How to Grow Mushrooms
A quick preview into the world of cultivating fungi
NEWSNATUREAGRICULTUREGARDENINGCULTUREFOOD JUSTICEMYCOLOGY
The Bay Staters Team
11/6/20265 min read
Way Easier than It Sounds
We love teaching people how to grow fungi. At nearly every mushroom walk and festival we host, we give away all-in-one grow bags and spores for donation. For us, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing people literally cultivate a brain, aka mycelium, in a bag and showing it off to their friends and family.
In many ways, it's easier to grow fungi than it is to grow plants for example, which can be quite needy depending on the species of course.
Our biggest value-add in helping you grow is personal mentorship.
There are a lot of companies online that sell grow bags and spores (and liquid cultures) of all kinds.
Yet our nonprofit offers something they don't.
Our teammate James Davis, Bay Staters' cofounder, personally helps our growing mentees ensure their kits are successful. You can text him anytime, and he'll respond fairly quickly in helping you troubleshoot your kit or growing projects.
We structure our growing education this way because, frankly, there are a kajillion different methodologies and techniques for growing fungi. And a kajillion hobbyists who post to youtube, reddit, and forums. And AI. Yet often times it is easier to simply ask a real person nuanced questions anytime you need help.
The Five Critical Factors
Sanitation. Humidity. Warmth. Patience. And Love.
First off, Sanitation
Sanitation is critical to ensuring your bag does not become colonized by trichoderma mold (itself a type of fungi) or simply never initiate the growth of mycelium - the milky white neuron network that ultimately fruits mushrooms.
To that end, before inoculating your grow bag (ie. sticking the needle into the gray self-healing injection port), make sure to wash your hands and wrists thoroughly. Do the inoculation in a room that has no or limited air flow with the outside world (whose air is filled with competing critters). That's often a closet or a bathroom, for example. Run an air filter if you have one for 10-20 minutes in the room. Then, wipe the bag down with a disinfectant: we recommend 70% isopropyl alcohol yet any disinfectant is better than no disinfectant. Then, after attaching it, hold the needle of your syringe slightly over the injection port. Flame the metal back and forth a few times with a lighter. Then stick that needle through the injection port to shoot in about half of the syringe (depending on the species you got from us).
The more of these steps you follow the better. But don't let them intimidate you. Every step you take to be a little more sanitary gets you closer to the end goal. Sometimes people go above and beyond and still get mold. It happens to the best of us, outside of commercial operations that demand near-perfection. It's okay. And we'll always do our best to replace it for you if you get mold.
If you do get green-grey-red mold, not the milky white you're aiming for, text us for confirmation if you want. If it is indeed contaminated, cut open the bag and dump it in your soil or your compost bin outside because trichoderma is still quite healthy for your soil. And sometimes your mushroom mycelium may still fruit too, which is wild.
Secondly, Humidity.
Mushrooms are mostly made out of water just like us. So run your humidifier where you keep your mushrooms if you have one or simply put a big ole' bowl of water next to your kit to help boost it. You can also mist the outside of your bag if you prefer.
People always ask: does it need sunlight?
Whelp, for oyster mushrooms, yes. After the mycelium has taken over the bag. For others, nope.
You can put others in the sunlight. But just keep in mind that the water may evaporate faster. So you'll need to compensate with more humidity. A great way to evaluate humidity and if there is life in your bag is to look for condensation inside on the side of the plastic. It's a great sign!
Third is warmth.
Different species prefer different temperatures but the sweet spot is usually around 80 degrees farenheit. Again, you don't have to be perfect just like with sanitation. And humidity. But it does help to aim for that.
In the winter especially, consider keeping your bag next to a place that is naturally warmer such as a dresser drawer near your bed to be warmed by your body heat at night. Or near your heat source. Or in the sun. Or next to an appliance like a dryer but not on it (since the subtle shaking it makes contamination more likely).
Fourth is patience
Checking in on your bag feels like Christmas morning, as you wait to see how much your white mycelium has spread (or Hannukkah or Eid al-fitr if you prefer). But it takes a while. Up to a few months for it to slowly colonize the bag before it will start fruiting.
Take it as a chance to practice this virtue. Mycelium releases fruiting bodies to reproduce. Sometimes this a response to stress. Sometimes it just feels like it. Sometimes it just doesn't. Take it as a sign sometimes that the slow fruiting is just a sign the mycelium doesn't feel like she's in a rush to reproduce. Sometimes however it's a sign that it's too cold or not humid enough. Or that there's a war being fought internally with contaminating organisms.
In any case, you can try switching up the area. Putting your mycelium in the fridge for a day for a cold shock. Or in rare cases, with our mentorship, you can add water through the air vent.
Truly let this be part of the fun. You are the citizen scientist. Organisms don't march to some perfect standard or drum. Your mycelium is uniquely yours.
Fifth is love.
At risk of sounding a bit woo-woo, we find that people who treat their mycelium as a friend or child do better. This neuron network can pick up on vibrations, so talk to them and sing to them.
What's the worst that could happen? It's free talk therapy with your mushrooms. And they don't mind if you spill the tea or complain either.
This is also a proxy for taking the above-mentioned steps more seriously. The more you try, the higher the chance of your ultimate success.
Mycology, the study of fungi, is a field that is deep, deep, deep. Our grow bags, like the one you picked up or were gifted, is our easiest way of getting into this field. So, again, love is a factor. If you love it and have a fun time, there is always more to learn and scale.
We're always here to help
We've helped many people move beyond growing in their all-in-one bags to growing in their compost bins and tubs at a larger scale. We can help send you on a path to taking spore prints, isolating genetics on agar, and really getting into the nuances. So take the first step and please never hesitate to ask for our help (team@baystatersnm.com).
Happy growing!
