Below you will find instructions on how to care for your mushroom grow kit as well as some tips and tricks for getting the most out of your mushroom grow kit.
To watch a video on caring for your mushroom grow kit, click here -> How to Care for Your Mushroom Grow Kit.
Caring for Your Mushroom Grow Kit
Pick a side of the grow kit where you want your mushroom to fruit. Using a box cutter or knife, slice a shallow 2-4" long line across the bag. Spray the knife with isopropyl alcohol or a bit of bleach water beforehand to clean the blade, if possible.
Place the grow kit into your fruiting container. The best container is a clear sterilite plastic tote with perlite lining the bottom of the tote. But even something as simple as a plastic bag "tented" over the cut you made in the bag can work. Remember, the better the environment you create, the larger your mushroom will grow.
Mist the side walls of your "tent" or tote 2-3 times daily, Do not mist the mushroom and do not mist the cut on the bag directly. Leave the top of your tote or "tent" on loosely and slightly ajar to allow some fresh oxygen to circulate in the tote/tent.
In around 14 days, your mushroom will be ready to harvest!
How to Harvest Your Mushroom Grow Kit
To watch a video on how to harvest your mushroom grow kit, click here -> How to Harvest Your Mushroom Grow Kit.
To harvest, grab the mushroom with two hands and gently rock it back and forth until it pops off the sawdust block. Then return it to its container and simply keep misting 2-3 times daily. In another 14 days or so, another mushroom will be ready for harvest.
For Oyster mushrooms, it's time to harvest when the caps edges begin to turn upwards, the caps lose their color, and/or the caps begin to drop spores (the spores will be white).
For Lion's Mane mushrooms, harvest when the hairs/spines begin to yellow at the tips or grow longer than 1/4".
Tips and Tricks
Put your kit in the coolest, most humid place in your house. Basements are a great choice.
Mushrooms do not need light to grow but they do need it to know which way to grow (the light serves as a directional marker). Ambient light from a window is fine.
If your Oyster mushroom are growing long stems and small caps, they need more oxygen and fresh air.
If your Lion's Mane mushroom turns pink, it is a sign of stress. Usually, it means the mushroom is too hot but it can also be caused by a lack of oxygen or by being sprayed directly with water. It does not mean it is inedible. It's just not very happy. It will taste the same as a happy Lion's Mane, don't worry.
Try to pick your mushrooms before they begin to release their spores. Oyster and Lion's Mane mushroom spores are white. Keep an eye out for deposits of spores on the bag underneath the cap of the mushroom. Pick the mushroom as soon as you see spores.