You have a lot of decisions you need to make if you want to grow mushrooms. You must consider the type of mushrooms you want to grow, what substrate you want to use, and even sterilization and pasteurization processes. However, one of your biggest decisions is whether you’ll grow your mushrooms indoors or outdoors. Deciding which is better is a tough decision, as each option has its advantages and disadvantages. Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered if you’re having trouble choosing. Learn more about the pros and cons of growing mushrooms indoors or outdoors below.
Indoor Mushroom Cultivation
Indoor cultivation is perfect for beginners looking to advance their growing skills under controlled conditions. Having complete control over your environment, from lighting to temperature and even sterilization processes, means you can isolate what works and what doesn’t on an experiential level. Additionally, unless your home doesn’t have proper insulation, you won’t have to deal with pests since you aren’t in an outdoor climate.
However, there are a few disadvantages to growing mushrooms indoors. Mushrooms can grow in abundance and repopulate when they’re in the wild. They’ll always do so if they have a cool, damp place to grow. You likely don’t have unlimited real estate in your home, so your yields won’t be nearly as large as if you had a farm. However, unless you’re cultivating professionally, this won’t matter to the average cultivator, as you can only consume so many mushrooms daily anyway.
Outdoor Mushroom Cultivation
Outdoor mushroom cultivation is also incredibly popular, especially among people who regularly sell them. Growing them outdoors doesn’t require as much investment initially, although you’ll need some equipment. Additionally, you can produce mushrooms on a much larger scale using natural sunlight.
That said, mushrooms are incredibly vulnerable to outdoor air conditions and are subject to weather fluctuations that might ruin your crop. The contamination risk skyrockets as pests and other mushroom-eating rodents can find their way into your garden. Finally, you might not be able to grow the kind of mushrooms you want year-round unless you have a greenhouse—which can be expensive to build.
Which Is Best?
There’s no right answer here. Either option is good, but it depends on your needs. For instance, indoor cultivation is a good option if you’re a beginning or experienced cultivator that enjoys having a modicum of control over the cultivation process without any outside interference. Outdoor cultivation allows you to get higher yields which are perfect for someone who likes mushrooms, even to the point of selling them. So, what’s our advice? Many differences between indoor and outdoor cultivation processes exist, so learning which is better depends on your circumstances.
Check out some of our bulk casings here at Midwest Organics if you’re interested in cultivating mushrooms indoors. We have everything you need to get started!