gonna grow some mushrooms

[PlanktonSideburns]

Anyone ever done this?

Looking at some tutorials

Want massive edible bastards

Not arsed with drug mushrooms, want food ones

[ZoyzaSorris]

Yes, grown a load of bloody great big fat oyster mushrooms the size of dinner plates on old coffee grounds, bloody lovely meaty bastards

[Twonty Gostelow]

♫   gonna grow them in an attic

[ZoyzaSorris]

Also drug ones

[Shit Good Nose]

There's a little bit of ballache involved initially and they take a while to get going, but once it's out of the way shiitakes are fairly easy to grow and typically produce a reliable crop in good number for several years without having to do much more than water them in dry periods and moving the growing logs around to follow (and avoid) the weather.

Plus you have the added comedy bonus of being able to write a shortened "SHIT" on whatever you store them in.

[The Bumlord]

Haha shit aches


Lol



I'm so lonely

[Jittlebags]

Growing them in winter might be a good option, with a bit of heat. Mushroom/fruit flies are a massive problem Summer/Autumn

[imitationleather]

No the first time there's been shit takes on this forum!!!

[Brian Freeze]

If using dowels and then sealing with wax, don't overheat the wax and boil the spores. Unless you really want to spend the next four years forlornly staring at some logs.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Awesome tips dudes

Do they take less time in coffee grounds than they would in logs?

Also do you need to sterilise the coffee grounds? I guess not as they're unlikely to already have spores in?

[ZoyzaSorris]

Yes, much much quicker in coffee grounds (and other similar media such as straw and sawdust) than in logs. Logs have the benefit of being very low maintenance and not needing buggering about with pasteurisation or sterilisation, (and dispense with the eyesore of plastic buckets and what have you) but are very much a long-haul kind of deal. Not had much luck with logs but haven't given them a great deal of effort.

Pasteurisation is better than sterilisation for oysters because you don't have to be nearly so careful / use pressure cookers and filter bags etc. Oysters are vigorous enough to outcompete moulds and stuff on pasteurised media, other species not so much. Really can't beat a fresh homegrown oyster fried up in butter though, proper meaty stuff, batters the shit out of anemic shop-bought fungi. Coffee grounds are automatically pasteurised by the brewing process, I used to whack them straight in a ziplock bag in the freezer until I'd saved enough to do a bucket of oysters.

I also tried mixing in some straw from a pet shop that I pasteurised in a crock pot and that worked even better. I'd echo that it is a lot easier in colder weather though, as soon as things warmed up I had a lot more trouble with attracting insects and you have to start looking at nets and stuff.

[NattyDread 2]

Sounds like a great idea. I know some folk have done the log thing and have been very vague when I've asked how the crop is coming along. I've no shortage of buckets, coffee grounds (and/or straw) and cold so this could be a plan.

Any particularly good guides to follow online?

Cheers

[idunnosomename]

Just don't wash your bellend and wait a few weeks

[Twonty Gostelow]

Just don't wash your bellend and wait a few weeks

Awesome tips dudes

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Don't you just get sick of mushrooms after a while? Say you get a bumper crop, and have to eat it before it goes off. I doubt they freeze well.

What's for tea, Dad?
Mushroom, son.
What, again?

[bgmnts]

No.

Mushrooms are amazing.

[Twonty Gostelow]

All I ever eat is mushrooms.
- You must be a fun bloke!!

[dissolute ocelot]

I know someone who had one of those Grow Your Own Mushroom kits sold in wacky gift shops, where you get a box of dirt and just need to keep it moist. Nothing happened. In fairness, not the best gardener I know, but still, definite total failure.

[Blue Jam]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2mFDFUTKzQ

[ZoyzaSorris]

Sounds like a great idea. I know some folk have done the log thing and have been very vague when I've asked how the crop is coming along. I've no shortage of buckets, coffee grounds (and/or straw) and cold so this could be a plan.

Any particularly good guides to follow online?

Cheers

Basically it can be as simple as buying some oyster mushroom spawn (basically just mycelium) online, from eBay or specialist fungi cultivation websites, and mixing it in with coffee grounds in a bucket that you've drilled a regular set of holes in all around (these are where the mushrooms will grow out of) and then just waiting really. It can get a lot more complicated but that'll get you there.

I have to say it's quite a magical and addictive process watching the mycelium take over the growth medium and then suddenly grow into massive tasty as F mushrooms (I used transparent buckets so you could really watch it grow but any plastic container will do)

[ZoyzaSorris]

I used this place amongst others, seemed pretty good : http://mushroombox.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2.

I mainly had success with blue oysters, about as beginner friendly as it comes and fairly foolproof.

Just remembered that I used to whack a bunch of old waste cardboard in there, egg boxes and so on, torn up a bit and dampened with tap water, and they seemed to love that too.

You can then (and I did) go down a whole series of rabbit holes - for example buying liquid culture instead of spawn to make a load of your own spawn for much cheaper - this means you start getting into sterilisation and pressure cookers and all sorts (if you want to grow lions mane or shiitake without logs then you have to start getting involved in all of this too).

[PlanktonSideburns]

Don't you just get sick of mushrooms after a while? Say you get a bumper crop, and have to eat it before it goes off. I doubt they freeze well.

What's for tea, Dad?
Mushroom, son.
What, again?

Gonna grow those ones that taste like chicken

Those ones that get rid of nuclear waste

All sorts

Won't get bored

[PlanktonSideburns]

Can you grow them indoors, or will they take over the house?

[paruses]

Basically it can be as simple as buying some oyster mushroom spawn (basically just mycelium) online, from eBay or specialist fungi cultivation websites, and mixing it in with coffee grounds in a bucket that you've drilled a regular set of holes in all around (these are where the mushrooms will grow out of) and then just waiting really. It can get a lot more complicated but that'll get you there.

I have to say it's quite a magical and addictive process watching the mycelium take over the growth medium and then suddenly grow into massive tasty as F mushrooms (I used transparent buckets so you could really watch it grow but any plastic container will do)

I had one of those coffee logs a few years ago that sprouted oyster mushrooms. The experience was (equally and in order): boredom, horror, fascination. The mushrooms were delicious and would love to have another go but a bit more freestyle. I wanted to grow some weed and get into the horticulture side of that but I don't smoke and would end up like George Jung knowing my luck. So this seems safer and I do eat mushrooms.

I have some (unused) soil pipe in the garage - would that be any good to grow in? Do you need all the space of the bucket?

Had a look at that site and already my ambitions are exceeding my talent.

[NattyDread 2]

I used this place amongst others, seemed pretty good : http://mushroombox.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2.
I mainly had success with blue oysters, about as beginner friendly as it comes and fairly foolproof.

Ta! I'll give the blue oysters a go.
This is a bit unsettling though

[paruses]

Yea that sort of thing was the Horror phase of when I grew them.

[Blue Jam]

That's pretty horrific, aye. Love me some mushrooms but prefer to buy them from shops.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I don't like the way it's growing out of the orange juice. I find that unsettling.

[paruses]

I don't like the way it's growing out of the orange juice. I find that unsettling.

Exactly - when I grew them they appeared out of the side of a cardboard box which seemed unnatural - far too much like that ear on the back of that mouse. I wonder if I could grow some on the back of one of the dogs.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Can you grow them indoors, or will they take over the house?

If that happens, you'll find you don't have mushroom (much room)