Mushrooms

Many of us are crazy about mushrooms. We love hunting for them in the damp forests during spring and fall, cooking them, tincturing them or just admiring their mysterious beauty. People have cultivated mushrooms for thousands of years. Around a century ago, American seed catalogs offered mushroom spawn bricks for 30¢ each, right there between the melons and the mustard.

We’re excited to collaborate with North Spore Mushrooms to offer the following selections for you to get started on your own fungus garden. These products are all Maine-grown without pesticides and on natural substrates. Most can be refrigerated until you are ready to start growing.

Detailed instructions will be sent with your order, or can be downloaded as PDFs (See: growing mushrooms from plugs, growing mushrooms in beds, growing mushrooms on sawdust).

We also have a comprehensive mushroom FAQ that will get you off to a good start.

Getting Started

First decide if you want plugs or sawdust spawn for your mushroom-growing adventure. Kits are a good choice for beginners.

Plug Spawn are small wooden dowels colonized by mushroom mycelium.

Sawdust Spawn is hardwood sawdust colonized by mushroom mycelium, and comes in a 5½ lb loaf. Depending on variety, it can be crumbled into outdoor beds or used for larger-scale log inoculation projects.

Plug Kit contains 100 plugs, wax, dauber, 5⁄16" drill bit, instructions. Everything but the log, drill and hammer to get you started.

Countertop Kits Simply slice open the bag, and keep in a humid environment, like beside the sink. Mushrooms should start to produce “pins” within 2 weeks and will grow quickly. Each kit contains a 4½-lb inoculated sawdust block that could produce up to 3 lbs of mushrooms over 2–4 months. Instructions included. The easiest way to get into growing mushrooms. Makes a great gift.

Growing Mushrooms

Log Method Drill holes in logs, insert plug spawn or sawdust spawn, then seal with wax. See mushroom tools, available at OGS. Be sure to choose an appropriate tree species for the mushroom (see variety descriptions.) We offer these options for log inoculation:

• Plug Spawn 50 plugs will inoculate a single 4' long, 4" diameter log. Drill ¹⁵⁄₁₆" holes (or 8.5mm with angle-grinder adapter) into your log, hammer in the plugs and seal the holes with wax. Plugs are an excellent choice for beginners. Plugs come in bags of 100 or 500.
• Sawdust Spawn Each bag contains 5½ lbs of hardwood sawdust colonized by mushroom mycelium, enough for about 25 logs. Drill 7/16" or 12mm holes in your logs, pack the sawdust using an inoculation tool and seal with wax. Good for commercial mushroom growers.

Outdoor Bed Method Some varieties can be grown in non-sterile outdoor beds of fresh wood chips, sawdust, straw or other organic matter. Plant them under orchard trees or in your garden paths! Layer Sawdust Spawn with your growing medium, and keep beds watered. One 5½-lb bag of sawdust spawn will inoculate a 4x4' bed. Once established, a well-maintained bed can produce for many seasons.