Introduction to Using Mushroom Grow Bags
You can use plastic mushroom growing bags in many different applications in mushroom growing. There many mushrooms that grow effectively inside growing bags. An example of a popular mushroom that grows well in bags is the oyster mushroom (see below). Plastic mushroom growing bags store the growing medium (also called substrate) that provide nutrition to the mushrooms. There are some very important tips to understand from this post on growing mushrooms in bags.
Plastic mushroom grow bags are meant to have two important qualities: Can withstand the high temperatures of pressure sterilization, and have a micron filter for spore injection. The plastic bags must keep their shape and not rip or tear during pressure sterilization, otherwise the substrate will pour out. The micron filter acts as a barrier so once you’ve sterilized the grow bag you can inject the mushroom spores through the filter without contamination.
Here is a grow bag with a micron filter looks like:
Mushroom grow bags are often filled to the brim with the mushroom growing substrate. Here is what a mushroom grow bag with oyster mushrooms fruiting from it looks like.
When to Utilize Growing Mushrooms in Bags
Obviously, one can’t grow mushrooms with only a bag. A mushroom growing bag is filled with the proper substrate for the mushroom you’re growing. For example, oyster mushrooms grow best in cereal straw as a medium. This means that the oyster mushrooms will consume the nutrients from the cereal straw inside the bag and then grow out of that material and out of the bag.
Buying tip: Find top-rated mushroom grow bags on Amazon here. These are the best we’ve found.
Continuing with the guide: Clear plastic mushroom grow bags are most often used in commercial or large-scale mushroom growing operations. You don’t often find people growing mushrooms at home using mushroom grow bags, instead people will generally use the PF Tek Method (link to our guide) at home to grow mushrooms easily and smoothly.
Plastic mushroom grow bags are best for mass-growing mushrooms. You can place mushroom grow bags on shelves in a warehouse or shed. Since the bags are clear plastic, you can easily see how well the mushrooms are doing and how much they’ve grown.
Additionally, it’s easier to work with growing mushrooms in these bags when it comes time to perform work on the mushrooms. It’s easy to cut bags open, harvest from them, and discard and recycle the material. The most helpful part about using mushroom grow bags is that they make it easy to identify contamination. And, since plastic protects contaminated material from spreading to another bag, this keeps one contaminated bag separate from the other uncontaminated bags. This is extremely important and helpful to a commercial or large-scale mushroom grower.
The Step to Using a Mushroom Grow Bag
Here, we will list the basic steps for using a plastic mushroom grow bag, however, every grower has different methods and styles of working with their materials.
- Purchase a package of mushroom growing bags online. (Link to Amazon listing)
- Fill your mushroom growing bags with your mushroom substrate.
- Remember, this is different for each mushroom! Head to our guide here to learn more.
- Place your mushroom growing bags in a pressure sterilizer.
- This is usually a large pressure cooker (Amazon) or an autoclave. Sterilize fully and safely.
- (We will cover more on sterilization below)
- Check that your mushroom grow bags did not melt or rip.
- Once sterilized and cooled down, inject your mushroom grow bags with your mushroom spores.
- When your grow bags are almost fully colonized with the mushroom mycelium, make a small slit in the top or side to allow the mushrooms to fruit.
- Done. Read more on the whole bag spawning process with our guide here.
This is a very high level overview, but should give you an idea of how plastic mushroom growing bags are utilized.
Sterilization Process with Mushroom Growing Bags
As many mushroom growers know, the sterilization process in growing mushrooms is extremely important. With mushroom growing bags, this means filling your bags with your proper substrate and fully sterilizing them.
In order to fully sterilize, you will need a high-pressure, high-heat environment. This means you need a high quality grow bag. Many materials will melt or rip under the pressure sterilization conditions.
Make sure you purchase highly-rated growing bags to prevent contamination and save you time trying to find more bags that will really work for you.
