How to Grow Mushrooms - Ultimate Guide [2024]

Have you ever thought about cultivating mushrooms? This is a comprehensive guide for those who are new to mushroom cultivation. Growing mushrooms has become a popular hobby as more and more individuals have taken up the activity in recent years. It's not only an enjoyable and fulfilling hobby, but it has the potential to be a successful commercial endeavour.

We'll cover everything you need to know to get started in this comprehensive guide on small-scale mushroom farming, from what small-scale farming is to the environmental requirements that mushrooms must meet. This is all the information you need to cultivate mushrooms in the comfort of your own home. Let's get started!

What Is Small Scale Mushroom Farming?

The process of growing mushrooms on a small scale, usually for local sales or personal use, is known as small-scale mushroom farming. Because more people are interested in eating locally grown and sustainable food, this kind of farming is becoming more and more common. growth mushrooms is a distinct type of agriculture that needs certain growth environments and methods.

Equipment Needed For Small-Scale Mushroom Farming

Depending on the size and scope of your business, the equipment you need to grow mushrooms might vary, but there are a few critical pieces of gear that are necessary for any small-scale mushroom farmer.

To begin with, you will need to select a substrate on which to grow your mushrooms. Additionally, you'll need a method for sterilizing your substrate—a steam sterilizer or pressure cooker works well. You must inoculate your substrate with mushroom spores or spawn once it has been sterilized.

The next essential item for mushroom cultivation is a growth container, which is used to store the substrate. Anything may be used for this, such as wooden boxes, plastic trays, or bags. The substrate must be able to be held in the container and provide enough drainage and ventilation. Additionally, you'll need a grow room, which might be an outbuilding or a tiny enclosed place in your house. The grow room has to be well-lit, ventilated, and equipped with a humidity and temperature control system.

Using a thermometer and hygrometer is the best method to keep an eye on the temperature and humidity levels within your grow room. Your mushrooms may not grow well if the temperature or humidity levels are too high or too low.

Lastly, you'll need to use a sharp knife or scissors to harvest your mushrooms. Additionally, you'll need a place to keep your picked mushrooms. Containers or plastic bags work well for this.

In which conditions can mushrooms grow?

The preferred conditions of a mushroom are cool, dark, and wet. They must be continuously misted and kept at normal temperature, or even slightly colder. Place mushrooms in an area that you frequently visit, like the kitchen, because they need to be sprayed twice a day. As long as you remember to spray them, basements, bathrooms, and garages all provide suitable humid conditions for them to grow. 

Let’s start with the easiest options first.

How To Grow Mushrooms: An Overview of Methods

1) Growing Mushrooms From A Grow Kit

What is a mushroom grow kit?

A mushroom growing kit is a pre-colonized "fruiting block" that hasn't been placed in an environment that would encourage mushroom ripening yet. Many different kinds of mushrooms can be grown using grow kits, while some species are more suited for kits than others. Pleurotus ostreatus, or the common "oyster mushroom," is one of the most prevalent kinds of mushrooms that you may discover in a grow kit.

What comes with a grow kit for mushrooms?

A mushroom grow kit has everything you need to produce exceptional mushrooms. Furthermore, the mushroom grow kits make things very simple. Growing mushrooms has never been easier.

How can I cultivate mushrooms using a grow kit?

Keep the equipment out of the direct sun as told above.

Step 1: Let the package open. Shut off the compost and give it a week if it becomes brown. Proceed to the following step after the compost is frosted white.

Step 2: Spread the casing evenly over the compost, leaving it fluffy and loose, after opening the plastic. Keep the equipment accessible.

Step 3: Twice a week, spray with water. The formation of mushrooms will start after two to three weeks. Twist each mushroom out, being sure to remove any leftover stump. Insert surrounding peat moss to fill up any holes.

2) Mushrooms Grown on Wood Chips

Woodchip mushrooms can be grown in a field or garden beneath trees, or they can be grown inside or outdoors in pots. You may want to hydrate your mushrooms, keep the chip away from fungal species that may compete with it, or sterilize the chip. When cultivating inside, you can keep an eye on and manage the humidity and temperature to assist you in getting the maximum production. 

Growing Mushrooms on Woodchip

This is how the procedure appears:

• Create a bed that is about 20 cm (8 in) deep.
• Place a layer of cardboard underneath.
• Laying new woodchips and mushroom spawn in alternate layers

Putting mulch or straw over the top layer to keep it from drying out. Once completely colonized, which typically takes two to six months, it will produce mushrooms following summer or fall rains or intense irrigation. Even though mushrooms develop by feeding on the substrate, the material that is left over after harvesting still has value. We have essentially started the composting process of the woodchip by cultivating mushrooms on it. The partially digested woodchip can be left in situ as mulch or woodpile in an extended outdoor system as it will already be there. Additives such as woodchip heaps and your compost pile can be made using materials from an indoor system.

3) Growing Mushrooms On Logs

You may cultivate a variety of mushrooms at home, including button, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms. While some mushrooms arrive as dowels that need to be drilled into logs, others may be grown in a substrate mixture.

The majority of mushrooms will take one to two years to provide their first harvest once the logs have been infected. However, once the mushrooms start to develop, you should be able to harvest them from the same log for another six or seven years.

Why cultivate mushrooms on logs?

It's an inexpensive way to raise nutrient-dense, nutritious, and fresh mushrooms. Additionally, you may add value to wood species that might otherwise be deemed undesirable by using this technique. If you own a farm, growing mushrooms in the woods can help you increase employment and extend work hours.

Which kinds of wood logs are suitable for mushroom cultivation?

On most hardwood species, oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms can be cultivated. Because of this, you may choose your logs according to the kind of hardwood that is found in your area or on your land. Nevertheless, alder, birch, oak, maple, beech, poplar, balsam, aspen, elm, and willow may also support the growth of mushrooms.

Growing mushrooms on logs: 

Drill holes every 15 centimeters along the length of the logs using a 9 or 10-mm drill bit. Make sure the dowels are flush with the bark's surface when you tap them into the drilled holes. To prevent the logs from drying out, cover the holes with plastic and seal them with wax. In around six months, you should be picking your mushrooms.

Growing Mushrooms: A Synopsis of the Method

How the mushrooms are truly grown:

Step 1: Add substrate to the container

A tray or long container that is at least 6 inches deep is a good place to start. Spread the spawn over the substrate that has been added to the tray or container. Add another inch or two of the substrate you're using to cover the spawn. 

Step 2: Place the substrate in a warm place

Place the mushroom spawn in a warm area (typically between 30 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the precise species you are trying to grow) to hasten the process of the spawn colonizing the substrate.

Step 3: Make sure the substrate doesn't dry out

To keep the substrate damp but not soggy, you'll need to mist it with water. They must be directly misted two or three times a day, at the very least. If you wish to keep your mushrooms in a humid environment, you might choose to cover the substrate with a big plastic box or plastic bag.

Step 4: Allow the mushrooms to cool down

Mycelium, which resembles small white thread-like growths, should start to appear on top of your substrate after a few days. Now that the mushrooms are established, store your tub in the refrigerator or somewhere colder than thirty degrees Fahrenheit for a brief while before relocating it to that chilly, damp, and dark region of your house for the last "fruiting" stage.

Step 5: Time for harvest

Within a few weeks, your mushrooms should be ready for harvesting if you continue to spray them every day to maintain a high level of humidity around them.

Most Popular Types of Mushrooms To Grow

1. Oyster Mushrooms

Excellent starter mushrooms are oyster mushrooms, which will provide you with edible mushrooms for at least two flushes every year. There are several varieties of oyster mushrooms available, and they bear fruit at different times of the year and in varied colors.

2. Lion’s Mane Mushroom

These unusual-looking mushrooms have shaggy white flesh that, when cooked, takes on the texture and flavor of cooked crab meat. 

3. Shiitake Mushrooms

Not only are shiitake mushrooms among the most widely consumed foods, but they are also among the simplest to cultivate. Better still, shiitakes are among the simplest mushrooms to cultivate, and because of their widespread use, shiitake plugs and spores are always readily available!

4. Enoki

Enoki mushrooms have lengthy stems and are relatively tiny. They cluster closely together as they mature. Since enoki are little plants, growing them doesn't require a lot of room. Selenium, polysaccharides, polyphenols, and vitamins C and E are all present in enoki mushrooms. Because of the antioxidant properties of all these nutrients, your cells are shielded against disease-causing free radical damage as well as aging.

5. Maitake

Another superb kind of mushroom with significant nutritional and health benefits is maitake. Before investing effort in cultivating maitake, we advise tasting some to make sure you enjoy its pungent, earthy flavor.

Profit from growing mushrooms in 2024

Let's look at oyster mushrooms. Starting oyster mushroom cultivation can be a profitable venture with the potential to earn a significant income, depending on the scale of your operation and market conditions.

Potential Earnings

1. Weekly Earnings: If oyster mushrooms are selling for about $7 per pound, you would need to grow approximately 86 pounds per week to make $600. This assumes you are selling directly to consumers or at farmers' markets.
2. Monthly and Yearly Earnings: With a growing area of around 200 square feet, you can produce about 800 pounds per crop, or 5,000 pounds annually. At a wholesale price of $6 per pound, this could generate about $30,000 per year. If you scale up to a 500-square-foot area, you could produce 12,000 pounds annually, potentially making $72,000 at $6 per pound.

Production Requirements

• Space: A 200-square-foot growing area can yield significant production, with the potential to produce 800 pounds per crop.
• Production Cycle: Oyster mushrooms take about six weeks from start to harvest, allowing multiple cycles per year.

Sales Channels

• Farmers' Markets: Selling directly at farmers' markets can fetch higher prices, potentially around $13.6 per pound in some US regions.
• Wholesale to Restaurants or Grocery Stores: Selling wholesale might yield around $6-8 per pound, depending on your market.

Considerations

• Costs: Material costs, including substrate and spawn, need to be factored into your profit calculations. For instance, producing 150 pounds per week could result in a gross income of $1,650 if sold at $11 per pound, with a profit margin after expenses.

In summary, the profitability of oyster mushroom cultivation depends on your ability to manage production costs, scale your operation, and effectively market your product. With careful planning and execution, it can be a lucrative business.

Finally, oyster mushrooms, shiitake, porcini, enoki, reishi, morel, and lion's mane mushrooms are the most profitable types of mushrooms. They may have 30 to 60 percent profit margins. The demand for these mushroom types is highest, their growth rate is quickest, and their production expenses are lowest.

Should You Start a Mushroom Growing Business?

Making money by cultivating mushrooms might be a simple method to supplement your income. You may even make it your full-time job if you so want. Although it's not simple, you may start small and expand at your own speed. There will be a growing market for all kinds of mushrooms in the near future, so if this seems like a lucrative possibility to you, you might want to get into mushroom farming.

Final words

With your newfound knowledge of how to cultivate mushrooms at home, you'll soon be enjoying the delicious fungus bounty. To sum up, growing mushrooms is a worthwhile and sustainable project. A wide range of mushrooms may be successfully grown at home by enthusiasts if they pay close attention to the instructions provided in this Ultimate Guide.