooms grew out of). It was good to have as a first experience though, and means next time I would probably try setting up the growing medium myself and then just buy the spores. But the company I used (Shadow Gourmet) doesn't appear to exist anymore, if anyone knows of another mail order company I'd be interested...

[Christy Ralphs]

further to above, i found this company which looks like they have been around for a while, they sell spawn and give instructions on how to keep it going :

[Daniel Andrews]

I think you really need to get a book on the subject i would hate to have you eating poisonous death cap mushrooms or something and getting real crook, definitely worth exploring to see which mushrooms are edible as wild mushrooms taste amazing, better than any you could grow.
Denise said:

this is a sidetrack to the question but...has anyone ever eaten the mushrooms that come up in commercial compost after the rain? I've living earth compost and zoodoo on my garden and my garden has sprouted several varieties recently - they look really nice! I imagine they've come from commercial producers so should be safe but I'm such a novice...what do you think?

[Denise]

yes, I agree (although today's crop nearly had me testing them for dinner!). The website listed by Christy sells books on mushrooms...even though I remember field mushrooms tasting the best I'm not sure where I would gather them from in central Auckland so outdoor homegrown might be the next best thing...I think I might try their field or burgundy mushrooms and buy the book as well...maybe we could start an online library? although I guess all this copyright stuff is about exactly that...

Daniel Andrews said:

I think you really need to get a book on the subject i would hate to have you eating poisonous death cap mushrooms or something and getting real crook, definitely worth exploring to see which mushrooms are edible as wild mushrooms taste amazing, better than any you could grow.
Denise said:

this is a sidetrack to the question but...has anyone ever eaten the mushrooms that come up in commercial compost after the rain? I've living earth compost and zoodoo on my garden and my garden has sprouted several varieties recently - they look really nice! I imagine they've come from commercial producers so should be safe but I'm such a novice...what do you think?

[Brooke Walker]

I checked out the Mushroom Gourmet website and they have a few options. I found what I was looking for which is shiitake dowels for inoculating logs. You have to prepare your own logs first which sounds easy. This was a very popular thing to do in New Hampshire and Maine, USA where I lived. I will order this and let you guys know how it goes. Thanks everyone for the advise.

[Neil Lovelock]

Hello from Glasgow! You might want to chweck out the Ardnamushroom website (a small company based in the West of Scotland) They have details of how they make the logs for commercial purposes and how they grow and harvest the mushrooms and also they have a video as well. I have one of the logs which I am going to shock into action this week so I will let you know how I get on.

[Emma Cohen]

Hi, I have been advised that zoodoo is full of antibiotics etc - so that may help in deciding whether to eat anything growing in it??

[HELEN MACKENZIE]

Christy Ralphs said:

I gave my son a 'grow your own' kit for his fourth birthday and I think one of my most successful presents - he got to spray the bag with water every day and it was such a rewarding experience for him, not the most economical way to go, I think it worked out slightly cheaper than buying store bought oyster mushrooms, but not much. (It was a bag about the size of two shopping bags, with hay stuffed in, with slits cut in sides, and that's what the mushrooms grew out of). It was good to have as a first experience though, and means next time I would probably try setting up the growing medium myself and then just buy the spores. But the company I used (Shadow Gourmet) doesn't appear to exist anymore, if anyone knows of another mail order company I'd be interested...

[HELEN MACKENZIE]

Christy Ralphs said:

I gave my son a 'grow your own' kit for his fourth birthday and I think one of my most successful presents - he got to spray the bag with water every day and it was such a rewarding experience for him, not the most economical way to go, I think it worked out slightly cheaper than buying store bought oyster mushrooms, but not much. (It was a bag about the size of two shopping bags, with hay stuffed in, with slits cut in

sides, and that's what the mushrooms grew out of). It was good to have as a first experience though, and means next



time I would probably try setting up the growing medium myself and then just buy the spores. But the company I used (Shadow Gourmet) doesn't appear to exist anymore, if anyone knows of another mail order company I'd be interested...

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~mushspor/ord.htm ORDER FORM ON THIS WEBSITE

[Becky Spencer]

For those of us who live in the states, here's a company that provides indoor and outdoor growing kits: http://www.gmushrooms.com/POTS.HTM