So you want to grow mushrooms?

[ffj]

Btw, another good technique for those of you who want it simple. It is truly amazing the amount of good content that has come out from a few years ago when I first started researching. It's almost too easy now to find valuable information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if0uK6iaDEM

[ffj]

I've reached a good place in my operation. The grow tent is done! Well, not the fine tuning, but the infrastructure is complete and that is a good feeling.

I first completed my fresh air intake. It is nothing more than a fan that originates in the pre-conditioning room and is ducted to the grow tent. So fresh outside air is drawn into the pre-conditioning room, is conditioned by the mini-split, and pumped into the grow tent. Notice that all of my ducting is insulated to prevent temperature loss.






Next I completed my exhaust. Now I used a smaller in-line fan for this because my intention is to slightly over-pressure the space with fresh air but its purpose is to help remove any co2 and help facilitate complete air replacement to avoid any build-up of counter-productive contaminates. Thankfully I had a bunch of plumbing parts left over from my house build to create this without having to buy anything.





Tomorrow I have a guy coming to vacuum test my mini-split lines and once that passes we'll charge the system and start it up. After that my job will be finding the proper balance between all of these systems so that a perfect growing condition is created within the grow tent. I fully expect to have to modify some of it to make it work but that is part of the process.

[loutfard]

Btw, another good technique for those of you who want it simple. It is truly amazing the amount of good content that has come out from a few years ago when I first started researching. It's almost too easy now to find valuable information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if0uK6iaDEM

Thank you for this one! This looks feasible, even inside our relatively small house. I'll definitely try this in the not too far future.

I would just like to try and pasteurise the straw without boiling water. I think I found an alternative using the acid properties of hydrated lime. Apparently, just 16g suffices for a 10l bucket. At 14.45€/25 kg bag, that's 0.008€ per pasteurisation. That sounds safer and >99% cheaper. If I can scoop up 100g somewhere, even 100% cheaper.

Back of the envelope calculation:
- specific heat capacity of water: 4184 J/kg
- average tap water temperature: 13°C
- 10l water = 10kg
- 0.35€/kWh
- 4184 J * 10 kg * 87°C temperature delta / 3600 seconds per hour / 1000 watts * 0.35€/kWh = 1.01€ per 10l bucket

[ffj]

@loutfard

You are welcome. And as a compliment to your post, I am going to demonstrate the lime method. Now I won't be using this method much for the grow operation simply because it is really messy with the straw, but if I can bring a fruited bucket to the market I think it will draw people in for comment.

Basically you load a drum with straw, take a weedeater and chop it up and pour lime water into the barrel and let it soak for 12 to 24 hours. I'm using 1/3 cup pickling lime per 5 gallons of water.









Tomorrow I will load the fruiting buckets with straw and mycelium. The fruiting buckets are simply 5 gallon buckets with holes drilled in them.

[ffj]

Lasagna!

Layer of straw, mycelium, layer of straw, repeat.



The straw will leak for a bit so make sure you store the bucket with something to catch the runoff. And the same rules apply for colonization: store in a warm dark place for a couple of weeks and hopefully you'll be ready for fruiting.

[ffj]

Finished the shelving for the grow room and I am officially capable of fruiting some mushroom blocks. Notice how minimalist the construction. This is because less surface area means less cleaning, and less places for mold or bacteria to hide. I was going to start tomorrow but I think the blocks need several more days for complete colonization. So instead of two weeks since inoculation it will be more like three weeks. Not a problem.

Once I get into rotation it won't matter but I am anxious to dial in all of the parameters of humidity, temp, and air flow. This needs to happen before the Market starts for sure.

[ffj]

I decided to wait a full month versus two weeks to start fruiting my blocks for a couple of reasons. This gave the colonization process (for oysters) a full 30 days for completeness and I want to better time my grow with the market, meaning I want an outlet once all of these start popping. So for those of you wondering what happened this is the reason for the delay.

I put nineteen blocks in 6 days ago and with two varieties I already have some nice pinning, which is right on track for what they should be doing. The other two varieties may need more time or a slight temperature adjustment but I'm not sure just yet. Part of the process for growing mushrooms is experimentation and keeping track of what you have done for further tweaking. That is one of the reasons I am documenting everything here.





These guys are going to be growing fast so I'll keep you guys posted, good or bad. Notice the little tents I cut into the plastic to start these guys off. When the mycelium contacts with outside air it prompts growth.

I'm pretty happy with my grow tent and control room so far as it is highly adjustable. I have found that limiting the humidity to 80% keeps the walls from condensing and floor puddling and that I need the temp a full 10 degrees higher in the pre-conditioning room to get the tent to the correct temperature. One last thing I need to do is run the exhaust out of the building but I've just been hesitant about cutting another hole through my exterior wall but it has to be done or the spores exhausted will start wreaking havoc in my shop. I still have time for that however.




In a related note my buckets of straw after three weeks are more than ready to fruit. So here is proof positive that the pasteurization with lime works well. It is just a really messy and unpleasant job so you will need the space outdoors preferably to prep your buckets.

[ffj]

Thought it would be neat to do a daily photo.

Day 1



Day 2



Day 3



Day 4

Small disaster. My mushroom block I was photographing fell out of my shelving sometime last night. I need to rethink my minimalist shelf. But here it is:



Here is a photo of one that is comparable that didn't break off. More than likely I'll be picking these tomorrow.



Day 5

All of the grays and blues will be picked today and I even picked one last night which yielded 1.8 pounds before trimming.





And my goldens are starting up which is exciting:



So there you go, four or five days after pinning they are ready to pick, at least for the oysters.

[loutfard]

Do keep this going! Fascinating to have a first row view!

[ffj]

Thanks lout, a time lapse would be even more neat with a gopro or some sort as they grow fairly quickly.

Right now my blues and grey oysters are doing well but the Goldens are waiting for warmer temps, so I may pull them and try a different set-up. My fourth variety of oyster is being a bit temperamental but this is why you simply start a process, to figure out what is going to work for you.

[ffj]

I've completed the grow cycle for the mushrooms if anyone is interested 3 posts up. So this should document starting from scratch to picking the fruit which I hope was helpful.

If I get my other mushrooms such as lions mane and Shiitake to fruit I'll showcase that too.

[loutfard]

@ffj , you mentioned you making money growing mushrooms as a goal. Any update on that side of the story?

[ffj]

Sure.

I've been to two Saturday Markets now and it's been ....interesting. Both days were rain days, meaning they moved us from the popular location into a large pavilion with a roof. And both days according to the other vendors have had low turnout because of the location and the fact that it was raining. This past Saturday it literally poured the entire time.

I get a lot of compliments on how beautiful my mushrooms are, one guy even asked to take a picture.



I also get lots of questions, especially since I've been selling grow blocks. BUT, there is an inverse relationship between curiosity and buying for the most part, haha. Some people just want to talk, I even had one lady after chatting me up for a while declare she doesn't like mushrooms!

I also have competition, Tim. He's been selling mushrooms there for the past 3 years so he has a loyal fan base. I get the pleasure of watching people walk up to him and buy his mushrooms and ignore me. He's actually a pretty cool guy and I talk shop each time I see him. And he doesn't seem irritated at me for stealing some of his business.

So have I made any money? Yes. Is it a lot? No.

So far I've made $180. Now that is $180 I didn't have before but I'm pretty good at math and for the amount of diligence I have to perform to grow these (it's not a lot of work, just constant supervision) I just don't know if it's worth it. Especially when I can do a simple home repair job and make much more money and walk away when it is done.

My plan is to grow out my remaining blocks that I have inoculated and see how much I make. I am not making any more until I can ascertain I am enjoying this enough to justify it. That is going to take a few more market days, especially at the normal spot. One fun thing I did after the last market was give away all of my surplus mushrooms to the other vendors and they just couldn't let my generosity go unrewarded, so in return I was given a homemade muffin, broccoli, a pound of sausage, a bar of soap, and a delicious lemon bar! That was a good feeling as I expected nothing in return. I also tipped the musician a couple pounds of mushrooms, haha. He was actually really good.

So we'll see. Thanks for asking.

[loutfard]

I wonder if you have considered selling to restaurants. Possibly more stress than it's worth, but potentially steady customers.

[ffj]

I live in an area with limited restaurants that would even remotely entertain the idea. Also, Tim has said he has had very little success with the very few around us that possibly want them. He sells to one restaurant on a limited scale.

I could turn this into a job and hustle, and an earlier version of me would have made this really competitive, but my give-a-shitter has pretty much quit working. I've proven that I can grow quality mushrooms and now that that goal has been met so has some of the enthusiasm. But we'll see on future markets if I get rejuvenated. The door is wide open for multiple directions for sure.

[sky]

Do you know anything about dried mushrooms? I am trying to use a lot of mushrooms in my cooking and all of the other ingredients last a long time or can be frozen, so often I need to go shopping for fresh mushrooms in order to cook. If I had a supply of dried mushrooms and knew how to cook with them, I could have all the ingredients I need stored for longer periods of time.

I see dried mushrooms for sale on amazon and at Harmony House, but have not tried them. I also have a small dehydrater and could dry about a pound at a time, but I am not sure if there would be any cost savings.

[theanimal]

We use dry mushrooms occasionally when camping. They just need hot water to rehydrate, then you can cook them as you would normal mushrooms. Very easy process. If you don't rehydrate them completely, they are still edible, just a little rubbery.

[ffj]

@sky

I also sell dehydrated mushrooms at the market. To be honest, I haven't cooked a whole lot with them yet but they are good in soups or stews where they rehydrate with lots of flavor. And they last a long time.

Several of the market goers have said they are going to stock up on the dried mushrooms once the market nears closing for the season for winter stock, but now prefer the fresh ones. I dehydrate my excess mushrooms on a simple and cheap machine that costs around $30.

I am also toying with the idea of grinding them up and making mushroom seasoning. I'll just put the powdered mushrooms in a spice container.

[guitarplayer]

I'll never stop being amazed by the beauty of fungi. I can see in Scotland this could be a viable business possibly.

This is a great project and great descriptions, please do not delete it like other cool projects that were in your journal some way back!

[sky]

I am interested in buying dried mushrooms, if you have some available.