Imperfect FunGal

Growing mushrooms from recycled mushroom blocks is a great way help reduce items headed to the landfill, to have fun, and grow food at the same time.  I’m lucky to have Central Texas Mycology here in Austin, but wherever you are, check to see if recycled mushroom blocks are available near you. If not, you can always either buy block kits and fruit them multiple times or buy the base block and inoculate them with the spore of your choosing.  For this article, I’m going to pretend that you have access to recycled blocks near you.

First – Build Your Growing Chamber

What You’ll Need:

• Clear Plastic Bin – Top and all sides should be clear
  • My preference is for the 54 quart Sterilite bins – the allows you to grow 2 blocks at the same time, but you can really use any size container that your block will fit in.  Make sure that your block has room on all sides for mushrooms to grow.
• 6 qts Perlite 3-6mm
• ¼ inch drill bit and drill or Dremel
• Ruler
• Sharpie Marker
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Paper towel or cloth
• Protective gear – eye gear for while you are drilling and mask for perlite dust

How You’ll Do It:

1. Start off by putting some rubbing alcohol on a paper towel and thoroughly wipe down the inside and the outside of your plastic bin.  Let the outside dry, this should only take a few minutes.
2. Using the ruler, measure up 3 inches from the bottom of the container and using the sharpie, mark where this is on each side of the container.  You will not drill below this line.
3. Using the ruler, measure up 2 inches from the top and each corner of the container and using the sharpie, mark where this is on each side of the container.  You will not drill outside this line.
4. For the top of the container, measure 3 inches from each side and using the sharpie, mark this location on the container.  You will not drill outside this line.
5. Now, make a 2 inch grid inside these box areas, where the lines meet is where you will drill your holes.  Your bin will look something like this:
   1. PROTIP:  If you want to make your life easier, use grid stickers on your bin to minimize the need to measure for each dot.

• Now it’s time to drill your holes.  You will likely want to do this outside as it will make a mess.  Remember to put on your eye protection as plastic will be flying.
• Drill all of your holes in the container.  PRO TIP:  Leave the lid on the container when you drill the holes, it will prove more stability and will keep some of the plastic inside the container.
• Next clean up, wipe the outside of the container with alcohol again.  Open up the container and wipe down the inside, if any pieces of plastic remain connected with the holes, break them off while you are wiping down the inside of the container.
• Put on your mask, perlite gets super dusty.  Pour the pearlite into the bottom of the container.  Add water to the bin on top of the perlite and keep stirring with your hands until the perlite is wet, but there is not more than 1 inch of standing water at the bottom of the bin.  At this point, your setup should look like this:

1. Put top on bin and set aside until your block is ready.

Second – Find Your Mushroom Block

As I mentioned, you’ll need to find a mushroom block.  If you are in the Austin area you can find recycled blocks all over the place from Central Texas Mycology.  This map will show you locations where you can find the blocks as well as if the location currently has blocks (green) or if they are out of blocks (red).  You can also find blocks at many of their community events.  The description will let you know if they will have blocks available at the event.  The suggested donation for blocks is $5/block – A steal! 

When you find the blocks, you can either look for a block that speaks to you, or look up what type of block you are getting.  This FAQ will let you know some additional growing tips as well as how to look at the bag on the sticker to determine what the mushroom is.  I highly recommend trying different kinds of blocks as fresh mushrooms taste way more amazing than anything that you have purchased in a store.  You may see blocks with mushrooms already growing out of them, this is a super easy way to get started as the hard part is already done.  I would choose 2 blocks (they do not have to be the same kind) to start.  If one doesn’t work out, you will still have a spare!

Third – Soak Your Mushroom Block

Like with mushrooms you find in the wild, mini mushrooms need time and water to grow.  The mycelium (think if this as the mushroom factory) is a white substance that you will see growing on the outside of the block.  You can also think of the mycelium as the tree and the mushroom as the fruit that the tree grows.  This is not scientifically super correct, but it helped my brain start to understand how mushrooms come to be.  In this step we will be getting the “tree” strong enough to grow fruit.

What You’ll Need:

• A knife or a spoon
• A tub big enough to soak your block
• Water to soak your block
• A towel big enough to cover your bin that you created in the first step
• The bin you created in the first step

How You’ll Do It:

1. Take the plastic off of your mushroom block.  Again, this is a step I like to do outside as there could be spores in the bag, or mold on your block that needs to be removed.
2. Look for anything that looks green on your block or any mushrooms that look small or unhealthy (usually slimy).  Use the knife or a spoon to cut out the green spots or yucky mushrooms.  Remove as much of the block as you need to in order to clear the area of whatever is bothering you.  The mycelium will grow over the areas, you will not damage the mushrooms by cleaning up your block. NOTE:  Some blocks make already have mushrooms that look healthy and these can stay and will start to grow bigger immediately! If you have a block that already has healthy mushrooms growing on the block, you can skip the next soaking step.
3. If there are no mushrooms growing on the block, you will want to add water to get the mushrooms thinking about growing.  Mushrooms are really interesting in that they will only grow when the right conditions are in place, they can lay dormant until those conditions are met.  Take a container and place the block or blocks in the container.  Fill the container with water so that the block is covered half way.  Soak for 12 hours, then turn the block over and soak the other half for 12 hours.  Remove the block from the water.
4. Place your block(s) in the container.  I usually place one of the large sides down, this just seems to allow more area for the mushrooms to grow, but feel free to experiment, that’s part of the fun! If you have not already added about an inch of water to your perlite, now is the time to do so. Try to limit the amount of perlite you get on the block as you will likely need to cut this out of your future mushrooms when you harvest them.

• If you have mushrooms that are already growing, leave the bin uncovered and move to the next step.  If you do not have mushrooms growing, you will want to cover the bin with a towel in order to give it a nice dark area to promote the mushrooms to grow.  You will want to leave the bin covered until the mushrooms start to pin (grow baby mushrooms), this will likely look like one of the following images:

Fourth – Grow Your Mushrooms

For this step you will want your mushrooms to be somewhere where they can get direct sunshine for 2-3 hours and a source of fresh air.  Mushrooms seem to be happy between 40-75 degrees F.  Mine sits on my porch pretty happily.  You can also simulate this with a fan and grow light (I have not tried this yet, but seems to be standard advice).   

Some sites recommend misting the blocks, but I have had a lot of luck with the fix it and forget it mentality.  I do check on my mushrooms daily, but do not mist them and they seem pretty happy overall.  In fact when I tried misting them they just seemed to get slimy.  The only other thing I do to baby them is if it looks like the mushrooms are hitting the side of the container I will move them to try to give them a little more room. 

Now you just need to wait until they are ready to harvest. 

Fifth – Harvest

This is the hard one as all of the mushrooms are different.  The best advice I can provide is that there is not really a too early, there is a too late, but when you see them you will know you waited too long. Good news is that even if you miss it a little, your mushrooms will still taste better than when you get them from the grocery store. 

Lion’s Mane – This one is good at telling you when it’s ready.  If part of the lion’s mane starts to turn yellow or grey, it’s time to harvest.  Another way to check is that lion’s mane should be squishy like a marshmallow.  If it starts feeling harder, it’s time to harvest.  Put your hands near the base of the grouping and pull, it will come easily off the block, but it will likely take a chunk of the block with it. 

Oyster – These will start curling inward when they are ready to harvest.  For some of the colored varieties, they will also start to smell a little “off” when they are ready to harvest.  The smell will diminish once you remove them and wipe them down with a damp cloth.

Chestnut – These are ready when orange comes off on your fingers when you touch them.  They will also look slightly “wet”.   If the cap starts to be flat or concave you are a little past ready to harvest.