It is normal and understandable for new mushroom growers to get mystified. Beginners have tons of information to digest when they get started, including terms such as laminar flow, agar transfers, and inoculation. There is a lot to research before you delve into mushroom cultivation. Meanwhile, these tips can help you get started growing mushrooms.

Get a Mushroom Growing Guide

A well written mushroom growing guide may appear old school. However, learning from the tribulations and trials of other mushroom growers and experts can help you avoid experiments and methods that don’t work. An example of a comprehensive growing guide is Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. Beginners can transfer the knowledge in this book to techniques for farming mushrooms at home. The Essential Guide to Cultivating Mushrooms is a recommendable guide for a beginner looking for a little easier and approachable guide. It is a well suited book for new mushroom growers looking to get the basic skills for home cultivation. The book is loaded with plenty of pictures and provides readers with step-by-step guides of cultivating mushrooms at home.

Get a Mushroom Growing Kit

Using a mushroom growing kit is by far the easiest way to get started in this field. The kit will introduce you to the process and help you understand everything that is needed to grow mushrooms. The kit will also familiarize you with how to grow healthy mushrooms and give an overview of the mushroom life cycle. Various oyster mushrooms farming kits are available online. However, there are also kits for other types of mushrooms, including Rieshi and Lion’s Mane. But Oyster mushroom is highly recommended for beginners.

Join Mushroom Growers Clubs

You are not alone. Many more people are learning to grow mushrooms at home, so it would be wise to try to connect with them. Online platforms such as Reddit and Facebook are ideal places to meet fellow mushroom growers. There are thousands of helpful experts and novice over there who are willing to share their experience in mushroom farming. Platforms such as Facebook allow users to post pictures of their products, share their experience, and ask questions. Connecting with other mushroom growers can accelerate your learning. Looking up your mycological society would also be a wise idea. You could find a helpful group near your area. Signing up for various mushroom growers mailing lists may also accelerate your learning. Most of these mailing lists will only email when there is an exciting and nformative article or news, so don’t be afraid that your inbox might get littered.

Invest in the Right Equipment

Investing in the right mushroom growing equipment can make a significant difference. Special tools and techniques that are irreplaceable with makeshift alternatives are often required in mushroom growing. However, mushroom growers are free to explore new ways to do things once they have learned the basics. It is best to use the techniques and methods that you know well when you are starting out. You can use a regular stock pot as a sterilizer if you don’t have a pressure cooker. Also, mushroom growers can save on costs by making their gar dishes using pectin and tart shells. Using known and proven techniques and getting the right equipment can help avoid a lot of frustration and save money and time.

Set Your Goals

Start by determining the mushroom variety you want to grow. There are various approaches to becoming a mushroom grower. You can choose to grow mushrooms inside a lab or grow them outside. You can also be mushroom farming for fun or business. So, set your goals to increase your success chances in mushroom growing. Having clear goals helps determine which techniques to deploy and where to invest your money and time. Experts recommend beginner mushroom growers to experiment on different techniques with one mushroom specimen. For instance, learning to grow a mushroom specimen on grain spawn can equip you with skills that you can use on other techniques. Learning to grow mushrooms on sawdust can be a little costly and difficult, but it can help you pick up some skills that might be useful in the future. So, start by setting your mind before you start growing mushrooms either for fun or business.