Growing Elm Oyster Mushrooms - Monkey Mushrooms Garden Kit

Each spring Larry and I enjoy hunting wild mushrooms, we mostly look for Morels but have recently discovered that Oyster mushrooms are also very easy to identify.   We thought it might be fun this year to try growing our own Oyster mushrooms.  I began doing some research on growing mushrooms, inoculating logs with mushroom spores, and many other ways to begin growing mushrooms.  Then I came across this kit, they had a do it yourself YouTube video and several good reviews.   The name of the Company is 100th Monkey Mushroom Farm.  Larry is always looking for a new adventure, so when the mushroom farm showed up in the mail he could hardly wait to get his shrooms growing!

      Keep your box in the refrigerator until your ready to plant. 

The best time to plant is when your outdoor temps are consistently between 50 and 80 degrees.  There are many different options for planting your mushrooms.  You can inoculate logs, plant in a bucket, container or a garden bed.  We decided to plant in a garden bed.

As you can see he always gets ahead of me and my photos but the first step he laid down cardboard and wet it really well.  Then he added a layer of straw.  It says straw, dry grass or wood chips work well.

Remove your spawn from the box and bag.

   

Begin breaking up the spawn into small granules.

It has an interesting fermented smell, not a bad smell.  Now that it is all crumbled up it's time to spread.

Sprinkle the spawn on the first layer of straw.

Spray with water.  Isn't he doing a good job!

Apply another layer of straw, and sprinkle with mushroom spawn again and spray with water.  Top it off with another layer of straw and water again.

Once you have all your mushroom spawn layered into the straw and water well.  Cover with black plastic and water it once a week.  If it's raining uncover and let it get a good rain shower.  Leave the plastic on until you see growth.

When you begin to see this white webby looking stuff you know your close to getting mushrooms.  I'm sure there is a name for this growth...

About four weeks after we began this project we begin to see shroom growth, we were so excited because you know we checked it daily up until now.  Once you start seeing growth remove your plastic and water it 1 to 2 times a day until they are ready to pick.

I pick a handful of mushrooms everyday right now.  I pick them when they are small, our temps are getting pretty hot during the day and if I try and let them get very big they turn to mush fast, so I pick them small.  Cooler climates probably grow bigger mushrooms. 

 If your interested in growing your own mushrooms I recommend the 100th Monkey Mushroom farm.

Pretty tasty too!

Have a great day.

Angie