I Grew Gourmet Oyster Mushrooms on a Roll of Toilet Paper
The Bathroom Fungus Farm
I wanted to grow my own mushrooms but was intimidated by sterilizing grain. I read about a bizarrely simple method. I took a new roll of toilet paper, put it in a pot, and poured boiling water over it to pasteurize it. After it cooled, I sprinkled in some oyster mushroom spawn I bought online. I put the whole wet roll in a plastic bag. A few weeks later, it was covered in beautiful, delicious oyster mushrooms. I had successfully grown a gourmet food on one of the strangest materials imaginable.
The “Uncle Ben’s Tek”: The Easiest Way to Grow Mushrooms for Beginners
A Sterile Pouch of Rice is All You Need
The hardest part of growing mushrooms is sterilizing the grain spawn to avoid contamination. I learned a brilliant hack from the online community called the “Uncle Ben’s Tek.” I bought a pouch of pre-cooked, sterile brown rice from the grocery store. I wiped it with alcohol, injected my mushroom spores directly into the bag through the front, and then covered the injection hole with tape. The bag of rice was a perfect, pre-sterilized mini-grow-chamber. It’s the cheapest and easiest entry into the hobby.
How to Build a Still Air Box for $5 to Avoid Contamination
The Clear Tote of Sterility
Contamination from airborne mold spores is the enemy of mushroom cultivation. A sterile “laminar flow hood” costs thousands. I built the next best thing for $5. I bought a large, clear plastic storage tote. I turned it upside down and cut two holes in the side for my arms. That’s it. Before I work, I spray the inside with disinfectant. By placing my materials inside and working through the armholes, I create a box of still air, which dramatically reduces the chance of a stray mold spore landing in my culture.
The One Sign That Tells You Your Mycelium Is Ready to Fruit
The Knots in the Net
I would stare at my tub of white, fuzzy mycelium, wondering when it was time to introduce it to fruiting conditions. An experienced grower told me what to look for: “hyphal knots.” As I looked closer at the mycelium network, I started to see tiny, dense, pinhead-sized knots forming. These are the very beginnings of baby mushrooms, or “primordia.” The moment you see these knots forming all over the surface, you know the mycelium is mature and ready to be put into fruiting conditions.
I Cloned a Grocery Store Mushroom and Grew More at Home
The Cardboard Cloning Method
I wanted to grow a specific type of oyster mushroom I bought at the store, but I couldn’t find the spores online. I decided to clone it. I took a small piece of tissue from the inside of a fresh mushroom stem and placed it on a piece of wet, sterilized cardboard in a Ziploc bag. The mycelium from the mushroom tissue saw the cardboard as a food source and began to grow. Once the cardboard was colonized, I used it to inoculate a larger bag of pasteurized straw, and soon I had a huge crop of the exact same mushrooms.
Stop Buying Spores: How to Make Your Own Spore Syringe
From a Single Print to a Thousand Injections
Buying spore syringes can get expensive. I learned how to make my own supply. I took one mushroom cap from my harvest and laid it on a piece of clean tin foil overnight. The next morning, it had dropped a beautiful, thick “spore print.” I then carefully scraped a small amount of this spore dust into a sterile syringe filled with distilled water. By shaking it vigorously, I created my own spore syringe, turning a single mushroom into enough inoculum to start dozens of new projects.
The “Shotgun Fruiting Chamber” for Perfect Humidity and Airflow
The Perlite-Powered Greenhouse
My mushrooms needed high humidity to grow, but also fresh air. It was a difficult balance. I built a “shotgun fruiting chamber” or SGFC. I took a clear storage tote and drilled dozens of small holes on all six sides. I filled the bottom with a few inches of wet perlite, which acts as a massive humidification engine. I placed my colonized mycelium blocks inside. The holes provide constant fresh air exchange, while the evaporating perlite keeps the humidity at a perfect 95%.
How I Grew Lion’s Mane Mushrooms (And Why You Should Too)
The Brain Food in My Closet
I was intrigued by Lion’s Mane, a strange-looking mushroom that is said to have cognitive benefits. I bought a simple “grow kit” online, which is just a block of sawdust already colonized with mycelium. I cut an “X” in the bag and just misted it with water every day. Within two weeks, a bizarre, white, icicle-like pom-pom began to grow. When I cooked and ate it, it had an incredible texture and flavor, remarkably similar to crab meat. It was one of the most delicious and weirdest things I’ve ever grown.
The Contamination That Looks Like Mycelium (How to Spot Trich)
The Green Monster in Disguise
My tub of mushroom substrate was colonizing with beautiful, white, fluffy growth. I was so excited. A day later, I noticed that some of the white was turning a sickly green color. My heart sank. I had encountered “trichoderma,” the green mold that is the bane of all cultivators. I learned to spot it early. It’s often a brighter, more brilliant white than mushroom mycelium just before it turns green. Spotting it early allowed me to discard the contaminated tub before it could spread its spores all over my house.
I Turned My Coffee Grounds into a Mushroom Farm
From a Waste Product to a Gourmet Harvest
I drink a lot of coffee and felt guilty throwing out the used grounds every day. I learned that pasteurized coffee grounds are a fantastic substrate for growing oyster mushrooms. I started collecting my grounds in a bucket. Once I had enough, I put them in a large filter patch bag and added my mushroom spawn. A few weeks later, that bag of what was once my morning trash was producing beautiful flushes of delicious, edible mushrooms. It’s the ultimate in delicious recycling.