If you’ve been growing your own mushrooms from scratch then you know how troublesome and also how expensive sterilizing and/or pasteurizing substrate for your mushrooms can be.

Luckily for you, there is a method that can be used in growing your own mushrooms that can simplify and speed up the process.  This method is growing mushrooms with hydrogen peroxide

While using hydrogen peroxide has some limitations, it has obvious advantages.  The first being you would not need to sterilize your substrate for hours or days at a time if you instead add a low concentration of hydrogen peroxide to your mix.  This in turn means you do not require expensive pressure cookers and it also means the amount of substrate you can produce is not limited to any size, as would be the case if you used a pressure cooker (you can only make as much as it can hold).

Using hydrogen peroxide you are able to work in a non-sterile, non-laboratory like environment because hydrogen peroxide will help keep the mushroom cultures bacteria and contaminant-free.

The basic idea behind using a low concentration of hydrogen peroxide is that it helps promote healthy mushroom growth, while, at the same time, it keeps other possible fungi and contaminants from growing.  A low concentration of peroxide will not damage or hurt mushrooms.

Eventually the peroxide will be used by the mushrooms, turning it into nothing more than water and oxygen promoting a healthy growing environment.  So what are you waiting for?  Go grow your own mushrooms with the peroxide method.

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors

September 26, 2009
- Oyster mushrooms are expensive gourmet mushrooms. Find out how to grow them in your own home.

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- Worried about purchasing psilocybin? Read this post to find out the do’s and don’ts

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- Although truffles are hard to grow by yourself, this article provides some tips and tricks on growing truffles

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- Great article on growing mushrooms in your own home made or commercial compost.

September 26, 2009

Two more extra news and stories about growing mushrooms:

• A fun day with some fungi – I went on a CUESA-organized farm tour last Sunday to Monterey County, about 2 hours south of San Francisco (Jen Maiser was also on the tour and wrote about it at Bay Area Bites). Our first stop was Far West Fungi in Moss Landing, …
• Netherlands to ban psychedielic mushrooms | Finland for Thought – The Dutch government said Friday that it will ban the sale of hallucinatory mushrooms, rolling back one element of the country’s permissive drug policy after a series of high-profile negative incidents. [...] Psilocybin, the main active …

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors

September 21, 2009
- A good resource on mushroom growing supplies.

September 21, 2009
- Be careful of what you buy on e-bay. Read this persons response to see what happens.

September 21, 2009
- A short intro on the biology and life cycle of mushrooms grown outdoors.

September 21, 2009
- A brief review of the “Mushroom Cultivator book.” This book should be a staple in every mushroom growers library.

September 21, 2009
- National Mushroom month sounds delicious! Find out more about cooking mushrooms.

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors

In order to grow mushrooms from scratch you will need spores.

You can choose which mushroom to grow by picking the particular spore strain.  Mushroom spores can be purchased online or you can make your own spores. A relatively mature mushroom is necessary to create your own spore prints at home.

Take your mushroom and remove the stem.  Thinly slice the mushroom and place the gills downward on a small piece of glass or paper.  Use only the top section of the cap for larger mushrooms.  Place another piece of glass or a heavy object on top of the mushroom print.  You should be able to see your new spore print within 18-24 hours.

You can use these new spore prints to inoculate your substrate and produce edible mushrooms.  Learning how to grow mushrooms from scratch isn’t as hard as is seems.  All you need is the spores, a good substrate, patience, time and effort.

Watch this how to grow mushrooms video for more information on mushroom spores and mushroom prints.

Here’s a great resource for learning how to grow mushrooms for profit:

• How to Grow Mushrooms in the Philippines – Business | Global … – Mushrooms, usually mistaken to belong to the fruit family but is actually a type of vegetable is a delicacy. Growing mushrooms only require a small place and Philippines – Business | Global Filipino Entrepreneur | PinoyBusiness.ORG.

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors

photo credit: jramspott

How long does it take to grow mushrooms can be a rather obscure question.  The answer depends on several factors:  method of inoculation, temperature, materials used for the substrate, the mushroom species and the specific mushroom strain.

For the most popular mushroom varieties,using mushroom grow kits are the way to grow.  The spawn run is determined by the manufacturer, and mushrooms can appear in as little as two weeks.

A typical commercial cycle for compost grown mushroom species takes anywhere from 12 to 15 weeks.  If a lot of spawns are used then mushroom production can be seen as early as 6 weeks.

A spawn run for wood inhabiting mushroom species like shiitakes take from 6 to 18 months; an advantage is that mushrooms can continue to appear for several years afterward.

Once you learn how to grow mushrooms on your own, you’ll never have to ask “how long does it take to grow mushrooms” again.

How to grow mushrooms on a bible? Check this out:

• Book growing mushrooms | Bookshop Blog – Professional book dealers buyers see lots of books in bad condition, but this book covered in mushrooms may be one of worst ever spotted.

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors

photo credit: Carly & Art

If you want to grow your own morel mushrooms one option would be to purchase a morel mushroom grow kit. These kits arrive including the spawns, substrates and everything else needed to grow your own morel mushrooms.   While they’re not cheap if you compared it to spending a day hunting for them in the wild and finding nothing it can be well worth the money.

If you want to grow your own morels without a mushroom grow kit, you can learn how to grow mushrooms with the only online software developed specifically for growing mushrooms.  Use the software to learn how to grow mushrooms and become proficient in growing and harvesting mushrooms!

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors

Learning how to grow mushrooms can be easy, rewarding and not nearly as difficult as you might think.  Common mushrooms such as button , portabella and oyster mushrooms grow easily on compost in trays, bags, boxes or raised beds.
Four Easy Steps:
The basic steps for growing mushrooms:

• Making the compost. Raw materials for the compost are mixed together, moistened and composted.
• Spawning. The compost is put in trays, bags, boxes or raised beds, under cover, and then the spawn is added. Controlling the environmental conditions are important to achieve optimum growth of the spawn.  Over the next several weeks, the spawns will fill the compost with mycelia.
• Casing. Casing involves placing a layer on top of the compost, to bring about environmental conditions which encourage the formation of fruiting bodies (ie: The mushrooms which are eaten).
• Harvest.  After several weeks, the first crop is picked. Further crops occur every week or so (These are called flushes). After a month or two, the flushes decline and the compost should be discarded and the process started again.

If you want to grow a lot of mushrooms, learning how to grow mushrooms and how to protect and harvest them are important in a successful crop.

This post via the: How To Grow Mushrooms blog where you can learn how to grow mushrooms at home, indoors or outdoors