growing mushrooms at home - any experts on here ?

citrus · Mar 20, 2021

looking at doing this and wondered if folks here had done this and got any starter kits/spores to sell ?

yours inspired by ....

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/17/mushrooms-as-houseplant

pargyle · Mar 20, 2021

I was bought one of the mushroom kits for a birthday a few years ago ... it came with a plastic bucket and all the compost, bag of spores etc. I thought it would go on forever (I like mushrooms) - followed tne intructions to the letter and I got two crops off them. Nice mushrooms and very satisfying gtrowing your own .. just - for what the kit must have cost I could probably have had mushrooms every week from Lidl for 6 months and saved money. I also had to grow them in the airing cupboard as they need heat to some extent ... that didn't sit well with 'er indoors. I also think it might have been a bit too warm in there - if you have somewhere warm and dark ... go for it.

You might also consider some of the more exotic mushrooms - Shitake which you can grow on timber blanks and don't need so much warmth. There's loads of stuff from people who seem to do it successfully on the net - I'd love to have another go. But ... one battle at a time in our household - I'm currently trying to get 'er indoors to agree to me having a wormery ... she's about as keen on that idea as she is on my bees (and at least she justifies my bees by the jars of honey she donates to the hairdresser - I'm not sure that a jar of worm pee would have quite the same kudos ...)

Let us know what you decide to do .... I'm interested.

jenkinsbrynmair · Mar 20, 2021

did it years ago (I was 12 or 13 I think) we had a large cellar under the coach house and stable and grew them on an old wooden counter and old tomato boxes from the shop. We were lucky to also have an endless supply of well rotted horse manure.

drdrday · Mar 20, 2021

Used to grow mushrooms in a polystyrene box a few years ago now. Like Pargyle, although I got a couple of good crops it seemed like it was far easier and cheaper to buy them. Did away with the airing cupboard when we put the combi boiler in so not sure where I'd grow them now either.
Also tried mushroom logs in the garden as I liked the idea of growing my own shiitake mushrooms. But, despite my best efforts, following all the instructions, trying different spots in the garden etc. I never succeeded.
So good luck and let us know how you get on.