Basic Guide to Mushroom Grow Kits – Don’t Miss!

Want to raise your own mushrooms? Not at all difficult, this. Within two weeks, you can harvest your own fresh mushrooms with just water and a spotless workspace. Let’s take look at mushroom grow kits.

Mushroom grow kits typically come with a bag, jar, or container containing some kind of substrate. The organic material that the fungus grows in and receives its nutrients and water from is known as the substrate. This enables it to grow its networks of white, threadlike mycelium. These will eventually give rise to the fruiting bodies, or our favorite mushrooms.

Preventing infections is the most challenging aspect of working with live fungi. You will succeed if you remember this and abide by a few straightforward guidelines.

Magic Mushroom Grow Kit Instructions

Opening

• To prevent contamination, give your hands and forearms a thorough wash.
• To avoid mushrooms growing from your kit’s side, you can optionally wrap it in a dark material. Do not wrap it around the lid. (e.g. duct tape)
• On the side of the lid, there is a tab that you can break off.
• Remove the lid by carefully raising it.
• Keep the lid clean for later use and rinse it with water.

Growing

2.1 Fill the (provided) plastic bag with the grow kit without the lid. The microperforation at the top of the bag’s opening allows it to be slid under the bottom. Make sure the bag is tightly cinched around the kit so that the majority of the moisture is trapped inside and can only escape through the tiny holes. If you’re having trouble, wrap the kit with a rubber band. Both airing the kit and spraying water are not required. After about a day, you should notice a mist of drops forming on the interior of the bag. This shows that the climate, particularly the humidity, is favorable for plant growth. Check that the kit is tightly contained in the bag and that the temperature is not too low if there is no mist visible.

Points of importance:

– The kit only requires a very small amount of light, and excessively bright light will wear out the kit.

– Suitable temperature: 18 – 30 °C (Ideal temperature: 23 °C)

– Place away from radiators or other heat sources. Don’t place it on the ground. A window or an area that is drafty or dusty should not be its placement.

Heating Mat (optional)

• Place the grow kit in its plastic bag on the heating pad.
• Switch it on.
  It should take between five and ten days for the buds to develop, so turn it off after 48 hours and wait until then.
• In order to allow the moisture in the bag to escape, turn the heating mat back on after that. Keep it on until the kit is ready to be harvested.
• After ten days, if the buds haven’t appeared, remove the mycelium (white matter) from the plastic container, place it back in the container on its small side, and proceed to Step 2 again. Restart the heating mat after 48 hours and wait to turn it back on until the buds have appeared. Till the kit is ready for harvest, leave it on.

2.2 You can set the bag upright once you notice the first buds (see photo below). Hold off on standing the bag upright and only slightly expand it to make more room for the mushrooms to grow if your kit is generally dry. Try not to upright the bag too soon. After about a week, your first magic mushrooms will be ready; do not water.

2.3 If water drops are visible in the bag during this phase (see photo below), leave the bag slightly open so that the moisture can dissipate. A bag full of large drops running down is too much moisture and is not good. Leave the bag alone if there is currently no mist or drops on it at all. Now that they are almost ready, your first magic mushrooms. Make sure to harvest prior to the first spores falling.

Harvest

Mushrooms are ready to be picked when the veil on the edges of the cap begins to tear slightly. Check continuously. When this happens to one or more of them, harvest! If you’re unsure, move forward. Being early is preferable to being late. You’re a little late if you can see a black dusting (spores). Learning and experimenting are required in this situation. You can still eat them if you’re running late, but their effectiveness will start to wane. Additionally, your subsequent flush might not succeed (see step 4) because the spores have already fallen.

3.1 Do not skimp on the hand- and arm-washing.
3.2 Grab a mushroom (or cluster) by the base and gently twist it out with your fingers and thumb. Try not to harm the mycelium.
3.3 Gather every mushroom, even the tiny ones. If some mushrooms formed at the sides
or the bottom of the box you get them out using sterilized tweezers or you can lift the mycelium out of the box.
3.4 Never dig with your hands because you could contaminate the kit for the subsequent flush.

Next Flush

Take the following steps, then proceed by going back to step 2.
4.1 Use cold tap water to fill up your grow kit.
4.2 Ascertain that the mycelium is completely submerged.
4.3 Put the lid back on.
4.4 Keep the kit in the fridge for 12 hours. This is called a “cold shock”. It stimulates
the mycelium to start growing again by simulating the change of seasons.
4.5 Open the lid’s corner after the recommended twelve hours and drain the extra water.
4.6 Don’t stop until the last drop has been drained.
4.7 However, keep the lid this time.
4.8 Continue back to step 2.

Repetition of this procedure is possible. Keep trying, sometimes there are up to six flushes!

Mushroom Grow Kit Tips

• Heat mats provide a constant optimal temperature, which the mushrooms like to have and will increase your growing success;
• For large mushrooms it is best to replace the paper a few times during drying;
• Really large mushrooms can be cut through to dry them faster;
• Though they don’t look like it, mushroom feet still function just as well!
• It’s a good practice to record both the wet and dry weight so you can accurately track how much you’re dispensing.

How to Choose a Mushroom Grow Kit

If you’re just dipping your toes into the world of mushroom cultivation, a ready-to-go grow kit with living mycelium is a good option. You can quickly gather a good harvest using these grow kits. They are also time and effort efficient. Overall, if you are a complete beginner, this is your best option, barring any potential legal ramifications related to 100% mycelium kits. Suppliers generally offer a wide variety of Psilocybe cubensis strains for these types of kits. The amounts of psilocybin and psilocin in each of these strains vary, as do the effects they produce. Even among various harvests of the same strain, this is true.

A grow kit without living mycelium must be grown from spores, as was already mentioned. For those who have the time and want to fully comprehend the mushroom growth cycle, this can be a good option. You receive a higher yield in addition to more education. Additionally, you have more options for what you want to grow because you’re starting from spores. You can choose from over 40 P. cubensis strains or even work with a species other than P. cubensis, like the small but highly potent Panaeolus cyanescens. In general, the P. cubensis For beginners, the Golden Teacher, Cambodian, and B+ strains are strongly advised.

How Easy Are Mushroom Grow Kits to Manage?

Mushroom grow kits are, by far, the most straightforward operation to run in terms of mushroom cultivation. Simple daily tasks are all that are required to maintain optimal growth for grow kits with colonized substrate. In order to maintain humidity levels above 95% after hydrating the substrate, you must spray water against the grow bag’s interior. Additionally, you’ll need to ventilate the grow bag every day to allow for fresh air exchange. There isn’t much else to it until harvest as long as the temperature is in the 70s (F) and the grow kit has some indirect sunlight.

Although contamination is less of an issue now that the mycelium has completely occupied the substrate, it is still a cause for concern. Wearing gloves or washing your hands/arms before handling the grow container are two basic sanitary precautions that should be observed. Using a face mask can help you avoid breathing in the grow kit.

Grow kits that don’t include pre-inoculated substrate require more effort and time to assemble. The substrate must be incubated in the dark for several weeks after being carefully inoculated with spores using a spore syringe. Since the mycelium hasn’t yet established itself in the substrate, microorganisms can easily outcompete it during these steps, which call for extremely hygienic conditions.

How Long Does It Take to Harvest Mushrooms from a Grow Kit?

In as little as two to three weeks, living mycelium grow kits will be ready for harvest. On the other hand, grow kits that need inoculation and incubation can take up to 5–6 weeks before they are ready for harvest.

The inoculation stage requires the least amount of time (a few hours, roughly) in spore cultivation. Depending on the temperature (70–80ºF is best), the next step, incubation, will take about 2–4 weeks to fully colonize the substrate. Once fruiting begins, it may take 7–10 days to see the first tiny mushrooms, aka “pins.” On the other hand, some people have claimed online that pinning can take up to three weeks. Colder weather and inadequate humidity are typically the cause of slower times.

The mushrooms will roughly double in size every day after the pins form. Before the spores start to fall from the gills or when the veils open, they will be ready for harvest. Multiple flushes (harvests) are possible after “cold shocking” the mycelium. For living mycelium grow kits, this might entail putting the grow container in cold water and soaking it there for 12 hours before repeating the steps from step 1. Although it is possible to have up to three flushes overall, the first flush is typically the biggest.

How Much Do Mushroom Grow Kits Cost?

The cost of the straightforward grow kits for living mycelium is typically between $40 and $60, not including shipping. Exotic or more potent species or strains typically have a higher price tag. Some suppliers offer bulk sets with discounts that are less expensive per unit and typically contain three to five kits. An ounce or +/- 10 grams of dried mushrooms will typically be the final yield from these kits.

The cost of grow kits without live mycelium is typically comparable to that of grow kits with live mycelium, at least when looking at the most basic features. Larger kits—those with more substrate jars/spawn and larger grow chambers—typically cost $100 or more and, unsurprisingly, produce higher yields. Many accessory items that can be helpful but are not strictly necessary are also included in some of the more expensive grow kit packages. Indicators like hygrometers, digital thermometers, aquarium heaters, air pumps, grow lights, and more may fall under this category.

Is a Mushroom Grow Kit Right for You?

Due to their simplicity and ease of use, mushroom grow kits are a great idea. The fact that there are fewer steps and shorter wait times until harvest appeals to many beginning growers who don’t want to manage their own grow from scratch.

The drawbacks of grow kit use should be taken into account, though. In the long run, according to many mushroom growers, starting from scratch will be less expensive than using grow kits because buying materials in bulk is frequently more affordable. If you only need a small quantity for a special occasion, this might not be a problem. However, grow kit control over the growth cycle as a whole is limited. You are depending on the grow kit seller to use sterile procedures. You also have fewer options for strains and species to grow with living mycelium grow kits. You must discard this kind of grow kit if contamination does occur. In contrast, a PF Tek allows you to solve issues more quickly without losing the entire grow.

The effectiveness and practicality of mushroom grow kits are unmatched, even though growing mushrooms from spores all the way to a harvest can be very rewarding.