If you grow your own mushrooms, you can enjoy the delicate fresh flavors straight to the kitchen, free from any harmful substances you don’t know about. The process is very easy and you can do it all year round.
If you love to eat mushrooms, you are a candidate for someone who grows them from home. In this way, you can enjoy fresh mushrooms all year round – and free of harmful substances. Even with wild grown mushrooms you harvest yourself, you are not completely sure what environment they may have grown in. Heavy metals such as cadmium or mercury are often found in wild grown mushrooms – this is not an issue with your own home grown ones. In Europe, due to the Chernobyl disaster, wild grown mushrooms can be contaminated with the radioactive isotope cesium 137. If you eat small amounts of wild mushrooms that are radiation-contaminated it would be comparatively harmless, but for certain groups such as children, pregnant women and nursing mothers it is prudent to stay away from eating wild mushrooms. So to be on the safe side, it’s well worth the effort to simply grow your own mushrooms.
Mushrooms are not plants in the conventional sense, as they cannot photosynthesize due to the lack of of any chlorophyll .
Instead, they live on dying organic substances and are therefore called saprophytes.
Many groups of fungi also live in symbiosis, a kind of community, with trees. This constant living interaction between fungi and trees occurs between both living species where each one provides resources the other needs but cannot make itself is called mycorrhiza. An example of a mushroom species that has this relationship with trees is the boletus.
Since early human history, mushrooms have been regarded as a delicacy food source and as an important medicine source. The Shiitake (Lentinus edodes), for example, has the so-called ergosterol (a vitamin D), which is often found in meat but rarely in plants. Shiitake is therefore an important source of vitamin D – especially for vegetarians. Other health-promoting properties that shiitake are said to have included the ability to lower cholesterol levels and support the immune system to help prevent illnesses such as the common flu. What all types of mushrooms have in common is the abundance of vitamins, trace elements and essential fatty acids – a real powerhouse of health and vitality.
How To Grow Mushrooms Yourself
You can grow many types of mushrooms at home without any problems. In principle, it is possible to cultivate your own mushrooms on straw, wood or a prefabricated mushroom substrate. But in the beginning there is the mushroom spawn – mushroom spores or the living mushroom culture that is on a carrier material. Mushroom spawn come in different forms. When the grains brood, the mycelium, i.e. the fungal network, has spun its threads around and in grain or millet grains. The organic nutrients in the grains serve as the basis of food for the mycelium. Grain spawn can be mixed very well with substrate and simply packaged in this form in cans or bags. Grain-Spawn is very popular for professional mushroom cultivation and for inoculating various strains.
Fermented, streaky straw meal, chopped straw or sawdust serve as the basis for the substrate brood. This brood is ideal for pecking straw bales or soaked straw pellets. To do this, the mass is simply broken into nut-sized pieces. Conventional beechwood dowels from the hardware store, which, however, are completely permeated by the fungus mycelium, are called stick or dowel brood. The brood with chopsticks is ideal, for example, for spitting trunks or bales of straw.
A spawn of mushrooms can be kept at temperatures between two and twelve degrees Celsius for up to twelve months before they have to be processed. The lower the temperature, the longer the shelf life. Before coming into contact with the fungal brood, you should either wash your hands thoroughly or wear sterile disposable gloves to prevent bacteria or mold spores from sticking to your hands. If the brood is infected with the adhering pests, the entire culture can die off.
After the carrier material has been inoculated, a white fluff can be seen on the surface. This is the sign that the mycelium has already completely grown through the soil or the trunk. In the next stage, small white nodules appear, so-called primordia – mushrooms in an absolute miniature format. However, within a few days the primordia mature into real mushrooms. This process is called fructification (fruit formation): the visible mushrooms that can later be eaten are actually just the fruiting bodies of the fungal network. They carry the spores that the mushrooms use to sow.
Grow mushrooms with coffee grounds
When growing mushrooms, a special substrate based on straw and bark is usually used as a breeding groundor grain used. King oyster mushrooms, lime mushrooms or pioppino can also be brewed on coffee grounds that you have collected yourself. The mushroom spawn is first crumbled into millimeter-sized pieces and mixed with dried coffee powder. Then you put everything in the seed pot, cover it and keep the mushroom substrate moist. After two to four weeks, when the white-gray fungal threads (mycelium) have completely grown through the substrate, the lid is removed. The mushrooms appear in several bursts. After about six harvest waves, the nutrients contained in the coffee grounds are used up. Tip: As soon as the temperatures outside rise above ten degrees Celsius, you can take the mushroom culture out of the pot and sink it into the ground in a shady place in the garden.
Pioppino, a noble mushroom with a velvety cap that is particularly popular in Italy, can be grown on coffee grounds
Ready crops for growing mushrooms indoors
Oyster mushrooms should always be grown as ready-made crops according to the enclosed instructions. A substrate block that is already fully grown is usually delivered. The first harvest is often possible after a few days without any action. Reason: During the transport, the block was exposed to vibrations, which stimulated the fungal growth.
Now it is necessary to store the substrate bale in a humid room or to bring about the right humidity with a foil. The block should always be kept moist. When placed in a bowl, the excess water can be collected. Don’t forget the air holes, because they also promote growth. The optimal temperature is between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius.
Professional mushroom growers also use substrates
If the mushroom culture feels good, the first fruit bodies begin to form at the air holes. Depending on the type of mushroom, the bag is cut down to the substrate. As soon as the mushrooms have reached a size of eight to twelve centimeters, they can be carefully twisted out or cut off with a knife. If possible, without leaving a stump, otherwise putrefactive bacteria can penetrate at this point. After the harvest, there is a rest period of up to 20 days. After four to five harvest phases, the substrate is exhausted and can be disposed of with organic waste or compost.
Mushrooms are supplied as ready-to-use cultures as a mixed substrate. An additional bag contains the covering soil. The substrate is spread out in a seed tray and covered with the supplied soil. The vessel is then covered with a transparent plastic hood. If you do not have a seed tray, you can also line a small wooden box or any other container with foil and place the substrate and the covering soil on it. Now it is important to keep everything moist. The mushroom culture requires temperatures between 12 to 20 degrees Celsius. The wooden boxes are best covered with a film at first. As soon as the primordia show up, the cover must be removed, because now the mushrooms need fresh air in order to thrive.
Picture gallery: Mushroom varieties for home culture
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Growing mushrooms outdoors
There are several cultivation methods for growing mushrooms outdoors, each with their advantages and disadvantages. Which one is the right one depends mainly on the type of mushroom in question.
High-pressure pressed straw bales are particularly suitable for oyster mushrooms and brown caps. The pads are soaked completely in plain tap water for two days in a rain barrel or old bathtub in April or May, after which they are allowed to drain for a day. Then a brood of sticks or grains is brought out: Using a piece of wood, drill holes in the bale of straw at a distance of 20 centimeters and insert the brood. After the bale of straw has been completely peppered, it is covered with a film. It increases the humidity and offers the mycelium optimal growth conditions. After about five to six weeks between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius, the mycelium has completely penetrated the ball. Important for the coming weeks: the straw must always be kept moist, but must not be wet. With good care, a fine web will appear after three weeks. Another three weeks later, the first mushroom harvest takes place. Depending on the weather, up to six kilograms of mushrooms can be harvested with this method – always in cycles of three to four weeks. Then the straw is exhausted as a nourishment for the mycelium and migrates to the Compost .
Instead of a bale of straw, you can also use straw pellets. For this type of mushroom culture, oyster mushrooms, brown cap, king oyster mushrooms, lime mushrooms, pink oyster mushrooms and cot mushrooms are very suitable. Moisten the straw pellets in the bucket with water so that they can swell. Then you have to mix in a grain or substrate brood, fill the mass in plastic bags and tie. Pierce some air holes to allow the culture to breathe. The whole thing is stored in a shady place at around 15 degrees Celsius. Just three weeks later the white mycelium shows up and the plastic film can be removed. The culture needs a bright but not full sun place for further growth.
Oyster mushrooms cultivated with straw
Oyster mushrooms and pink mushrooms can also be grown in pots filled with straw pellets, for example on the terrace or on the balcony. Moisten the straw pellets in a vessel with warm water and let them swell for three to four hours until the pellets fall apart. Then add water again until it becomes a paste. Spread a brood of substrate evenly over the pulp and mix it in. The mass is then poured into the pots, covered with foil and left to stand for about six to ten days so that the mixture can ferment (ferment). The holes in the flower pots allow the water to drain well into the saucers. Make sure that the latter is emptied regularly so that no waterlogging occurs. After four to six weeks, the first of a total of three to four harvest cycles begins.
Grow mushrooms on logs
Mushroom cultivation on wood is particularly productive, because with this cultivation method you can harvest mushrooms for up to seven years after vaccination. Oyster and shiitake mushrooms are great for this method. They remove the necessary nutrients from the rotting wood until the wood is completely exhausted. The wood should have been felled between four weeks and five months prior to vaccination. In contrast to the Shiitake, the oyster mushroom needs ground contact via the wood trunk, so the lower end of the trunk is buried around 20 centimeters deep in a shady place that is as snail-free as possible. Brood from sticks or grains are best suited for inoculation. Before doing this, the approximately one meter long piece of trunk or branch must be well watered in a rain barrel or tub.
There are several methods of inoculating logs. With the head inoculation, you put the stem upright and cut off a disc (about five to ten millimeters thick) with a saw. The resulting cut surface is covered with grain spawn and the previously separated disc is put back on and fixed in the middle with a nail. The interface is then sealed on the side with an adhesive strip. In order to prevent it from loosening even when it is wet, it is also pinned with thumbtacks. For cut inoculation, cut several five centimeter deep notches in the trunk with the tip of the chainsaw at a distance of 15 to 20 centimeters. They are also filled with grain spawn, pressed down briefly and fixed with adhesive tape and thumbtacks as described above.
Borehole inoculation is also a very popular method. To do this, drill holes about three centimeters deep in wooden dowels at a distance of about 20 centimeters in a spiral arrangement around the trunk. Then you press a stick brood into each hole and seal the hole with tape or candle wax. Instead, you can simply wrap the entire trunk in plastic film. In a shady place with up to 25 degrees Celsius, softwood such as poplar or birch is penetrated by the mycelium after about six months. With hardwood, this takes about ten to twelve months. If black or brown mold appears, the vaccination has failed.
A particularly quick and easy method is mushroom culture on plywood panels. Soak two sheets of poplar plywood in water and coat one sheet with grain spawn. Place the second board on top and fix both of them at all four corners with wood screws. Even after a short storage period in the foil bag, the mycelium has completely grown through the plates and there is nothing left of an early harvest.
Other cultivation methods and storage
If you have a small forest plot or a shady wooded edge with humus-rich soil, you can also cultivate your mushrooms directly in the soil. This method is suitable for oyster mushrooms, brown cap, king oyster mushrooms, stick sponges and Tuscany mushrooms. As with the culture in the pot, let the straw pellets swell with warm water. Then dig a 50 by 50 centimeter large and 15 centimeter deep hole at the designated place in the garden and pour half of the swollen mass into it. Spread the brood (substrate, grain or stick brood) evenly on top and pour the other half of the straw pellet pulp over it. Gently squeeze the mixture and cover it with a layer of soil two fingers wide.
Oyster mushrooms, lime mushrooms and shiitake are available as ready-made crops for the field. Growing a ready-made culture outdoors works in a similar way to indoors. Usually the finished culture is delivered in a plastic bag. You simply have to set it up in a shady place in the garden according to the instructions and always keep it moist. After two to four weeks, the first harvest wave follows, followed by a resting phase of up to four weeks. A total of up to five harvest batches are possible.
Store mushrooms properly
Fresh mushrooms can easily be stored in the refrigerator for four to five days. If they get a little dry during this time, no problem: Sprayed with a little lukewarm water they are quickly plump and fresh again. If there is an excess of mushrooms, you have the option of freezing or drying mushrooms . For freezing you can choose between the “whole” or “sliced” variant.