Growing your own Mushroom Kits - Stone Lantern Bonsai Nursery

How to cultivate your own homegrown mushrooms with the organic mushroom kit

All the different types of mushrooms have a different taste, texture, and use in cooking. Try them out.

You can also watch the instruction video here

Instructions

Make a 3 cm horizontal cut in the bag at the top.

Open the plastic cover to expose the growing medium

Mist the exposed growing medium as well as the inside of the plastic humidity bag that is supplied with a suitable mister.

Mist the inside of the humidity bag (plastic bag)

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Place the humidity bag over the log.

Place in an area out of direct sunlight but with good light. Do not place in a room with air-conditioning.

Repeat 3 to 5 times a day. (Remove the humidity plastic bag, mist the exposed growing medium and the humidity bag and replaced the bag again over the growing medium)

After 10 days you will start to see the first mushrooms developing. Remove the humidity bag permanently

Keep misting the mushrooms 3 to 5 times a day till they are fully grown (chestnut mushrooms are the exception. Read further down)

Harvest

Second round

Revive the log

After you have harvested the mushrooms, close the cut with sellotape.

Take the center plug out of the log. Agitate the center of the log. Pour it full of water and leave it until the next day.

Pout the water out and replace it again with fresh water and leave again for a day. Do this 3 times.

Replace the plug in the center core.

Replace the log back into the original tube container.

Place it for 7 days in the vegetable drawer of your fridge.

These steps will ensure that the mycelium (the growth of the mushrooms inside the log) will go into hibernation and will “Reset”

Leave the log at room temperature for a day.

Then start from the beginning again.

This time make a cut on the side of the log at a different place.

Repeat the process.

The second batch of mushrooms will take longer to appear (from around 3 weeks), but they will appear.

This log can last up to a year producing several harvests of mushrooms.

You will know that the log is depleted when it feels soft and mushy.

Some useful tips and information

The mushroom will reach maturity (it’s ready for harvesting) when the caps (top part) flattens and the edges browns. Should you leave it longer the mushrooms will start to spawn spores. You will see white(oyster) or brown powder(chestnut) (spores) on the surface under them. When the mushroom reaches the stage where it spawns it will have a shorter shelve life compared to if it was harvested when it was ripe.

When Chestnut mushrooms start to form, they do not like to be sprayed. For the first few days spray the water onto the log next to the mushrooms, but not on them. Only when they become bigger and stronger can they again be sprayed with water.

How to keep mushrooms after harvesting.

Mushrooms will keep in a brown paper bag for up to a week in the fridge.

Do not wash your mushrooms before you put in the fridge. If you do want to wash them do so just before you cook them.

Whole mushrooms will last longer than sliced mushrooms.

Frozen mushrooms can last for 10 to up to 12 months.

You can also dry your mushrooms in the sun or a food dehydrator. Dry until then snap when you break them. Then store in a sealed container in cool dry place. Dried mushrooms can last for up to a year.

To rehydrate the mushrooms just pour boiling water over them and leave for 30 minutes.

Dried mushrooms can be used in soups, sauces, or stews.