While folks don't think twice about growing their own vegetables, the idea of growing your own edible mushrooms is one that is just beginning to catch on. The high cost of store-bought, gourmet mushrooms and their health benefits makes them a prime candidate for the do-it-yourselfer. Luckily, if you can adhere to a few major principles, and acquire specimens of the mushrooms you want to grow, you can cultivate your own mushrooms. The first step to this process is to create the mushroom spawn.
Prepare your workspace. A small shed or closet is the best option. Disinfect the area with at least a 10-percent bleach-to-water solution. Make sure the area can be enclosed either by a door or tarp, then add the HEPA filter air purifier.
Sterilize all of the implements needed for the spawn-production process. Put anything you cannot buy sterile into polypropylene autoclave bags and sterilize in an autoclave in small batches. Don't bring anything into your work area until it is sterilized. Everything that is used during the process needs to be sterile, this includes you, the room, the air and especially the implements and medium. Follow the instructions for your autoclave; sterilization generally occurs at above 200 degrees F with about 15 psi of pressure for 45 minutes.
Make your spawn. Place a small piece of mushroom on an agar medium in petri dishes, keep it moistened and under the proper temperatures for that particular mushroom; the mycelium will grow out and fill the dish in about two weeks. Agar medium is a gelatinous substance made from seaweed cells that is commonly used in laboratory work.
Transfer the mycelium when it has just filled the petri with long, healthy strands. Don't let the mycelium grow too long in the petri dishes. Transfer the mycelium to the sterilized grain in jars. Allow it to colonize for about two to four weeks under the proper temperature for the particular species of mushroom.
Observe your jars. When they are filled with healthy, white filaments, you have achieved grain spawn. Mushrooms will grow right out of the jar of grain spawn, or you can use it to inoculate more grain. If you repeat the process, one jar of grain spawn can produce up to ten more.
Spread the spawn around other, more-porous mediums like compost or straw in order to get the most mushroom production per grain of spawn. The mycelium in the spawn usually take about two to four weeks to run through the medium, at which point it is ready to be fruited for mushrooms.
Different mushroom species require different spawn growing conditions and techniques. Research the variety you want to grow before you begin.
If the desired end result of your project is to grow mushrooms, you'll find it easier to accomplish if you use store-bought spawn.
