Growing Mushrooms on Your Own Substrate and Container Using Mushroom Garden Kit

hello again everyone this is Jim from hundred punky mushrooms and welcome to our video on how to use our new garden kit we're really excited about this kids because there's so many applications that this can be used for on this first application of the garden kit this is one where you grow on your own substrate in your own containers your substrate is the dry organic material that you are going to grow your mushrooms on what your mushroom is going to use is a food source there are literally hundreds of different substrates you can use in our website we have a more comprehensive list in this video I'm going to show you two different substrates that you might use and the reason I chose these two are because they're locally available they were very easy to come by the first one being a wheat straw we are surrounded by wheat fields and so this is very easy to come by and also sawdust we have a milling company not very far from me I note about substrate choices if you have access to a straw wheat straw barley straw rice straw we would definitely recommend using that especially if you are a beginner it's the the straw is just much more forgiving it colonizes faster produces quicker then something that is very dense like sawdust or a coffee grounds these work well they just take longer but if you have the option for a straw or a dried grass choose that it's just it's much more forgiving and user friendly for beginners so now that I have my substrate chosen for my two different examples I'm going to show you my wheat straw my my hardwood sawdust it's now time to choose my container there are literally hundreds endless amount of containers that you can choose from tow to grow in but here's some parameters about what you choose if you're going to use something very porous and very aerated like wheat straw there's a lot of a lot of places air can move through you can choose a very large container and in this case I'm going to use an entire five gallon bucket that I'm actually going to grow out of now if you use a something large like this like a bucket if it's deeper than eight inches you have to put holes in it the reason being is that it needs to have some air exchange through there if you have a very dense material like sawdust or coffee grounds use multiple containers with the minimum of but one gallon each these are gallon and a half nursery pots and I'm going to put about one gallon in each box again that's going to permeate through it also a little tip for growing whether you choose a large or small container is that if you put some holes in the snot the oyster mushrooms really like to grow out of the side out of a small opening they won't grow off the top but they seem to do much better coming out of the sides that three is heating your substrate in water the heating process serves two functions one eliminates the vast majority of microbial competitors and second it allows these substrates to absorb enough water to hold it throughout the next few months of production there's a few different options to heating your substrate in the water first option is the place your substrate in an old pillow case using it like a large tea bag and submerging it into a large pot covering it with water with one to two inches of water above the top of the pillowcase and substrate and then heating it from there you will need a heavy object to hold it down as it'll be it'll be buoyant the second option is to also place the substrate into a pillowcase and place the pillowcase with the substrate into a heatproof container and then carefully pouring water that is 170 degrees Fahrenheit over the top until the substrate of pillowcase is submerged the third option for heating your substrate is to use a series of smaller pots whichever way is easiest and safest for you please choose that way heat the water to 170 degrees Fahrenheit and allow the substrate to sit submerged and covered for a least an hour when you're running after that I'll remove the pillowcase and allow it to drain for about 15 minutes then twist the pillowcase tightly and wring the excess water from the substrate the wetness of the substrate should be that of a damp sponge if you squeeze it tightly the substrate should not produce any water droplets any standing water at the bottom of the container limits the mycelial growth and it greatly increases the chances that it will contaminate step 4 and not cleaning your substrate to limit any other contaminants clean everything the pasteurized substrate will come into contact with such as your hands a growing container of the cooling table with soap and warm water and all that this step is not necessary you can head your chances by wiping all the surfaces with a clean paper towel drenched in isopropyl rubbing alcohol this inoculation is the process of mixing the mushroom spawn into the substrate as soon as the substrate is cool enough to handle spread it out in a well clean surface such as the table or a counter top to allow it to cool to room temperature with wash clean hands gently flip and re spread the pile every 30 to 60 seconds to ensure that all the substrate is cooled to the room temperature high temperatures can kill the mycelium while you're waiting for the subject to cool open the bag of mushrooms spawn from your mushroom garden kit and break it up into fine particles in a separate well clean container such as a large bowl bucket or pop you continue this pattern of mixing and alternating layers of substrate and spawn until they're both used and you're layering with a half inch covering of Spawn only an alternative method is to spread out your substrate allow it to cool and take the spawn and pour it on top of it and mix it in thoroughly on your table and then put it into your container or containers you Step five maintaining moisture during the next three to eight weeks the mycelium from the spawn will grow on to or another word for it is colonized the substrate its food source this period is called incubation to maintain adequate levels of moisture during this incubation time put the container in a large trash bag leave the top of the bag untied and open about the size of a golf ball and just loosely drape it to the side you don't want to completely tie or seal the trash bag because the air exchange is necessary to ensure that the air can move freely around the substrate keep the trash bag from touching the surface of the container by propping the trash bag with one or two sticks laid on top of the container step 6 place the container in the dark during the incubation period place your container in a dark location that has a consistent temperature range from 65 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit step 7 fruit your mushrooms after 2 and a half weeks begin inspecting the container daily for the formation of small mushrooms called primordia when primordial first detected move your container to a location that has the optimal fruiting conditions determine the best location based on these criteria first one light oyster mushrooms do need light to grow so choose a location that has at least enough light to read by but is not in direct sunlight temperature consistent temperature range between 60 and 80 degrees is needed for productive fruiting humidity during fruit body production a high level of humidity 75 to 95 percent surrounding your growing mushrooms will greatly enhance their size and weight a simple way to achieve this high level of humidity is the fluff a clear trash bag place it over the top of your container this effectively creates a humidity dome similar to a terrarium using a spray bottle miss clean water into the interior surface of the trash bag one to three times daily so that conversation droplets are continuously visible on the inside of the bag airflow cut 10 to 12 holes that are roughly 1/2 inch in diameter all around the trash bag to allow air exchange if need be sticks wires pipes cetera can be used to support to keep the plastic humidity dome from collapsing onto the container and substrate step 8 harvest your mushrooms generally three to five days after primordial first form your mushrooms to be ready to harvest waste of mushrooms glowing clusters and the largest mushroom of the cluster is your indicator when the harvest that entire cluster has the mushrooms mature the shape of the cap will change from a downward curve concave shape that will continue to open until it is flat and then will progress into an upward curve convex shape when the cap of the largest mushroom in the cluster has flattened the entire cluster is ready to be harvest so thank you for watching and be sure to view our other videos on how you can use your garden kit to grow in your own garden beds and on totem logs happy growing

Channel: 100thMonkeyMushrooms

Views: 1,233,748

Keywords: grow your own mushrooms, how to grow mushrooms, grow mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, mushroom growing tutorial, shrooms, 100th Monkey Mushrooms, mushroom garden, mushroom cultivation, diy mushrooms, do it yourself mushrooms, mycology, mushroom garden bed, log cultivation, Gardening, Permaculture

Id: r10GqUKmSbc

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 22 2014