How to Grow Mushrooms at Home

Growing Mushrooms At Home from Spores

There are many people who love to eat mushrooms and it is also considered to be healthy food that is rich in proteins, antioxidants and fibre and low in cholesterol. Many think that it is not possible to grow it at home. But, it can be grown at home easily with plenty of care and attention. The tasty fungi have to be grown indoors and not in the garden. The right growing conditions will help in growing mushrooms properly.

How does a mushroom grow?

Mushrooms will grow from the spores. They are very tiny and it is very difficult for you to see an individual mushroom spore through your naked eye. The spores do not have chlorophyll in them that will help in germinating the mushrooms. This is why mushrooms rely on wood chips, sawdust, straw and grain to get the required nourishment to grow. The perfect blend of the spores and these necessary nutrients is the mushroom spawn. The spawns are responsible for mushrooms growing thread like roots known as the mycelium. To boost the growth of the mushrooms, it is better to apply the spawn to a substrate like corncobs, straw and cotton depending on the type of mushroom you are growing.

Mushrooms that can grow at home

If you are very particular about growing mushrooms at home, then you need to first choose the right kind of mushrooms that you can grow at home. Not all mushrooms you find can be grown at home. Some of the popular choices of mushrooms among home growers are oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and white button mushrooms.

The shiitake mushrooms thrive on hardwoods or the sawdust of the hardwoods.

If you are looking to grow oyster mushrooms, then you need to make use of straw as the substrate.

The button mushrooms will grow well on compost manure.

How to grow mushrooms at home?

The growing techniques that you need to follow for the above mentioned varieties of mushrooms are just the same. All you need is to have the suited growing medium for the type of mushrooms you are choosing. They will grow in a cool, damp and dark place in your home and hence it is not suited to grow them outdoors.

• The growing medium can be placed in a pan and the temperature must be about 21 degrees C. You should place the spawn or the mushroom offspring on the growing medium.
• The spawn will have filaments develop and spread over the growing medium within 3 weeks. Now, you need to reduce the temperature in the area to about 13 to 16 degrees C and this will help in mushrooms growing faster.
• Add an inch of potting soil to cover the spawn. The pan and the soil has to be covered with a damp cloth and make sure that the cloth is always damp. If it gets dry, you need to spray some water on it. The soil also has to be sprayed with water if it dries.

After three to four weeks, you will see the tiny mushrooms appear. You can harvest them after the caps are opened fully and they are separated from their stem.