Growing mushrooms is one of the easiest gardening projects to try as a beginner - or do with kids - and is perfect in winter when it's still too chilly to grow stuff outside.

You don't have to be remotely green fingered to grow mushrooms and once started, mushrooms will literally grow before your eyes.

Seeing food grow fast is the best motivation to get kids and beginners growing more food of their own.

So use this complete guide to growing mushrooms to get started :

1. Growing Mushrooms With Kits
2. Best Mushroom Growing Kits
3. Key Mushroom Growing Tips
4. Growing Mushrooms From Scratch Without A Kit
5. Mushroom Growing Problems

As an added extra there are tips at the bottom for exploring the weird and wonderful life cycle of fungi.

1. Mushroom Growing Kits

You can grow mushrooms from packets of spawn but the first time you grow mushrooms I recommend buying a mushroom growing kit.

Mushroom kits cost more than spawned mushroom spore but make a fun gift and you can support local jobs buying direct from small independent suppliers near you.

Mushroom kits come in different varieties - I'll help you choose the best mushroom kit in a moment - but basically your kit will include:

1. Growing container : it can be a tub, box, log or even a book.
2. Mushroom substrate : mushroom substrate is material mushrooms feed on and can be manure, coffee grounds, straw or a log.
3. Spawned mycelium : mycelium is the fungi itself and in kits is usually spawned so it is alive and already growing in the substrate.

You need to start caring for mushroom growing kits with live mycelium as soon as they arrive.

2. The Best Mushroom Growing Kits

There are all sorts of mushroom growing kits out there for growing everything from button and chestnut mushrooms to weird and wonderful mushrooms of all sorts including :

• Oyster
• Shiitake
• Enoki
• Maitake
• Reishi
• Lion's Mane.

But to be honest the best mushroom growing kits to start with are the really simple reliable ones with:

1. Basic bog standard button, chestnut or oyster mushrooms
2. Ready spawned compost substrate in a simple tub or box.

Other varieties of mushroom kit can be great fun but can have significant downsides for beginners and kids:

• Fancy mushrooms like shiitake and enoki are often slower to grow.
• Coffee ground mushroom kits are very trendy but the nutrients in coffee substrate are more likely to go off kilter and kill your spawn!!
• Log growing mushroom kits do well but typically the mushrooms will grow much slower.

A basic mushroom growing kit will give you 3 quick mushroom crops to practice on before you try a more exotic mushroom kit or growing mushrooms from spawn.

I'll now take you through basic mushroom growing tips and then show how to adapt these to grow mushrooms from spawn.

3. Mushroom Growing Tips For Beginners

Methods vary between mushroom growing kits but these are the key mushroom growing tips you need for all kits and growing from spawn.

1. The Best Temperature For Growing Mushrooms
2. How To Water Mushrooms
3. How Quickly Mushrooms Grow
4. How To Harvest Mushrooms
5. How To Grow Multiple Crops

Best Temperature For Growing Mushrooms

Mushrooms don't like it too hot or too cold, so find a spot for your mushroom container where the temperature will be roughly :

• 63-68 Farenheit
• 14-20 Centrigrade.

How To Water Mushrooms

Mushrooms like growing in substrate that is a little damp but not soggy.

It is best to water mushrooms using a spray bottle to lightly dampen the growing surface twice a day.

How Quickly Will My Mushrooms Grow?

Basic mushrooms will typically appear just a few days after you open your ready spawned kit or you add spawn to substrate.

More exotic mushroom varieties growing in fancy substrates may take up to two weeks to appear.

Bog standard mushrooms are usually ready to harvest a week after first appearing in the substrate whilst fancy varieties may need 2 weeks.

How To Harvest Mushrooms

Harvesting mushrooms roughly a week after they first appear increases the chances of additional crops.

Your mushrooms will not all be the same size but harvest all of them together to trigger a new crop.

Simply use a small slim knife to :

1. Cut all your mushroom stems
2. As cleanly as you can
3. As close as possible to substrate.

How To Grow Second & Third Mushroom Crops

A typical mushroom growing kit can give you at least 2 or 3 crops BUT only if cared for after harvesting.

Keep watering your mushroom substrate after harvesting by lightly spraying surface twice daily.

Subsequent crops can appear as little as 7 days after you cut your first crop but some varieties may take as long as 3 weeks. Keep spritzing.

4. How To Grow Mushrooms From Spawn Without A Kit

It is cheaper to grow mushrooms from spawn and typically you should enjoy a good 4 or 5 harvests.

As before you will still need :

1. Spawn
2. Substrate
3. Container.

Types of Mushroom Spawn

You can buy your mushroom spawn in three fundamental forms :

1. Grain spawn
2. Straw spawn
3. Plug spawn

Grain and straw spawn are typically grown indoors and plug spawn outdoors on wood substrates.

Grain spawn will usually grow quickest so are the easiest option for beginner gardeners or anyone progressing from a mushroom kit.

Mushroom Substrates

You can also choose different types of mushroom substrate :

• Straw
• Straw pellets
• Compost
• Manure
• Sawdust
• Hardwood
• Coir bricks

Different types of spawn will grow best in different types of substrate so always check guidelines on spawn you buy for optimal compatibility.

Adding Spawn To Substrates

We have to seed substrate with spawn without adding other fungi or bacteria to the environment.

Typically this involves pasteurising the substrate so as a mushroom growing beginner it is easier to use pre-pasteurised straw pellets.

Growing Mushrooms With Pasteurised Straw Pellets

To add grain spawn to straw pellets :

1. Put pellets in clean bucket.
2. Add amount of spawn recommended on your product.
3. Mix together.
4. Add 1 litre / 4 cups of water and let soak in for 10-20 minutes.
5. Add another litre of water.
6. Continue growing mushrooms in the same way as a kit.

5. Common Problems Growing Mushrooms

Mushrooms are very easy to grow with kits or spawn and straw pellets and the only problems you'll typically see are :

• Not Enough Moisture
• Too Much Moisture
• Not Enough Air
• Poor Quality Products
• Only One Harvest
• Substrate Contamination

Not Enough Moisture

If you don't keep the substrate moist your mushrooms will just not grow. So it is best not to start growing mushrooms indoors when you're not going to be around to spritz them.

Too Much Moisture

Always remember mushrooms like moist NOT soggy substrate. If you over water substrate, mushrooms won't grow and you may get mould on the surface of the substrate.

Not Enough Air

Mushrooms do need air circulation, so make sure not to suffocate them!

Poor Quality Products

Sadly, it is easy to get duff gardening products on big shopping sites.

So always buy from a specialist mushroom grower with a physical address that checks out as real!!

Only One Harvest

Remember to harvest all your mushrooms in a single container in one go and don't forget to keep substrate moist after harvesting so that you get another crop.

Substrate Contamination

Contamination is not typically a problem for mushroom growing beginners as you're using pre-pasteurised materials.

Just remember to wash hands before handling your mushrooms.

If you do see anything else growing in your substrate apart from white mycelium or mushrooms it is prudent to dump the substrate.

And there you go, all the tips you need to grow mushrooms as a beginner or with kids.

Do bookmark or save on Pinterest for later.

For more easy ways to grow your own food check out these simple gardening posts and follow me on Pinterest ...

EXTRA : Explore Mushroom Lifecycles With Kids

Mushroom growing is a brilliant project for exploring plant lifecycles with kids for the very reason that fungi are NOT actually plants!!

As you grow your mushrooms encourage your little naturalist to mull over these questions :

1. Do mushrooms have a seed?
2. Do mushrooms have roots?
3. Do mushrooms need light?
4. Do mushrooms need water?
5. How do mushrooms get energy?
6. How does the next crop grow?