How to Raise Mushrooms at Home
Nothing tastes quite as good as the stuff you grow yourself. Whether it is fruit from your own tree, vegetables from a garden or home-grown mushrooms, the love, care and effort you put into them shows up in the rich, fresh taste. It's not difficult to grow fresh mushrooms. The simplest way is to purchase mushroom spawn---like plant seedlings. They are available at nurseries and garden store, and online. There are two methods of planting mushroom spawn, so make sure you know which one your mushrooms require. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Shallow pan
- Sterilized compost
- Plant heating pad
- Potting soil
- Clean cloth
- Spray bottle
- Sterilized driftwood
- Drill
- Wax
Instructions
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How to Grow Mushrooms in Compost
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1
Fill a shallow pan or basin with sterile compost.
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2
Place the pan onto a plant heating pad, and raise the temperature of the compost to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
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3
Scatter the mushroom spawn on top of the compost--don't bury them, just let them lie on top of the warm compost. Leave the span alone for about three weeks, or until you see that the spawn have rooted, sending slender filaments into the compost.
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4
Lower the temperature of the heating pad to between 55 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
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5
Place 1 to 2 inches of potting soil on top of the rooted spawn. Don't pack it down, just lay it lightly on top of the spawn.
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6
Dampen a clean cloth and lay it on top of the potting soil. Make sure the cloth is large enough to cover the entire pan.
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7
Spray the cloth with a water-filled spray bottle as soon as it dries out. Lift the cloth and check the soil with your finger. Spray the soil with water, too, if it is dry. In three to four weeks, you should see mushrooms sprouting.
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8
Harvest your mushrooms when the caps have fully opened and separated from the stems.
How to Grow Mushrooms on Logs
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9
Drill holes 3 to 5 inches deep into your sterilized wood.
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10
Place the mushroom spawn into the holes.
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Cap the holes with some wax, Use the kind meant for canning, not anything tinted or scented.
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12
Water the log thoroughly and set it in a place with high humidity. Keep the log moist and otherwise undisturbed for a few months to a year, depending on the kind of mushrooms you have planted.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Plant several varieties of mushrooms so that you will always have fresh options for cooking.
Do not let any kind of mushroom spawn dry out, because they need a lot of moisture to thrive.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit mushrooms image by Bogdan Modzelewski from Fotolia.com
