Five FAQs About Mushroom Growing Kits Answered

Mushroom-growing kits are very easy to setup and maintain. Fungi are typically very prolific reproducers, with the right conditions, and many people don’t have a problem getting the volume of mushrooms that they would like out of their kit. For the novice though, some strange and worrying things can occur in the brave new world of growing your own mushrooms! We look at five of the questions that most plague newbies in the mushroom growing kit world.

When should I harvest my crop?

The thing that confuses many people is that mature mushrooms all grow to different sizes. Sizes differ from species to species, and also from individual fungus to its neighbor. There is an easy way to tell, though -- the thin veil covering the gills underneath your mushroom will break when it is ripe (releasing spores into the air to grow new little mushrooms!). You can pick the ripe ones out of your mushroom growing kit and leave those that aren’t ready.

There's bugs eating my mushrooms! How do I kill them?

The bugs in most cases will do no harm to your mushrooms -- if you are worried, you can coat the inside of a large compost bag with vegetable oil and place it around the mushroom growing kit. The flies' wings will stick to it and they will die, without using chemicals.

There's mold on my casing surface -- what should I do?

Again, this usually is not a problem. Unless the molds start multiplying out of control or spreading onto the mushrooms themselves, don’t worry about them. Try to introduce a little more air ventilation next time.

Where do I put the kit when it is finished?

You'll know when your kit is finished because mushrooms no longer grow well in the surface -- the nutrients have been used up. This usually takes around 12 weeks but does vary by the particular mushroom growing kit you use. Mix it in with the compost, or dig it through the garden soil outside -- you may get more mushrooms with the fresh injection of nutrients!

My mushrooms are spreading their seed all over my cupboards -- what is going on?

This is their natural reproductive process. Spores usually come off with soap and water, but a better strategy is simply to pick the mushrooms when they are ripe -- this should minimize your spore load.