On July 16 Noah Schleifer of Harmony Mushroom Company educated guests on how to cultivate their own gourmet mushrooms at home. Harmony produces more than 1,000 pounds of fresh mushrooms a month at Noah’s home. Guests learned techniques for DIY mycology including growing mushrooms on recycled materials. They were also able to shop Harmony Mushroom Company’s selection of mushrooms like blue oyster and lion’s mane, and a selection of extracts.
How to Grow Mushrooms
Grow Blocks and Grow Kits are the two most common options for beginner mushroom growers. Grow blocks are fully colonized with mycelium, and ready to produce mushrooms. Fruiting blocks are usually contained in plastic bags, while grow kits are contained in boxes. Both are made of material like sawdust, that is inoculated with mycelium. These are the easiest way to grow, but not the most cost effective. All you need to do is cut the bag or box open, and mist daily with water while keeping the humidity consistent.
Grain spawn or sawdust spawn can allow you to inoculate different grow mediums with mycelium. Some examples are oats, rye berry, millet, sorghum, and popcorn. In order to use a grain medium, hydrate the grain and dry it, then sterilize to eliminate contamination. You can sterilize your substrate by using a pressure cooker, or atmospheric sterilization. Another option is clear hot water or cold water and lime. After the grain medium is clear, introduce a liquid culture. You can also buy colonized grain spawn, and perform grain-to-grain inoculation.
Growing Mediums are a micro ecosystem for your mycelium. There are many different options for nutrition here. The most important detail is keeping your substrate sterile so your mycelium can grow without any competition from bacteria or other fungus. Some examples of nutritious growing medium are sawdust, straw, hardwood pellets, logs, and cardboard.
If you feel ready for a more advanced method, another option to grow mushrooms is using an agate plate with a liquid culture. Agar is a gelatin material made from seaweed often used to growing lab cultures in a petri dish. Liquid culture is a mycelium soup, made of a nutrient broth which you can use to inoculate grain spawn. This method requires proper sterilization of the environment to give your mushrooms the best chance to grow. This method is often done in a designated lab area, but it can be done at home too.
Harmony Mushroom Co.
Noah Schleifer is the owner and founder of Harmony Mushroom Company, Northeast Florida’s leading provider of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. Noah started Harmony Mushroom Company with the goal to lead, educate, innovate, and inspire.