Growing Organic Mushrooms: Two Ways to Produce Mushrooms

There are two ways to grow organic mushrooms; the first is the easy route and the other one is a little complicated.

If you want to grow organic mushrooms the easy way, you can buy an organic mushroom growing kit.  Just be very sure that the kit you will buy is certified by state authorities.  You can buy online or order it directly from the stores of mushroom kit vendors.

They will send you a mushroom patches which differ for every mushroom type.  For Shiitake mushrooms, the patch consists of an organic substrate made from saw dust and hard wood chips.  The substrate is packed with growing mycelium.  Mycelium packed substrate comes complete with necessary covering and instruction for watering.  The kit is designed to be cultivated indoors.

Other types of substrates where mycelia agents breed can be in the form of large logs or sterilized wheat straw.  This is a fast and convenient way to grow your own organic mushroom.

The second type involves self-fabrication of substrate, long hours of conditioning, and inducing mushroom growth.  You can use banana leaves or wheat straw but make sure that these materials are not contaminated by soil, dirt, or mud.  It is best to get fresh straws and leaves for this purpose.

You can bundle your wheat straw or banana leaves and arrange them to form a mat. You need to create 4 to 6 layers of this mat to maximize mushroom production.  Soak your bundled mat in water.  After at least 3 hours, remove the bundles from the water and arrange them on a plastic container or a large vessel that can hold your mushroom substrate.

Water the substrate with water mixed with urea and mix sugar to it.  Sugar will quickly induce the growth of mushroom.  After thorough watering, plant mushroom spawns on each layer of the substrate mat at close intervals.  You can buy spawns from a local nursery.

You can now cover your home made substrate with clear plastic, taffeta cloth or sack.  Wait for a few weeks and your self-made substrate will yield hundreds of organic mushrooms.