Grow your own gourmet mushrooms on your kitchen counter or a shelf! Simply cut slits in the plastic bag, mist daily and harvest your fresh mushrooms within two weeks!
This kit contains a block of live lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus) mycelium. The mycelium is living inside a special filter bag that keeps it healthy and dormant. To activate the block simply cut slits in the bag. These slits are where the mushrooms will grow from. Daily care for the kit includes misting with water, keeping it underneath the humidity tent (included) and keeping it out of direct sunlight. The kit can give you 2 - 4 harvests of mushrooms. Between harvest simply keep misting to get a second flush. If the block seems dry soak in water for a few hours.
Instructions:
Step 1: Open
Open the paper bag and remove the plastic bag containing your mushroom block. Stand the block upright, filter side up. Find a white spot under the plastic where the mushroom is trying to grow. Slits near the top (filter) of the block work well. Cut two 1" slits to make a small 'x' on the block. Make 2-3 of these 'x' spots at least a few inches apart. Just cut through the plastic bag and keep the block inside of the bag.
*Start with one 'x' near the top of the block. In a few days you may see a new white bump form somewhere under the plastic. Make a second 'x' cut there.*Lion's mane mycelium is very light and wispy. If you are expecting oyster mycelium you may think the block is not fully colonized, but it is.
Step 2: Place
Find a good spot for your block to live for the next few weeks. An ideal spot would be on a counter top or shelf in the most humid part of your house. Keep out of direct sunlight and away from drafts or heaters. The kit includes a separate plastic bag to be used as a humidity tent. Roll the opening of this bag up a few times like a pant leg and stand it over the block like a tent.
Step 3: Care
Use a spray bottle to mist around the slits on your block and inside of the humidity tent. Misting daily should be plenty depending on the humidity of the environment.
*The purpose of misting is to create a humid environment around the block and not necessarily to add water to the block. A light mist on the inside of the humidity tent and surface of the block should be plenty.
Step 4: Harvest
Now the exciting part! After 7-10 days you should start to see little mushroom pins starting to poke out of the slit in your bag. The actual mushrooms will take about one week to mature. While the mushrooms are actively growing mist multiple times a day to make sure the mushrooms do not dry out. Harvest when the mushroom starts to develop hanging icicle like structures.
*To develop nice hanging teeth the humidity must be controlled pretty well. Try not to soak the mushroom itself with water too much when misting. Try to maintain around 85% humidity while growing. A light condensation on the inside of the grow tent is perfect.
Step 5: Rehydrate
After you have harvested the mushrooms simply continue misting daily and within 3 weeks you should get an additional flush of mushrooms. If at any point the block seems really dry you can soak it in a large pot of cold tap water overnight to rehydrate it. You can get 2 - 4 flushes of mushrooms from this block.
*You probably will not need to soak between the first and second flush of mushrooms. After the second flush try soaking for no longer than 8-hours.
