Mushroom growing kits?

crana999

Has anyone ever grown their own mushrooms at home like from a kit?

Was it easy? Did it work out cheaper than buying mushrooms? What type of kit/supplier would you recommend..?

Sarahsaver

Spores for button mushrooms, £2 in poundstretcher
in addition to this you need a large plastic container, straw, compost and manure or nitrogen - rot the straw then grow the mushrooms!
s-h-i-t-ake mushroom plugs from https://www.dobies.co.uk cost more and you need fresh logs to drill holes in to put the plugs in, put them in a bin nag for 6 months then hey presto mushrooms growing on a log:)
I am doing both types, they are just at the beginning of this process.
https://www.hawkin.co.uk do the logs ready made up but its cheaper to do your own, and either way this has got to be cheaper than buying fresh mushrooms!

Galtizz

Sarah has :

Taken from the Garden produce thread

Deleted - because you beat me to it Sarahsaver

Sarahsaver

ha ha! great minds think alike!
I have now added raspberry bush and blackcurrant bush to my small but well stocked garden.

crana999

:-/ is there any way that doesn't involve.....well.......rotting manure (or logs) being as the only place I have to put them is my bedroom?

Sarahsaver

you dont need the poop - either that OR nitrogen based fertiliser which can be had from poundland. Why is your bedroom the only place, if thats not too personal a question!
They have to have something to grow off, and as you notice from the wilds, mushrooms grow on rotting things, or living things, hence the decaying straw or the logs (from logs cut no longer than 3 weeks before and not from evergreen trees). Your bedroom may be too warm, do you have a shed, cellar or under sink cupboard? A log would grow in a window box!
The only other thing is to get them completely free and pick wild ones. I have seen plenty around here at the right time of the year, and very few people pick them either because they dont know they are there or dont know about mushrooms.
Happy spawning!

crana999

Sarahsaver wrote:

you dont need the poop - either that OR nitrogen based fertiliser which can be had from poundland. Why is your bedroom the only place, if thats not too personal a question!
They have to have something to grow off, and as you notice from the wilds, mushrooms grow on rotting things, or living things, hence the decaying straw or the logs (from logs cut no longer than 3 weeks before and not from evergreen trees). Your bedroom may be too warm, do you have a shed, cellar or under sink cupboard? A log would grow in a window box!
The only other thing is to get them completely free and pick wild ones. I have seen plenty around here at the right time of the year, and very few people pick them either because they dont know they are there or dont know about mushrooms.
Happy spawning!

I live in uni accommodation and the only place that's mine to put stuff is my bedroom.

I guess I'll just buy mushrooms They aren't as good when you can;t fry things anyway.

Jay-Jay_4

I bought one for my Dad from B&Q a couple of years ago. It was a polystyrene box with the compost already inside. I think that you just had to water it to 'get it going'.

Maybe something like that would be suitable for a first attempt?

crana999

Yeah, that was the kind of thing I was thinking of. I'll have a look next time I go. I have a £10 B&Q voucher on the way so it could be just the thing

nearlyrich

I had a mushroom kit years ago it was in a cardboard box, there was potting compost in it and a bag of spores. It produced lovely fresh mushrooms for weeks.

Sarahsaver

crana999 wrote:

I live in uni accommodation and the only place that's mine to put stuff is my bedroom.

I guess I'll just buy mushrooms They aren't as good when you can't fry things anyway.

Ive seen a few student bedrooms where mushrooms growing were the least of their worries! Isnt there a communal place you could use? An outbuilding or something?