Easy Guide To Growing Mushrooms At Home

Growing mushrooms at home are so easy, it's practically no sweat! Although mushrooms are a hot foraging item and are sold widely in stores, you don’t need to go through all that trouble and expense. Grow your own mushrooms at home, even in winter!

Growing Mushrooms On Your Homestead

Looking for winter gardening ideas led me to mushroom growing. Few gardening tasks can be done in the winter and growing mushrooms stand out. First, it’s really easy to grow, considering they’re a healthy treat and a family favorite. Second, the period from late winter to early spring is perfect for mushroom growing. And lastly, I’ve found people making extra cash from it which got me set on it. Learn how to grow mushrooms at home with this helpful infographic from Fix.com.

Source: Fix.com Blog

Make Room For Mushrooms | Growing Fungi At Home

The Mushroom Rundown

• Cap
• Gills (Spores)
• Ring
• Stalk
• Volva
• Mycelium

Mushroom spores exit the gills and land in the soil to form new “monokaryotic” mycelium.

When one “monokaryotic” mycelia connect with another, the two form a new “dikaryotic” mycelium, which can now produce mushrooms.

Four Grow-At-Home Mushroom Varieties

1. Blue Oyster

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Tastes like chicken! Has thick clustered stalks. Love the taste of chicken but prefer not to take on the once live animals? Then the blue oyster mushroom is for you. Plus it's got a nice and unique color to it, you'll love the variance. Check out this mouth-watering oyster mushroom recipe here.

2. Lion's Mane

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Lobster or shrimp flavor with white cascading spines. Either hate it for its straight out of an alien movie look or love it for its soft angel-like hair strands. Either way, its taste will remind you of the sweet and seafood-like taste of scallops, you'll love it even more.

3. Portabella

Beefy bold flavor with large flat caps. You've probably ordered meals at the restaurant with Portabella mushrooms on it. Did you like the meaty taste to this mushroom variety? Good thing they're one of the easy-to-grow mushrooms, especially for beginners.

4. Wine Caps

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Potato and wine flavor with large round red caps. Wine cap mushrooms may be a gardener's favorite as they can be grown outdoors even with other late fall vegetables. They can grow in a vegetable bed with wood chip mulch. And you will love the red wine and potato taste to it.

DIY Mushroom Kit

Step 1: Choose a container: plastic trash bag, a plastic container, or laundry basket. Sterilize with bleach and water.

Step 2: Remove stems from store-bought mushrooms and place caps gill side down on a piece of wax paper. Wait 24 hours for gills to release spores.

Step 3: Assemble mushroom growing medium and add to container, 3 equal parts of peat moss, potting soil, and a sterile compost.

*specific mushroom needs may vary

Step 4: Add mushroom spores you have collected. Cover the top of the growing container with clear plastic wrap. Poke holes in the plastic wrap to allow for additional airflow.

Step 5: Keep soil moist and between 60° and 80° F. Harvest mushrooms in 10-15 days.

Equip yourself with these tips before homesteading!
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— Homesteading (@HomesteadingUSA) September 10, 2017

Benefits Of Mushrooms

• Mushrooms are an immune system booster
• Mushrooms contain more potassium than bananas.
• Mushrooms have a savory umami flavor profile.

Watch this video from 100thMonkeyMushrooms for another comprehensive tutorial on how to grow mushrooms at home using your own substrate, a container, and a mushroom garden kit:

It cannot be denied mushroom is an essential food item. From Chinese to Italian restaurants to our regular homes, mushrooms play starring roles in the menu. Well, it’s no wonder some mushrooms are some of the most expensive culinary items. Transform your ordinary meals into a culinary delight with your own fresh mushrooms. I hope these mushroom growing tips and ideas were helpful to you just as they were to me!

Isn’t it great to be growing your own mushrooms at home? Let us know about your own mushroom growing plans in the comments section below.

Up Next: How to Grow All The Food You Need In Your Backyard 

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Editor’s Note – This post was originally published on December 2016 and has been updated for quality and relevancy.