If you want to start growing mushrooms then you should consider working with one of the easiest mushrooms to grow to begin with, and I’m sharing those today
- Shiitake mushroom grow kit
- Other mushroom grow kits
- Oyster mushrooms on toilet paper
- Wine cap on wood chips
- Shiitake on logs
The range of difficulty in cultivating mushrooms is massive, the learning curve can be steep, and sometimes there is an excessive amount of information out there.
This post walks you through easy mushrooms to grow and information you should know before embarking on the journey of growing your own mushrooms! I will come out and say it: the easiest mushrooms to grow are from our grow kits. These kits are ready to fruit and have all of the hard work done by the professionals at our farm. To grow these, simply cut holes in the plastic, mist the kit with a spray bottle, keep the kit in the appropriate environment, and allow the mushrooms to fruit. With shiitake the plastic is completely removed and the mushrooms fruit all over the block.
The shiitake blocks even fruit great just placed outside. The image below depicts a "graveyard" for blocks after they were used in our commercial production. This is just after a heavy rainstorm. We picked over 200 pounds from this fruiting of mushrooms!
The blocks will continue to fruit over and over again before they run out of food to consume. Other grow kits are very easy to grow as well, like oyster and lion's mane. They take a little more care and sometimes don't fruit quite as abundantly.
The best part about using our mushroom growing kits is that the process is easier, regardless of the mushroom strain you are trying to grow. Shiitakes, lion’s mane, chestnut, and a variety of beautiful oyster mushrooms can be grown using our kits. You can even try your hand at pioppino and reishi mushroom. We recommend trying a grow kit before some of the other more in-depth methods for growing so you can see if you enjoy it before getting into bigger grows.
Easiest mushrooms to grow: Oyster no problemo!
Oyster mushrooms are a very easy mushroom to grow with a wide range of techniques. Growing oyster mushrooms on coffee grounds or toilet paper is a great way to start out. If you are growing on coffee grounds it is good to use 50% sawdust and 50% coffee grounds for the substrate. This increases aeration and allows the mycelium plenty of room to breathe as it grows. The toilet paper method as shown in the video below is EZ Breezy too.
Wine cap mushrooms are also some of the easiest mushrooms to grow
Check out this post for a full description of growing wine caps. This is a very straight forward process that takes about 6 months with little to no work after adding the spawn. The most important thing is to start with FRESH HARDWOOD wood chips and high-quality wine cap spawn. Otherwise selecting a somewhat shady area and relaxing as the mycelium grows is all you need to do to grow this mushroom. IN September and May you also need to be ready to harvest these mushrooms as the window to pick them is about 2 days!
Easiest mushrooms to grow: Shiitakes on logs is another easy option for you
Shiitake mushrooms have been grown on logs since 1100. Grown extensively in Japan for almost 1000 years now, the name shii (an evergreen oak tree) take (meaning mushroom) is the Japanese name for this mushroom.
Shiitakes on logs have been the primary method of back yard cultivation since the 70's. Many homesteaders and commercial growers have turned to this method of cultivation and continue to hone the systems, strains, and ideas around this cultivation method. For a step-by-step guide to growing shiitakes on logs visit this page. This method is a little intensive at the beginning, requiring you to source fresh hardwood logs, drill holes, fill them with plug spawn and then wax over. After doing this initial process you just let the mycelium work its magic and wait for about 14 months until the mushrooms are ready to fruit!
Log cultivation is best done on hardwood logs like oak, sugar maple, and beech. Other logs will work but will not produce as high of yields. It is best to select logs that are between 3-8 inches for this method of cultivation. 1 inch deep holes are drilled every 6 inches and shiitake plug spawn is tapped into the holes with a hammer. The log is rotated 2 inches and holes are again drilled every 6 inches. It is best to off set the holes so in the end the drilling makes a diamond pattern. Every hole is filled with shiitake plug spawn and then waxed over. The wax ensures the mycelium will not dry out, and that no other fungi will get into the log. This is the most common answer to the question of how to grow shiitake mushrooms at home.
