If you enjoy harvesting the fruit from the prepared blocks (which is what I assume you're getting from a market), try looking into growing some from grain spawn and finally making your own.

I may or may not have grown a bunch of different (and tasty) mushrooms - some of my favourites (wine caps) grow really well in garden beds if you use hardwood mulch!

[–] 2tapry 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've tried to continue growing my own from purchased blocks before, but couldn't keep on top of it. I am hoping to have another go this time. Can you do it well without sterilization?

Are there any good NZ based resources for 'How To' grow them fairly easily? I'm down South, so it gets cold, but the guy at the market seems to be able to do it. I'll be having a chat with him today. Any tips or links would be great.

[–] Floofah@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

We got some spawn and put it in a mulch growing bed. Not sure we did it at the right time though, we did ours in late summer and despite attention, correct watering etc. have had nothing appear. We got ours from Sporeshift.

[–] 2tapry 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the link. The dowels that they sell might be a better method for us. Inoculate a few logs and wait 6-18 months. We can source plenty of logs and have space. Just need to research how well they survive in the cold.

[–] Kangie@lemmy.srcfiles.zip 1 points 1 year ago

I've had success in a few garden beds in Aus, but also some where the spawn just didn't take.

[–] Dave 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did you get some?

[–] 2tapry 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Bought a medium size bag to see how it goes. The guy selling them says it's still a bit cold to grow them outside down south - frost is the main issue and they grow very slowly in the cold.

So we'll try this bag inside and see how it goes. I'm going to have a go at growing spores after we've done a third harvest off this bag. If I can get some going I'll inoculate some wood shavings. Otherwise I can buy some spores off this guy and try that.

It sounds very much like a trial and error thing until you get just the right conditions and ensure you are fastidious with cleanliness when growing spores.

I really want to try this again, but, I know it's probably just cheaper to buy mushrooms.

[–] Dave 1 points 1 year ago

Most small scale growing of food is cheaper to just buy, but that's not as fun 🙂