Growkits

When growing mushrooms at home, we're trying to simulate the environment we might find them in the wild. Most edible mushrooms you will have heard of in fact can be categorised into two groups - the grass lovers and the wood lovers.

Oyster Mushrooms, Lions Mane, Shiitake, Shimeji, King Oyster, Freckled Chestnut... All of these are wood lovers, and in nature you'd find them growing from dead and dying trees. 

A mushroom growkit simulates a wood loving mushroom's environment by combining sawdust and nutrients hydrated to the optimum levels for the best growth. We use organic wheat bran in our kits, but you will find kits being sold based on straw, masters mix and all kinds of other ingredients.

The kit should include - a bag of nutrient-enriched sawdust colonised with healthy mycelium - A spray bottle

First, think about where to put your bag. A good place is somewhere in the house relatively humid, like near the kitchen sink. Avoid placing in direct sunlight as this will make the block dry out and results will be poor. As well as humidity mushrooms also like fresh air, so don't put them somewhere stifled like in a cupboard or a small, unventilated room. Basically anywhere we'd find comfortable to be should be fine!

Temperature-wise, this part is easy as room temperature is ideal.

On the bag you received you should see a cross clearly marked on the front face. When you are ready to grow, you will need to cut the plastic along this cross with a sharp, clean knife, exposing the mycelium inside to oxygen and initiating the start of the fruiting process.

Fill the provided bottle with water, and mist around the cut on the block 3 - 4 times a day. When misting, we're trying to make the general area around the block humid rather than trying to soak the exposed part of block with water. Don't overdo it as too much water can invite contaminants.

Within 5 days to a week, you should start to see growth along the site of the cut. Ensure to keep up with the spraying schedule and watch as the mushrooms grow over the next week or so, depending on your strain. If you are unsure get in touch with us via our WhatsApp or on Facebook and we'll be more than happy to advise.

Happy growing!

It really depends on the conditions when grown and the strain, however you should usually expect to get around 700g - 1kg of fresh mushrooms if you're growing Oyster Mushrooms. This can be slightly more or less and be across several flushes. The mushroom gods decide.

You should usually expect 2 or 3 flushes, with each being smaller as the block uses moisture and nutrients.

 The mycelium can often deplete the moisture before the nutrients, and so you may be able to rehydrate the block to get further flushes. Soak for 12 hours in a large pot, weighing the block down below surface level of the water. Keep the block in the plastic.

Mushrooms only need indirect light to grow - they grow towards it rather than convert it to energy like plants.