Ever wish you could grow your own mushrooms? It’s not like just growing vegetables or flowers; it takes a lot of work. Mushrooms only grow in certain conditions, and it can sometimes be hard to mimic those conditions. One woman recently found the perfect way to grow them in your own home.
The items you use may surprise you.
Here’s how to do it:
Supplies:
- Gallon Container
- Coffee Grounds
- Cardboard
- Mushroom Spawn
- Clear Trash Bags
- Rubbing Alcohol
Directions:
- Step 1: Take a one-gallon plastic container and cut three sides of the lid. Poke or cut four to six 1/4-inch holes on the bottom to allow air exchange and drainage.
- Step 2: Wipe the container with alcohol. This will sterilize it and protect your mushrooms from bacteria and mold. Keep your work area as clean as possible to avoid contamination.
- Step 3: Break up 20 percent to 25 percent of the oyster mushroom spawn for each 1-gallon container.
- Step 4: Put down a few layers of cardboard. A brown paper bag can also work.
- Step 5: Sprinkle some spawn, then cover with a thin layer of coffee grounds. Make sure the coffee grounds are not too hot or too cold since this can kill or damage the spawn. The more spawn the better. This will prevent fungus and bacteria from growing in the container.
- Step 6: Repeat the layers until the container is filled. Top with a layer of cardboard, and close the lid. If there are a few small air gaps, it’s nothing to worry about.
- Step 7: Loosely drape a plastic bag over the container to allow for air exchange and keep in moisture.
- Step 8: Put the container of mushrooms in a dark place for at least two weeks. Check every few days to make sure it’s not drying out. If you notice the bags look dry, spray water inside the bag or lid of the container to moisten it again.
You should see the mushrooms starting to grow within three or four days.
Continue to monitor them, keep them moist, and clean the area around them with rubbing alcohol. Once the mushrooms are big enough, you can pick them, clean them, and use them in meals if you desire.
Even if you don’t plan to eat the mushrooms, they can still be fun to grow, and this makes a fun experiment for kids.
Oyster mushrooms have a lot of medicinal properties.
According to Medical Mushrooms:
“The Oyster Mushroom has statins and lovastatins that help in lowering cholesterol in the body. … The body has 2 types of cholesterol – the good and the bad. The good cholesterol is the high-density lipoprotein, HDL, while the bad cholesterol is the low-density lipoprotein, LDL. It is possible to know the level of each through a blood test. LDL is deemed bad because as it moves along with the blood, it leaves deposits on the walls of blood vessels. Gradually it forms a kind of plaque that narrows down the blood vessels. This condition is called atherosclerosis. Should there be a blood clot within the narrowed vessels, then the person is likely to suffer a heart attack or even a stroke.”
Mushrooms are used in a lot of recipes, especially in Japanese culture.
They are also used in many medications and healthcare products. They truly are remarkable. The best way to learn about them is to grow them yourself and watch them transform from spawn to big, healthy mushrooms.
If you thought your only chance of getting some mushrooms was to find a couple growing in the forest or in the produce section of your local grocery store, think again.
Thanks to this fun little project, you can now grow your own and use them however you want. Have fun growing your own and learn as much as you can about them.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
