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Growing Mushrooms Indoors – A Full Guide

Introduction: Helle gardeners we are back with a great information of growing mushrooms indoors. Mushroom is one of the best diets, which consists of protein, minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins like Nutritive material in a sufficient quantity. Mushroom is having less quantity of fats due to this reason it is a good diet for heart patients and due to the very fewer carbohydrates mushroom is the most suitable diet for diabetic patients.

A step by step guide to growing mushrooms indoors

Mushroom is not required direct sunlight as it is essential in the case of vegetables which are having green leaves plants but the beds of the mushroom must be protected from the direct sunlight and rains. Thus, the mushroom is grown either in the house or in a hut or any cover and below any cover of the root which is having sufficient aeriation.

Mushrooms are an edible fungus that can give several important nutrients. Mushrooms have protein, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Mushrooms are a very good source of vitamin B, C, and D, including niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, and folate, and various minerals including potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, and copper. They can provide carbohydrates, but are low in fat and fiber, and contain no starch. Also, edible mushrooms are a good source of high-quality protein (reportedly between 19 percent and 35 percent), and white button mushrooms have more protein. Growing mushrooms at home is a task that any gardener interested in growing their food must attempt. Mushrooms are a healthy addition to any diet, as they are low in calories and fat, high in fiber, and have high amounts of potassium and selenium.

Requirements for growing mushrooms indoors

Mushrooms are best grown indoors where the temperature and light conditions can be readily managed. There are many edible mushroom varieties to choose from, and many of them have very specific growing requirements that can be difficult to replicate at home.

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Requirements for Growing Mushrooms.
Requirements for Growing Mushrooms.

The important parameters for growing mushrooms indoors are;

  • CO2-below 800 ppm, depending on species
  • Humidity–above 80%
  • Lighting—Enough to comfortably read a book
  • Temperature–is ideally between 55 and 75°F depending on the species

Now if you are doing mushrooms grow in your house, it is not necessary to measure these parameters. The mushrooms and how they are fruiting should be the major factor that you watch to adjust environmental controls. If the substrate or pins are drying out or slightly browning you want to increase humidity. If the mushrooms have very long stems and little caps, it’s likely that they either have too high CO2 or not enough light. If bacterial growth is proliferating, it is likely too hot for the mushroom to accurately fruit. To make a nice area for growing mushrooms indoors, place the fruiting substrate into a plastic bin, fish tank, or 18-gallon tote with the top on at a diagonal. You can be able completely to leave the top off, increasing CO2 and light levels, depending on the moisture content in your house.

Light availability for growing mushrooms indoors

Mushrooms cannot extract nutrients from the sun as green plants do, so they do not require light. However, mushrooms do not necessarily require a dark environment to grow. The advantage of growing mushrooms in the dark is that darkness preserves the moisture that mushroom spores want to reproduce. A basement provides ideal conditions for growing common and other button mushrooms, and logs used to grow shiitake mushrooms must be kept out of direct sunlight.

Moisture

Mushrooms could like all fungi, thrive in moist environments. Button mushrooms require moist growing media such as compost or manure. Shiitake mushroom logs must be kept at a moisture level from 35 to 45 percent, which requires soaking for 48 hours in the event the logs become dry. Ideally, a shiitake growing log must have dry bark and moist inner surfaces.

Temperature for growing mushrooms indoors

Mushrooms need temperatures between 55 and 60°F to grow properly, and strong drafts or dry air can kill them or prevent them from growing. The ideal temperature for growing shiitake mushrooms is between 72 and 78°F, but they can grow in the temperature range from 40 to 90°F. Keep shiitake logs in a shaded outdoor area or under trees to preserve their moisture and keep an ideal temperature. Heaters or fans may be necessary to make the controlled environment button mushrooms require to grow indoors.

Choosing the type of mushroom to grow

Mushroom growing at home starts with choosing the type of mushroom you will be growing. There are many kinds of mushrooms available. One of the advantages of growing your mushrooms instead of wild-harvesting them is that you can be sure you’re not picking a poisonous mushroom.

Many types of mushrooms are easiest to grow at home. Different types of mushrooms growing at home are;

  • Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes)
  • Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus)
  • White button mushrooms (Agricus bisporus)

Buy spore or spawn of your selected mushroom from a reputable dealer. For the main purposes of mushroom growing at home, think of spores as seeds and spawn as seedlings. Spawn is easier to handle and produce mushrooms at home.

The remaining types of mushrooms grown at home can be given below;

  • Crimini
  • Enoki
  • Maitake
  • Portobello

The method for growing each type of mushroom is similar, but the ideal growing substrate differs. Generally, oyster mushrooms produce best in straw, Shiitakes grow best on hardwood sawdust and button mushrooms grow best in composted manure. These different substrates reflect the different nutritional needs of every species. Make sure that if use sawdust it is from untreated wood. Select a type of mushroom to grow is a matter of taste. You must grow the type you most want to eat.

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Choose the place for growing mushrooms 

Here we discuss where to grow your mushrooms;

All mushrooms prefer dark, cool, moist, and humid growing environments. When growing mushrooms at home, a basement is often ideal, but a spot under the sink can be all you need.

Test the proposed location by checking the temperature range. Most mushrooms grow best in the temperature range between 55 and 60°F, away from drying, direct heat and drafts. Enoki mushrooms prefer cooler temperatures, about 45°F. Many basements are too warm in the summer to grow mushrooms, so you might want to grow mushrooms as a winter project.

Mushrooms can tolerate some light, but the spot you choose must stay relatively dark or in low light. Temperature, humidity, uniform ventilation, carbon dioxide, and substrate moisture levels can be controlled to obtain the best results while unwanted contaminants, molds, and sunlight can be kept away from the crop. Any small room with ventilation and a cement floor could be used. It must be possible to close off the room to the outside by shutting ventilation and doors. The interior must be arranged so that it is easy to carry out complete cleaning at the end of each cropping cycle.

The mushroom house must be well insulated to maintain a steady temperature. Corrugated metal roofing is not appropriate, but concrete or clay tiles would be. Insulating materials, for example, fiberglass wool or expanded polystyrene can be used. Small rooms could be made from wooden poles with stretched sacking covering the frame. The sacking can be covered with a wet cement and sand mixture that will create a hard protective skin.

Find a container for the mushrooms

The best thing to use is a filter patch grow bag, which can generally be purchased along with the mushroom spawn. Otherwise, you can use a large, sealable freezer bag or a sterilized milk carton or ice cream tub, with 4 small holes poked into the sides.

Fill trays with compost

Use 14×16-inch trays about 6 inches deep that resemble seed flats and fill the trays with the mushroom compost material and inoculate with spawn.

Use a heating pad

Use a heating pad to raise the soil temperature to around 70°F for about three weeks or until you see the mycelium the tiny, threadlike roots. At this point, drop the temperature range to 55 to 60°F and cover the spawn with an inch or so of potting soil.

Keep soil moist

Keep the soil moist by spritzing it with water and carefully covering it with a damp cloth, making sure that you keep spritzing the cloth as it dries.

Prepping and inoculating substrate

If you are ready to go to the next step of indoor mushroom growing and preparing and inoculating your substrate, you will first need to decide what species you want to grow and how you want to do it. If you are just starting, growing oysters on toilet paper is an easy, fast method to begin. Toilet paper can be simply consumed by the mycelium and hard for other microorganisms to grow onto. By inoculating with oyster mushrooms the mycelium will inhabit the paper quickly and be ready to fruit within three weeks.

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Growing mushrooms indoors on straw

Growing mushrooms on straw is a great step for many growers to grow on a higher-yielding, faster substrate that wants a little more preparation. This process of indoor mushroom growing becomes more economical to continuously producing mushrooms and produce a good yield. This is not the most effective method to commercially cultivate mushrooms but it can be a good starting point. This method is relatively straight forward.

  • Treat the substrate by using either heat or lime.
  • Inoculate and pack the straw into plastic tubes that mushrooms will fruit from.
  • Wait 3 weeks and then place the mushrooms into proper fruiting conditions.
  • And let the bags rest and then harvest again in about 3 weeks.

How and when to harvest mushrooms

Harvest your indoor mushrooms when they are fully grown. In about three weeks, you must see small mushrooms appearing. Continue to maintain their environment moist, cool, and dark to encourage their growth.

When the mushroom caps separate from their stems, and they are ready to harvest. You can pluck the mushrooms out with your fingers, but this risk damaging the newly developing fungi beneath the surface. Instead, you can use a sharp knife to cut the mushrooms at the base of the stem. It is best to rinse the indoor mushrooms before cooking or eating. Then you can store harvested mushrooms in a paper bag in the refrigerator for up to a week.

How to grow edible mushrooms at home

Mushroom growing at home will require a cool, dark, damp place. Usually, this will be in a basement, but an unused cabinet or closet will work anywhere you can create near darkness and control temperature and humidity.

Place the growing medium in a pan and raise the temperature range of the area to about 70°F. Heating pads work well and place the spawn on the growing medium and about 3 weeks, the spawn will have “rooted”, the filaments will have spread into the growing medium. Once this occurs, drop the temperature range between 55 and 60°F. (13-16°C.). Therefore this is the best temperature for growing mushrooms. Next, cover the spawn with an inch or so of potting soil. Cover the soil and pan with a damp cloth and then spray the cloth with water as it dries. Spritz the soil with water when it is dry to the touch. In 3 to 4 weeks, you should see small mushrooms appear. Then, mushrooms are ready for harvesting when the cap has fully opened and has separated from the stem.

Here is a short YouTube video of growing mushrooms indoors:

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