Cultivate your own mushrooms from the comfort of your home. With the right equipment and a little guidance, the process is much easier than you’d think—and Midwest Grow Kits is here to help. Use these top five tips for growing mushrooms in a bag to get started on an exciting new hobby.
Use a Grow Bag
While fungi don’t need the same amount of oxygen that plants do, they are still organisms that need to “breathe.”
A mushroom growing bag from Midwest Grow Kits has a filter sleeve that allows your fruiting mushrooms to get fresh air while remaining protected from other spores and contaminants. Each bag has plenty of space for growing, and an injection port for easy inoculation.
Secure Your Area
Before growing any mushrooms, set aside an area of your home with little foot traffic. Keep pets and humans away from your growing area, and maintain proper ventilation and sterile surfaces.
When working with your mushroom growing supplies, wear sterile gloves and wipe down your tools with rubbing alcohol (or use an autoclave).
Prepare the Bag
Your grow bag will have plenty of room for air above the grain spawn; that’s a good thing. Break up the grain spawn to make sure you get some space between the grains and the bag. This will help you avoid piercing the bag during the inoculation process.
Get your spore syringe ready and locate the injection port on your grow bag. Carefully insert the syringe without piercing the plastic. Gently disperse that spore solution across the top of the spawn, about three to five CCs per bag.
Incubate Indoors
To ensure quality mushrooms, you’ll want to control their environment as much as possible. Keep your growing bags indoors at room temperature; mushrooms like to grow between 68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
A humidifier (or a daily mist from a spray bottle) will ensure nice, damp conditions for fruiting. Cut a small hole, about two inches in diameter, into the side of your bag so that moisture can seep into the substrate.
Trigger a Harvest
Mushrooms cannot photosynthesize light the way plants do, but they do take light as a signal that it’s time to grow in earnest. After the incubation phase, introduce your grow bag to some indirect light to encourage the mushrooms to grow.
After a few days, you’ll see tiny, recognizable mushrooms growing. A couple of weeks later, after they’ve doubled in size, it’s time to harvest! Use a knife to cut the mushrooms at the stem.
If this is your first time growing mushrooms, you’ll be proud to see the “fruits” of your first harvest. Keep the cycle going with these top five tips for growing mushrooms in a bag, and you’ll have fresh mushrooms all year long!