Mushroom Discovery - how to reuse your Back to the Roots Mushroom Grow (2024)

FAQs

How do you reuse back to the roots mushroom kit? ›

Scrape away the white mycelium as you did for your first crop, and re-soak your bag in water overnight. Insert the bag back into its box with the new X facing the open back panel. Water your grow kit just like you did before, but the more water the better this second time around!

Many mushroom varieties can be grown on logs using the totem method. If you don't have enough sawdust or grain spawn left to inoculate a totem, of if you have plug spawn which doesn't work well to inoculate logs this way, then you can use the leftover spawn to make cardboard spawn.

Give your block some fresh air

Leaving the plastic on your kit helps to keep moisture in, preventing the block from drying out. Feel free to spray it periodically when it's looking parched as you would inside. After a couple of weeks, you should expect mushrooms after heavy rainfall or after a big temperature shift.

Should You Try a Kit? If you have any interest in growing mushrooms at all, and you aren't ready to do it from scratch, then most definitely yes- you should try a kit! It will give you an idea of how mushrooms grow, and what requirements they need in order to fruit properly.

How long do mushroom growing kits last? Each grow kit usually lasts for about 2-3 harvests, but this will vary depending on the variety of grow kit you choose. Kits may produce more or less mushrooms in total before they expire and must be replaced.

One common method of reusing mushroom bags is for growing mushrooms. After the first harvest, the bags can be prepared and restocked with fresh substrate to produce another crop. This process can be repeated several times, depending on the condition of the bag and the quality of the substrate.

Spent mycelium cakes need not be thrown away! These little bundles of mycelium still have a whole lot to give, and can go on to produce incredibly strong mushrooms, or even be the beginning of an outdoor, wild mushroom garden. Find out all about reusing old mycelium cakes here.

Water generously every week to establish the mycelium. Check once a week for a few weeks to make sure the mycelium is spreading by digging down in a few spots and then patching it back.

Refrigerate the spawn if not using within a few days. Sawdust spawn can be stored for up to 3 months if refrigerated. Leaving spawn at room temperature for too long can result in mushroom growth inside of the bag which can affect the way the spawn handles in tools, plus there may be some vigor loss.

Gypsum is a mineral that helps speed up the mushroom growing process in small amounts. A teaspoon of gypsum is added to the supplemented sawdust mix, which also includes hardwood sawdust pellets, wheat bran and water.

What boosts mushroom growth? ›

Adequate air, moisture, carbohydrates, and nitrogen are all needed to help the compost pile stimulate mushroom growth. As we said earlier, mushroom cultivation isn't easy. However, if you use these tips, you'll be well on your way to a fruitful yield.

All our kits are recommended to be grown in a room with enough light that you can read a book by during the day. Because mushrooms don't photosynthesis the light doesn't need to be natural, they'll get all their nutrition from the substrate block, and will just use the light to initiate growth.

Some easier to cultivate and sell but high value mushrooms are maitake, lion's mane, and depending where you are shiitakes. The mushrooms that are the most profitable tend to be mushrooms going for the supplement or health field rather than culinary.

Yes, you can most definitely reuse mushroom grow kits! Mushroom grow kits are generally designed to give you more than one harvest depending on the species of mushroom inside your growing kit. There is enough water nutrition available in the substrate to give you multiple harvests over a period of 2-10 weeks.

Yes, you can most definitely reuse mushroom grow kits! Mushroom grow kits are generally designed to give you more than one harvest depending on the species of mushroom inside your growing kit. There is enough water nutrition available in the substrate to give you multiple harvests over a period of 2-10 weeks.

Don't panic! Your mushroom kit still has all the food needed to produce mushrooms. Simply pick off the dried-up pins, wait one week, letting the block dry out on a plate. Then, soak the block for 20 minutes in cold water, drain all the water out of your kit (species that grow in the bag) and start the process over.

Even after the mushrooms have been picked, these blocks still contain a richness of organic matter and helpful microbes that can help your plants thrive. Reusing mushroom blocks in your garden is an efficient way to recycle this unique resource and save it from going to waste.

Spent mycelium cakes need not be thrown away! These little bundles of mycelium still have a whole lot to give, and can go on to produce incredibly strong mushrooms, or even be the beginning of an outdoor, wild mushroom garden. Find out all about reusing old mycelium cakes here.