How can I get started growing mushrooms?

Question
How can I get started growing mushrooms? Which ones would be best for a beginner?

Details
I started a side business drying culinary herbs. I have had to buy them in, because I don't have much room to grow things myself; and what space I do have, is largely shaded. Mushroom powder came up, as it is getting more popular in the supplement and herbal medicine industries, and I know they like shade. I think they generally grow on rotting wood? But that is about it.

How do I get started? Where do I get them from? How long do they take to grow? And what varieties might be best for a beginner? Or what varieties have you heard of people adding for its health properties? How do I make sure other mushrooms don't take over?

Hey Matt,
Hope you are doing well! The Northspore kit (or similar) is a super easy entry level way to do it (for some $). I have found the Arizona Mushroom Growers Association to have helpful info, and you may have a Maine equivalent. Obsess over sterilization for culinary mushrooms, this is not the same as spore logs in the garden. But the pre-inoculated spawn kits are a great entry point. Expect that different parts of your kitchen perform differently, due to airflow. Maybe do this with a couple bought boxes, before you start autoclaving your own straw? Once you are confident in going from spore block to fruiting bodies, then maybe it is time to work upstream and start inoculating your own medium. If you are into biology, then maybe maintaining the strain is a good fit, otherwise, buying the syringe with the spore culture is easy enough (and cheaper than buying the pre-inoculated medium). If you are already super fermety in your kitchen, maybe find a place with less stray microbial load, but which you will still see regularly. We had fun with mushroom growing a few times, but it is too dry in AZ to make it an easy adjunct to regular kitchen work - it really needs a humidity tent here, but probably not a problem you have!
Happy fungi,
Mark

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the tips. I checked out Northspore and they seem to have a lot of good information and products. The all-in-one back looks pretty easy. I'm assuming I would need to move to something outside to increase the volume that I might eventually want, but this would be a good start.

I have a couple of Mushroom growing boxes a friend gave me for Christmas. They sit on my ironing board and I mist them twice a day when I remember which is most days - having them somewhere that you walk past regularly is a big help with this part of the equation.

However, mushrooms are mostly water. Drying them in a humid climate takes equipment and dried they weigh less than much. Powdering them will make their volume less than much also. I would make *sure* you will be able to sell the results for enough money to be worth the effort.

That said, I hand-crush my dried ones into soups, stews and stir-fries and they add a nice flavour. For home use, the effort is totally worth it.

If you happen to have the time and space to build a rocket powered food dryer, it might also be worth it! (In my dreams...)

Matt, do you have access to hardwood chips (that is non-conifer chips) or affordable straw bales?

Eric

@ Eric
Straw bales are all over the place depending on the time of year, but I could probably get a fair amount of hardwood chips.

@ Jay
I already have a dry room setup for the herbs... I use a dehumidifier... so I figured why not just put more things in there to dry?

Matt McSpadden wrote:I already have a dry room setup for the herbs... I use a dehumidifier... so I figured why not just put more things in there to dry?

If it were me, I'd try it on some cheap grocery store mushrooms and see if it works before I got into things too deeply. Both the Blue Oysters and the Lion's Mane that I've grown have much denser texture than the mushrooms I've dried in the past, but grocery store ones would give you an indication of whether they'd dry with just dehumidification, or if they need a minimum temperature.

How warm does the dehumidifier make the room you're using?

Jay Angler wrote:How warm does the dehumidifier make the room you're using?

Right now it is in an unheated garage, which will change later. But depending on the day I have seen temps between 82F and 113F.

There are several excellent books for beginners interested in growing mushrooms that you might want to check out. I always recommend Mycelium Running or Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets. Also Christopher Hobbs has two excellent books on medicinal mushrooms. Tradd Cotter's Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation is another good book and very up to date. You can probably find some of these books at your local library.

Also, if you have access to forests and public land in your area, you might want to forage for several species of medicinal and gourmet mushrooms. You could consult a local mycological society, attend a mushroom festival, seek out an experienced wildcrafter or find a mushroom guide. You also might want to get a regional guidebook to the mushrooms of your area. Identify which species grow in your area and that are good as dried culinary or medicinal mushrooms. This would be way easier, faster and cheaper than growing a bunch, especially if you are a beginner and have little experience with mushroom growing.  Turkey tail, ling chi/reishi and ancient ling chih/artist's conk are common medicinal mushrooms that are found throughout North America, have proven medicinal benefits, are easy to identify and are easily dried. You could get started right now and not have to buy expensive kits, cut and haul fresh logs, find clean organic straw (which has become incredibly expensive), or set up a growing room. Other mushrooms that might be in your area and can be dried include king bolete/porcini, lion's mane, morels, chaga and maitake/hen-of-woods.

Lastly, if you like youtube, you might want to check out The Mushroom Show by Tony at Freshcap Mushrooms. He's got all kinds of videos on growing mushrooms and here's one he did on medicinal mushrooms called "Functional Mushrooms":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLmNiqjQ1Qo

Good luck with all your mushroom projects!

Just wanted to add to what others have said, once you get your initial kits, you can clone them in agar. Try searching it on youtube

I haven't done it, but I like the looks of this

K Eilander wrote:I haven't done it, but I like the looks of this

really good video. I would wear sterile gloves and spray robbing alcohol on my hands/arms and on every working surfaces to be more «sterile proof» a notch.