Mushroom Growing Basics - Your 101 Class to Shrooms
Here are the most common methods of growing:
PF Technique
The Most common beginner method is “PF Tek” it is very basic and easy to monitor progress! It involves taking brown rice flour (Which can be made by grinding brown rice) & vermiculite mixing it in a 2-1-1 ratio; 2 parts vermiculite, 1 part brown rice flour & 1 part water. You then put the mixture into glass jars preferably 4oz-8oz wide mouth. When filling the jars always leave room to put a layer of dry vermiculite on top as this is your filter for contaminants. To inoculate the jar there are 2 options, either a spore syringe or Liquid culture / liquid inoculant through holes made in the lid of the jar prior to filling up and pressure cooking, by injecting spores or culture along with the glass you will be able to visibly see the progression!
Updated version
There are 2 ways to fruit your mycelium cakes from your PF technique! The first one is a SGFC (shotgun fruiting chamber) after your cakes are fully colonized waiting a week so they are solidified or when pins appear you then “birth” the cakes, by removing them from the jar, cleaning off the dry vermiculite layer & rinsing in water then submerging the cakes for 12-24 hours in water once the time has lapsed then you will roll it in new dry vermiculite and place into your SGFC ( Info below for construction of one) place it on foil that is the exact size of the cake so it does not touch the perlite in the container. After a few hours have lapsed you then may mist the cakes and fan for FAE (fresh air exchange) it may take several days for pins to appear and mushrooms to grow. Once you harvest the mushrooms by removing all visible pins/mushrooms you may then re-submerge the cakes and repeat the process a few times until the mycelium has used up all the nutrients in the cake!
Shotgun Fruiting Chamber instructions
If you do not want to do a SGFC style grow you can “shred” the brf cakes to bulk! Essentially instead of waiting the extra week you take the cakes out of the jars, remove the dry vermiculite. Once you have done that you grate the cakes with a cheese grater and mix them together with a substrate, (check out Damien5050’s substrate technique down below), you are now growing in a “Monotub”. A monotub is a bin with holes cut in them for FAE and covered with micropore tape or stuffed with polyfill. An easier method is Bod’s Unmodified tek ( link below) Which is specific to Sterlite containers, with the latches where you flip the lid allowing for gaps where the latches would normally be closed allowing for fresh air exchange.