MAINE, USA — Mushrooms are a delicacy that one would think would be very difficult to grow, but Gardening with Gutner learned just how easy it is to grow fungi.
Todd Gutner visited North Spore mycologist Louis Giller who said there are multiple ways to grow mushrooms.
"The simplest way North Spore offers is our spray and grow kit," the mycologist explained.
North Spore offers kits to grow Pink Oyster, Golden Oyster, Blue Oyster, and Lion's Mane. He said all you have to do is open the box, slice the package, spray the spore, harvest, and enjoy. And it only takes a few weeks.
If you want a larger volume of mushrooms, you will need to head to the garden, Giller said.
In a bed of untreated wood chips, rake back some of the planting medium and spread a material called spawn. Giller says to spread it like feta cheese in a layer and then cover it with more chips. You can also use an untreated straw. Repeat the layers two to three times. One bag of North Spore spawn will grow about 16 square feet of mushrooms. Keep the area moist. It can handle some sunlight, but the shade is better if you got it, the mycologist instructed.
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Shitake mushrooms are a favorite, but you have to grow those differently.
"The best way to grow those are on logs," Giller revealed. "You want logs that are 4 to 6 inches in diameter, about 3 feet long. Something you can easily move around."
There are two different methods for log growing, using little dowels that are colonized or sawdust. Both require drilling into the log. Once you've made your holes, you tap in the dowel until it's level with the surface. If you're doing sawdust, then use an injector to fill the holes. Whether you're doing little dowels or sawdust, cover with paraffin wax or food-grade wax. And in just a few weeks, you will have delicious mushrooms.
North Spore, located in Westbrook, sells all the products needed to cultivate mushrooms. The company has been around for eight years and states:
"What began as a simple love for mushroom foraging and cultivation quickly developed into an obsession with all things fungi. From there, an urban mushroom farm was born, as was the desire to spread the spore to the masses."