If you’re looking to grow mushrooms at home, congratulations! You’re about to take your first steps in a rewarding process that will leave you with food that’s not just incredibly delicious and versatile, but also contains many nutritional benefits.

While there are a few different ways to grow mushrooms at home, one of the quickest and easiest ways to do so is with the help of a mushroom grow kit. Becoming increasingly popular among connoisseurs who want to cook with high-quality produce and parents who wish to teach and inspire their children about growing and cooking, mushroom grow kits are as versatile as they are straightforward to use.

If you want to learn more about how these kits work, read on as we discuss the fundamentals of mushroom growing, species and the incredible nutritional benefits found within fungi. 

Why grow mushrooms at home?

There are several reasons to try home mushroom farming rather than buying mushrooms at your local supermarket. 

Nutrition 

One of the key benefits of growing your own mushrooms is the numerous nutritional benefits they can bring to your diet. While studies are ongoing on the benefits they provide for the brain and in preventing cancer, we know for a fact that mushrooms can support our physical and mental health in several ways. This includes lowering sodium intake and cholesterol levels, while also improving Vitamin D levels and overall gut health. You can read more about the health benefits of mushrooms here.

Culinary versatility

Mushrooms are not only highly nutritious, but they’re also incredibly versatile, and can be easily substituted into most weeknight meals, no matter your culinary preferences.

From traditional mushroom dishes, such as risottos and stroganoffs, to featuring mushrooms as meat replacements in tacos, burgers, and bolognese, the options are limitless. Check out some of our other blogs to view some of our favourite recipes that feature mushrooms as the star of the show.

Quick and Easy to Grow

One of the primary advantages of growing your own mushrooms over other produce is the simplicity of the growing process.

Although other vegetable crops will be largely dependent on the seasons (particularly without a greenhouse), mushrooms can be reliably cultivated all year round.

Additionally, while other produce, such as tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots, requires a garden or even a greenhouse to grow, mushrooms can be grown at home with minimal adjustments to the surrounding environment. 

How mushroom kits work 

While cultivating mushrooms from scratch can be a little more complex, growing your own mushrooms with the help of a kit couldn’t be simpler, making it an excellent choice for beginners.

What’s actually in a kit?

Put simply, a mushroom fruiting kit contains substrate that has been colonised with mycelium.

Mycelium is the name given to the vegetative part of fungi. If we think of Mycelium as like an apple tree with roots, the mushroom is the apple, and its spores are like the seeds. The process by which mycelium establishes itself and grows is known as 'colonisation'. 

The living fungal culture, or mushroom spawn, is the vegetative part of the fungus and its equivalent to a plant seed. The spawn is paired with a carrier material such as grain or wood chips.

Just as the spawn can be thought of as the seed, the substrate is the soil from which the mushrooms will sap nutrients and water to grow. The substrate is typically held within an organic material, such as wood chips, soy hulls, or straw. 

In the wild, mushrooms release fungal spores that are carried by the wind to spread, and the aim is for them to land on a substrate with the proper nutrients so they can grow and thrive. There is a lot of competition among different types of fungi in the wild, and not all spores will find the right conditions to be successful.

Spores in the wild can take years to colonise and start fruiting. When we cultivate mushrooms, we speed up the process & increase the chances of success by creating the perfect conditions for our mycelium to colonise and produce fruiting bodies successfully.

To do this, in laboratory conditions, we grow the spores of our desired mushrooms in a nutrient-rich liquid to produce 'liquid mycelium'. This is then used to inoculate small grains or seeds to create 'spawn', which can be easily mixed with a substrate to help the mycelium colonise faster and more evenly.

The substrate used for mushroom growing is typically made from wood or straw, and supplemented with nutrient-dense additions such as coffee grounds, soy hulls or bran from oats or wheat. Different mushrooms require different nutrients, so not all kits will contain the same types of substrate.

Growing instructions

Each provider may have a slightly different take on how to get the best out of your kit, but for us, the best way to grow mushrooms with your grow kit goes something like this:

1. Cut the bag

The first step in kickstarting your mushroom grow kit is simple. Remove the perforated panel from the box and cut an X through the exposed plastic and into the substrate below. By doing this, we're exposing this part of the substrate to increased levels of oxygen & light, thereby encouraging the mycelium to concentrate on growing the mushrooms exactly where we want it to.'

2. Mist the kit regularly 

Fill an empty spray bottle with fresh water and mist the X several times a day to keep the humidity nice and high. We recommend two to three times per day, but if you're worried about your kit drying out, feel free to mist it a little extra.

3. Watch your mushrooms grow!

Eventually, you will start to notice the surface of your kit changing and tiny bobbles forming. These are known as 'pins,' and they're essentially baby mushrooms! Once they appear, your harvest is on the horizon, so keep up the regular misting.'

How long do mushroom kits take to grow?

If you’re wondering how long mushroom kits take to grow, the answer may be a pleasant surprise! As well as being easy to grow - no matter your level of experience - mushrooms grown in a kit can reach maturity in just a few weeks, depending on the variety. 

In terms of the actual growth timeline, once the tiny pins appear, they will continue to double in size every 24 hours until reaching harvestable maturity. 

The time it takes for mushrooms to grow depends significantly on the variety and environmental conditions. Most mushroom grow kits should produce a harvest within two to three weeks.

What kind of mushrooms can be grown?

If you’re wondering what kind of mushrooms can be grown from home with a mushroom grow kit, there are a few options available to help you make a variety of delicious meals. Available species include:

Oyster

With a mild, earthy flavour that can easily be integrated into most dishes, oyster mushrooms are a highly versatile fungi, making them perfect for beginner mushroom growers. Thanks to their form and texture, oyster mushrooms can be incorporated into a variety of dishes, including pizzas, tacos, stir-fries, and more. 

Lion’s Mane

An incredibly rare mushroom here in the UK, lion’s mane is a protected species and cannot be picked in the wild. However, the good news is that, thanks to its incredible texture and savoury, slightly sweet flavour, it's a fungi that’s becoming increasingly popular. This mushroom is perfect for serving as ‘steaks’, or as an alternative to seafood such as crab and lobster.

Invasive vs Native Species

Gourmet mushrooms and at-home mushroom-growing is increasing in popularity in the UK, and with that has come an increase in concerns about the ecological impacts.

As with plants and animals, concerns have been growing about the potential threat posed by commercial strains of fungi to local ecosystems. With climate change increasing temperatures year on year, tropical strains of mushrooms are at risk of escaping into the local environment and outcompeting native UK fungi.

Due to their spore-based reproduction, invasive fungal species are likely to be even harder to contain than those of plants and animals. 

As commercial mushroom cultivators, we've switched to growing only native UK and non-invasive species, and we recommend that home growers purchase kits that use non-tropical & native UK strains.

Are mushroom kits reusable?

Although not technically ‘reusable’, most mushroom kits contain enough nutritious substrate to harvest around two ‘flushes’ of mushrooms. The size and quality of the yield will depend on the strain and how attentive you are to misting the substrate, and will naturally decline as the nutrients within the substrate are depleted. When your kit reaches the end of its life, we recommend composting it.

Choosing the right kit

We hope that this blog has given you all the info you need to purchase your first mushroom-growing kit. The best mushroom grow kit for you will depend on your needs and preferences, of course, but with over a decade of experience growing mushrooms, we at Caledonia Mushroom have created a kit that we think is pretty great. Our mushroom grow kit features:

• A vegan recipe
• UK native fungi strain
• Substrate that uses sustainably sourced Scottish wood

Perfect for first-time growers, we look forward to seeing your results. We are always happy to answer questions & offer advice to budding mushroom enthusiasts, so if you're on your mushroom-growing journey and having difficulties, please get in touch with us!
Our website also features recipes, and more information on mushroom growing on our blog. Keep up to date with us on Instagram, or sign up to our mailing list.