Mushrooms are having a moment in the foodie world. They’re low in calories, fat-free, and overflowing with vitamins and antioxidants. Plus, they can benefit your mental health.
Mushrooms also happen to taste incredible (seriously!) when included in dozens of recipes and there are literally millions of varieties. You can find mushrooms at the grocery store but where’s the fun in that? And foraging for fungus in the forest can be overrated (and perhaps dangerous). Be a do-it-yourselfer instead!
With a few tools and the right growing conditions, you can develop your own designer colony at home. With one of these mushroom grow kits, you’ll be well on your way to raising your own savory morsels that will drive your umami taste buds wild.
Back to the Roots was started by two friends in college when they learned it was possible to grow mushrooms from plain old coffee grounds. Since then, they’ve launched into the urban garden market with a number of great at-home products including this Organic Mushroom Growing Kit. In just ten days, you can grow delicious, gourmet oyster mushrooms right out of the box in just ten days.
Everything you need to grow the mushrooms comes with the kit including a packet of material inoculated with mushroom spawn, a spray bottle, a Mushroom Discovery Book, and instructions. It really is as easy as just adding water. Open the box and soak the bag overnight. Mist twice a day for a week then watch them double in size every day. After ten days, they’re ready to harvest for tacos, pizza, soups, and salads.
Back to the Roots promises these mushroom grow kits will perform as described or your money back. They’re made in Oakland, can grow at any time of the year in any location, and are said to offer a road to wellness. It doesn’t get any easier (or delicious) as this.
Though not as slickly packaged as some other grow kits, this Specialty Trio Mushroom Grow Kit by Forest Origins includes three separate packs of edible oyster mushrooms: brown, white, and pink. Simply mist twice a day and within a few days, you should see the fungi begin to grow. Brown and pink should grow first and allow you to enjoy those yields before harvesting the white. All of these oyster mushrooms taste delicious in soups or in pasta with butter.
Each bag should provide at least two rounds of growing, or “flushes” before needing to acquire new material for the mycelium to grow in. The bags will last for months unopened. Forest Origins is a small American company that believes in good customer service and your ability to grow great mushrooms. They’re available to answer questions and solve problems via email or phone. That’s pretty remarkable and so are these grow kits.
Lion’s Mane mushrooms are incredibly weird looking, almost like bread dough if you squint a little. They’re big and bulbous and shaggy which gave this fungi its name. But don’t worry about this mushroom’s looks; if you’ve never had this type of mushroom, you owe it to yourself to pick up this Fully Colonized Lion’s Mane Mushroom Indoor Grow Kit from the Michigan Mushroom Company.
They taste amazing (some say they taste like crab or lobster with the same texture) and deliver some wild health benefits including protection from dementia and mild depression. They can be eaten in soups or dried and brewed to make tea. This kit produces up to four pounds of Lion’s Mane mushrooms and this strain is used to make the gourmet mushrooms they grow for top restaurants in Detroit.
The kit itself is nothing to look at (pretty much a plastic bag with compost in it) but it works supremely well. Bend the flap back, make two long cuts into the front of the bag, and mist twice daily. Keep the kit out of direct sunlight and at room temperature then harvest when the tips begin to dry. The link above is for their four-pound kit but if you’re really feeling up to the challenge, Michigan Mushroom Company also sells a ten-pound kit as well.
This mushroom growing kit utilizes hardwood sawdust and organic ingredients to grow the alien-looking fungi. Once you get the kit, wait until you see finger-looking mushrooms growing on the surface, then cut open the bag and mist away. Make sure to leave the kit out of direct sunlight in a place that is between 70 to 80-degrees Fahrenheit.
Reishi mushrooms stimulate the body’s natural healing abilities and best used in teas and tinctures. Once grown, Reishi mushrooms are generally broken up, powdered, and steeped for tea. Its flavor is strong, distinctive, and pleasant to most people.
Willow Mountain Mushrooms has been growing mushrooms organically in the Ozarks of Missouri since 2004. Their farm produces a number of items including this White Button Mushroom Growing Kit that only takes up a cubic foot of space with no light needed. Each of their kits is made using fresh substrate (compost) that is saturated with mushroom cells that come directly from their farm’s growing beds.
This mushroom grow kit includes detailed instructions, growing medium, and a casing layer that you mix with water and apply yourself. The kit weighs around 13 pounds and when started can produce up to four pounds of delicious white button mushrooms over a four to six-week growing cycle. Simply use the shipping box as the base, open the plastic bag, and mix the ingredients. After a few days, the mushrooms will begin to grow and they’ll be ready to harvest after about two weeks and continue through for a month to six weeks.
Willow Mountain Mushrooms answers phone calls and emails each and every day to address questions and help with troubleshooting. They’ve been growing mushrooms for over 15 years and know what they’re talking about. Their kits are highly ranked on Amazon and the customer service is beyond compare.
Looking for more of a growing challenge with your mushroom farm? Then consider these 100 Chicken of the Woods Mushroom Spawn Plugs. The folks at BetterFungi produce a number of colonized plugs with all sorts of different mushroom varieties.
Mushroom plugs work by driving them into 3/8-inch holes that you drill into a hardwood log. Any hardwood like aspen, maple, oak, birch, or poplar will do. Make sure the log is between four to eight inches in diameter and around four feet long. Soak the log overnight then drive the mushroom plugs in. Place the log in a shady spot and, well, wait. Make sure the log isn’t hit with direct sunlight and that it stays moist.
Alternatively, you can grow mushrooms using your plugs in straw or sawdust blocks with less effort but also less substrate for the mycelium to consume. This doesn’t need a large backyard; anyone can grow mushrooms this way in an urban setting and even indoors as well. Expect a one to two month period before you can harvest your bounty.
Willow Mountain Mushrooms has been growing mushrooms organically in the Ozarks of Missouri since 2004. Their Cremini Portabella Mushroom Growing Kit that only takes up a cubic foot of space with no light needed. Each of their kits is made using fresh substrate (compost) that is saturated with mushroom cells that come directly from their farm’s growing beds.
This mushroom grow kit includes detailed instructions, growing medium, and a casing layer that you mix with water and apply yourself. The kit weighs around 13 pounds and when started can produce up to four pounds of delicious cremini or portabella mushrooms over a four to six-week growing cycle. Simply use the shipping box as the base, open the plastic bag, and mix the ingredients.
After a few days, the mushrooms will begin to grow and they’ll be ready to harvest after about two weeks and continue through for a month to six weeks. Cremini and portabella mushrooms are the same thing; both types are button mushrooms that have been allowed to mature.
Willow Mountain Mushrooms answers phone calls and emails each and every day to address questions and help with troubleshooting. They’ve been growing mushrooms for over 15 years and know what they’re talking about. Their kits are highly ranked on Amazon and the customer service is beyond compare.
This Shiitake Plug Spawn Starter Kit from 2funguys provides everything you need to inoculate your own hardwood log and produce fresh, organic Shiitake mushrooms at home. The kit includes 100 plugs colonized with spores, enough to create mushroom farms on two 36-inch long by 4-inch diameter logs.
Three aluminum tags are also included to attach to your hardwood logs and etch your date of creation to keep track of progress. Also in the box are two daubers and three ounces of wax to seal the plugs and prevent dehydration. Easy to follow inoculation instructions will take you step by step through the process of starting your own urban (or suburban) mushroom farm.
Everything you need to grow delicious Golden Oyster Mushrooms can be found in this growing kit. The kit contains one golden oyster mushroom log that’s ready to fruit, a humidity tent, a spray bottle, and detailed instructions. You won’t need any extra tools to start.
Mushrooms start in around seven days once you begin to spray water and the log can last for months in the box unopened. Multiple harvests and amazing mushroom growth are not only possible but probable with the kit. This makes a great gift or a school science project. Growing mushrooms is not just fun but rewarding as well once you taste the fresh, organic mushrooms grown in your own house.
This Reishi Mushrooms Grow Kit from Root Mushroom Farm requires some light misting to produce a heavy crop over a two-month growing period. With proper care, expect between a half-pound to a full pound of mushrooms. When the kit arrives, it’s ready to go so make sure to set everything up within a week of it getting to your house.
The kit consists of five sterilized pounds of rich substrate inoculated with Reishi mushroom spores packed in an extra-large grow bag that measures 8 inches by five inches by nineteen inches. The breathable bag is side-gusseted and is sturdy after filling with a strong bottom seal. Once your crop is grown, harvest the mushrooms then dry them and steep in tea. You’re on your way to practicing some holistic Eastern medicine.
This oyster mushroom growing kit comes from a small, family-owned farm located in Texas: Dave Mushroom Farm. They specialize in growing all-natural mushrooms with love and dedication. This ready-to-fruit grow kit they use at the farm to produce delicious oyster mushrooms of top quality.
Looking for a unique culinary experience? Nothing beats the taste of the freshly harvested mushrooms grown at home. This grow kit includes a spawn bag that measures eight inches long and weighs approximately three pounds. The substrate inside the bag is all-natural sawdust derived from oak trees or fruit trees.
Oyster mushrooms can grow in temperature ranges between 36 to 89 degrees Fahrenheit but grow best in between 56 to 68 degrees. The color of your mushrooms will change from blue to gray then to white if the temperature rises from cold to cool then to warm. Temperature, humidity, and light are three key factors that promote mushroom growth; the grow kit includes step-by-step instructions to make sure you’ll have a successful harvest.
So let’s say you tried out a simple mushroom grow kit and you absolutely loved it and want to go to that next level. This Virgenu 12-Jar Mushroom Growing Kit is a great pack of resources and equipment to get you started in creating your own mushroom farm! The kit includes everything you need to broaden your fungi farming horizons.
Provided in the package are 12 1/2-pint substrate jars that are pre-mixed and pressure sterilized, a modular growing chamber, and a digital thermometer-slash-humidity gauge. It also includes an electric 200 Watt heater to get your mushroom environment dialed in anywhere between 68 to 92 degrees. A quiet electric air pump provides even flow across those mushroom caps.
Also included is a HEPA air filter, electric timer, and 110 V, 1,000 lumens LED grow light. This kit even comes with latex gloves and alcohol prep swaps to prevent cross-contamination. A detailed and illustrated growing guide will explain how to inoculate, incubate, harvest, and take care of your new mushroom empire. If you’re looking to bring your A-game to your fungal future, this is the kit that will help you get it there.
How can you not love a company with a name like “2funguys” especially when they actually produce such a cool product like their 12-Inch Oyster Mushroom Log? This kit will keep the oyster mushrooms coming for over two years. The hand-cut hardwood log arrives inoculated with mushroom spores that will fully fruit in around seven months.
When the kit arrives at your house, soak the log in water overnight then stand it upright or horizontally and wait it out. After you harvest your first crop of delicious oyster mushrooms, more will grow to harvest every two to three months. Just mist the log occasionally and the mycelium will do the rest.
A metal plaque on the underside of the log is stamped with the inoculation date. The log is 12 inches long, approximately three to six inches in diameter, and weighs between four to seven pounds. The plugs inoculated with oyster mushroom spores are covered over with cheese wax to keep them from drying out. This kit may take longer than some others however it produces a heavy yield over more than two years. Not too shabby.
Root Mushroom Farm took the fun of mushroom plugs but did all the work for you with their Shiitake Mushroom Growing Kit. Everything you need to grow these delicious fungi comes in one box including a hardwood log colonized with shiitake mushrooms, a humidity tent, spray bottle, and a detailed instruction booklet.
Put that drill and hammer away because there are no tools required! Mushrooms are ready to start growing right away when you receive them, although you can keep the kit in the fridge for up to a week. Your own gourmet mushrooms should be ready in only four days and harvested every ten days for up to sixteen weeks. And once your original log has given up the ghost, you can use sawdust or compost to keep your mushroom operation going.
I first wanted to think that North Spore was a clever way to highlight a mushroom farm in Hawaii or California but I was wrong. North Spore is located in Maine so that still works in their favor. Their Golden Oyster Mushroom Kit produces an Asian species popular with hobbyist growers and foodies because of the bright yellow color and a cashew-like taste.
Golden Oyster mushrooms are relatively easy to grow and can produce huge crops. They’re a great way to add loads of flavor and texture without adding calories. Harvesting and cooking your own tasty mushrooms that you grew yourself is an amazing thing. Use Golden Oyster mushrooms in any recipe that calls for oyster mushrooms. They are vegan, vegetarian, low in calories, and have numerous health benefits.
Each kit comes with a block of growing substrate pre-populated with mycelium, a sprayer for watering, and complete easy to follow instructions on growing and harvesting your mushroom crop. Your first flush success is guaranteed. Like other small companies producing mushroom grow kits, North Spore is keen on helping you grow mushrooms successfully. They have several mycologists (smarty smart people who know all about mushrooms) on staff to talk and email you through any issues or questions.
