This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/homesteading by /u/-Maggie-Mae- on 2024-11-24 00:02:59+00:00.
As I promised in comments of this post, here's a look at how I grow mushrooms in my basement. These pictures are a mix of this year's and last's. I was going to wait until this year's were starting to grow, but since it's a good winter project I decided to go ahead.
I'm by no means an expert at this, but I'll try to answer any questions.
I'm mostly growing different varieties of oysters. They're a very forgiving place to start. I've done lions mane in bags from a local supplier, but I don't have the hardwood substrate figured out for myself yet.
Grain Jars: I use a gasket punch to poke 2 holes in the lids. One hole gets a stopper type injection port, the other one gets a 0.3 filter sticker. I soak rye berries 8 hours - overnight. I strain the rye out of the water, fill the jars about 2/3 full, then they get assembled. I cover the lids with tin foil to keep drips in the canner from ruining the filter sticker. Then they go in the pressure canner for 2 hrs at 20 lbs (I use a little more water than I would when canning)
Cultures: I haven't started working with my own cultures yet. I'm not sure if I will. I get my liquid cultures in syringes from Etsy.
Inoculation: Once the jars have completely cooled from sterilization, I remove the foil, wipe everything, including my hands, down with alcohol, and inject through the port. I usually use 2.5-3 ml per jar. For the way I store my syringes, I take the needle off the syringe every time. I make sure to keep the needle with the same syringe for later uses and use an open flame to sterilize the needle before later uses.
Sterilization: Mostly, I just wipe everything (buckets, hands, all tools, etc) with Isopropyl Alcohol just before I need it. I also completely clean everything between each bucket.
Buckets: Food grade buckets from Lowes. I use the 2 gallon ones, with1/2"-ish holes drilled around the outside. I cover them with 3M micropore tape for the first week or so.
Substrate: Fine chopped straw bedding from Tractor Supply. I fill up a winemaking filter bag, put it in an old cooler, weight it down with a couple jars full of hot water, and then fill the cooler with hot water (200°F - not boiling). I let it sit covered for about 2 hours. This is pasteurized, not sterilized. Mushrooms like Lions's Mane and Mitake need a hardwood substrate that must be
Assembly: As soon as the substrate is cool enough to handle, I layer it in my buckets alternately, with fully colonized grain. I alternate it in 3 or 4 times, ending with a layer of substrate about 1.5" from the top of the bucket. Then I pop the lid on and put it in the tent.
Tent: You can buy martha tent kits, but they're simple to piece together. It's just a bookcase style greenhouse. On the top shelf is a 4" in-line duct fan with a variable speed controller. It's set up to suck air from the bottom of the tent and exhaust out the top. Everything is sealed back up around the fan with duct tape. I keep the fan about half speed and the outlet is covered with filter material to trap spores There's just a household humidifier on the floor under the bottom shelf, it's controlled by a Willhi Humidity Controller and it turns itself on and off to keep it the right humidity. I keep it set to kick on below 80%. I added a light overhead on a timer (12 hrs on/ 12 off) because our basement is dark and they seem to pin better if they get some light. My tent is set up directly on the concrete floor in my basement, but if you've got a finished floor you probably want a drip tray that is slightly bigger than your tent.
Growing: The mycelium will completely overtake the substrate before they start to pin. Oysters just about double in size every day. Mushrooms "breathe" oxygen like we do. If they're spindly, they probably need more fresh air so turn the fan up a little bit. Don't give up on a bucket one it's produced once, often it'll produce a second flush of mushrooms. Everything should look white. It may yellow just a little if it;s drying out. If it's green, get it out of your tent before it infects everything
Outside: Once the buckets are spent, the straw and remaining mycelium goes into small wooden beds with wood chips. Each little bed only gets one kind of mushroom. So far, only the lion's mane blocks have produced a flush outside. I also have logs inoculated with plug spawn, but so far no luck with them..
More Resources:
- (book) Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets
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Less instructive but still fun:
