Advice and Growing Guides
We hope you find our section on mushroom cultivation and growing guides helpful. Growing mushrooms at home has become very popular over the years, for a multitude of reasons. Some home growers jump straight in, getting started without reading too much on the subject, while others take a little time to see what helpful advice they can find to get them started. In general we’d definitely recommend doing a little reading first, if only to avoid some of the common pitfalls home growers will experience. This section aims to help you do that!
Patience
The most essential ingredient required for successful mushroom cultivation at home is bucket loads of patience! Mushrooms don’t grow overnight and need special care and attention at all stages of cultivation. Taking shortcuts on things like sterile working practices might save a few minutes but invariably leads to disaster, and lots of wasted time. Allowing the tiniest contamination to enter the growing process risks you having a green mould farm on your hands at a later stage, a risk that can be greatly reduced by simply taking a little time to do things properly.
Sterile Working
Mushroom mycelium, along with the grain you use as spawn and the substrates you mix your spawn with are very vulnerable to contamination. Spores and bacteria of all sorts float in the air you breathe, live on all surfaces, your clothes, hair and hands. It’s just how it is. If those spores or bacteria come into contact with the nutritious grain or substrates you plan to grow mushrooms with, they will usually grow much faster than your mushrooms and, quite often, destroy your crop.
Unless you happen to have a laboratory-grade room to work in, with sterile surfaces and a very expensive air filtration system, you are unlikely to have a 100% sterile workspace for mushroom cultivation, but with a little care and attention you can eliminate most of the risks. Read our page on sterile working practices to see how.
Advice and Growing Guides
Given that you probably came to our website with the intention of growing mushrooms, you might appreciate a little advice on how to grow mushrooms! To that end, our mushroom growing guides focus on the most popular types of ‘culinary’ or ‘medicinal’ mushrooms among home growers. We say ‘culinary’ mushrooms because although you may have come across the term ‘gourmet mushrooms’ online, it’s a term frequently used to describe mushrooms and we don’t want to confuse matters.
It should be clear that while we offer advice here, experienced home growers will have developed their own personal methods of cultivating their favourite mushrooms, which they will swear by. That’s perfectly normal. Our advice covers what might be called ‘standard’ approaches to growing each mushroom type.
Currently available guides
Growing Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus)
Oyster mushrooms are probably the easiest mushroom to grow at home and are also great to eat, making them the most popular choice for home growers. They are nutrient-rich, being high in protein, fibre, vitamins (especially B), and minerals. They are one of the quicker types to grow and can be grown on a wide range of substrates.
Growing Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus)
Lion’s Mane mushrooms are one of the more popular varieties grown at home, and also one of the easiest to grow. Apart from being unusual in appearance, Lion’s Mane mushrooms are commonly attributed with health benefits, most often for their potential to improve brain function and memory. Studies also suggest they may promote nerve regeneration and protect against neurodegenerative diseases. One reason for growing them at home is Lion’s Mane are actually quite hard to find in shops, especially fresh.
Growing Shiitake (Lentinula edodes)
Shiitake mushrooms can sometimes be found in local shops are are very popular for their delicious flavour. Aside from that they are said to be rich in polysaccharides like lentinan, which boost the immune system, compounds like eritadenine can help lower cholesterol are also high in B vitamins, vitamin D, and minerals. They’re popular among home growers because they’re relatively easy to grow.
Growing Shimeji (Hypsizygus tessellatus)
Shimeji mushrooms are popular among home growers because of their culinary excellence. Their unique flavour, appealing texture, and versatility in the kitchen make them a favourite among chefs and home cooks. They can enhance many dishes with their distinctive taste. While they do offer health benefits, these are generally considered an added advantage rather than the primary reason for their cultivation. Many people grow them at home simply because they’re so hard to find fresh in local shops.
Growing Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
People usually grow Reishi mushrooms at home for their medicinal properties, not for culinary purposes. That said, small amounts might be used in broths or soups for their medicinal properties, but not for their flavour, which is quite bitter.
Instead, Reishi is acclaimed for its immune-boosting properties, containing polysaccharides and triterpenoids, which can enhance immune function and provide antiviral and antibacterial effects. The compounds in Reishi are also said to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, potentially aiding in the prevention of chronic diseases.
Growing Psilocybin mushrooms
From time to time, we get asked for advice on growing Psilocybin mushrooms – better known as magic mushrooms. Regardless of opinions on the subject, we are unable to offer any advice on the topic, nor knowingly supply those wishing to grow this type of mushroom, as it could be classed as a criminal action on our part. For those wishing to grow psilocybin mushrooms where it is still legal, there is plenty of advice to be found on sites such as youtube, though we cannot offer any comment on its accuracy.
Other Advice
Over time, we will be adding various other articles which we think may be of help to home growers, including things such as how to create your own liquid cultures, working with agar and agar cultures. If you have any specific topic you think we should cover, please feel free to get in touch with us and let us know. In the meantime, a good source of additional information would be growingmushrooms.co.uk where you will find help in these and more areas (link opens in new tab).