Long Post: Getting Started With Growing—Everything you need to have, step-by-step.

So you want to start growing mushrooms, a hobby that embodies frustration, despair, but also complete elation when you finally see your first fruiting bodies! This is a step-by-step guide for procuring the right tools, hardware, and materials so you can move on to the nitty gritty

Let’s think of growing mushrooms in four general steps:

Prepare Materials
Inject Grain Spawn
Mix Grain Spawn with Fruting Block
Set Fruiting Block to Fruiting Conditions

Seems simple enough right? It can be, if you don’t get stuck in the details. But there are a lot of details, and we’ll be sure to cover them throughout all the guides. This guide is only about the tools required for each step in the process, so we’ll figure out how to use all of this in a separate post.

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What you need for Step 1: Prepare Materials.

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We need to have a Grain Spawn jar/bag, and a Fruiting Block. The mycelium propagates itself in Grain Spawn, and once it fully takes over the Grain Spawn, it is ready to mix into a Fruiting Block, which gives the mycelium enough nutrients to start producing fruiting bodies.

Preparing the Grain Spawn jar/bag requires:

1x 1 qt Wide Mouth Sterilizable Mason Jar OR,
1x 6”x5”x20” Grow Bag with Fresh Air Exchange Filter and Injection Port/Micropore Tape
1x Wide Mouth Jar Lid with Injection Port and Fresh Air Exchange Filter
1lb+ Whole Grain Oats as the organic medium
1x Medium Pot
1x Wire Mesh Colander
1x Stirring Spoon
1x Pressure Canner/Sterilizer

Preparing the Fruting Block requires:

1x 8”x5”x20” Grow Bag with Fresh Air Exchange Filter
1lb+ Soy Hull Pellets
1lb+ Oak Pellets
1x Stirring Stick (needs to be sturdy enough to mash things as well)
1x Very Large Bowl (for mixing)
1x Pressure Canner/Sterilizer

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What you need for Step 2: Inject Grain Spawn

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To inject the Grain Spawn jar/bag, you’ll need a liquid culture syringe (we won’t talk about agar plates yet) of a Hardwood-Loving mushroom like Shiitake, Oyster, Lion’s Mane, etc. But we also have to think about a semi-sterile environment so the Grain Spawn doesn’t get contaminated after we inject the liquid culture syringe.

Injecting the Grain Spawn jar/bag requires:

1x Liquid Culture Syringe
1x Sterilized Grain Spawn Jar/Bag
Isopropyl Alcohol Wipes
1x Lighter
1x Impulse Bag Sealer OR Micropore Tape
1x Still Air Box / Flow Hood (both are semi-optional at this stage)

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What you need for Step 3: Mix Grain Spawn With Fruiting Block

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With mixing Grain Spawn with Fruiting Blocks, you are simply pouring some of the Grain Spawn into the Fruting Block bag, which means you are opening both up to contamination. Using a Still Air Box or Flow Hood is highly recommended so you can better guarantee that both will stay clean.

Mixing Grain Spawn with Fruting Block requires:

1x Colonized Grain Spawn jar/bag
1x Sterilized Fruiting Block
1x Isopropyl Alcohol Spray Bottle
1x Impulse Bag Sealer OR Micropore Tape
1x Still Air Box / Flow Hood (in my experience, required at this stage)

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What you need for Step 4: Set Fruiting Block to Fruiting Conditions

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Here, you are exposing the colonized Fruiting Block to optimal environmental conditions like high humidity, fresh air, and higher temperatures by cutting open the fruiting block. The tools required in this stage help make the environment optimal, with automated humidity controls or at least a space that will keep some humidity in like the Monotub. In an open air setting, you’ll need to consistently spray the cut opening so that the Fruiting Block doesn’t dry up.

Setting a Fruiting Block to Fruiting Conditions

1x Colonized Fruiting Block
1x Razor Blade
1x Martha Tent OR Monotub/Open Air (Spray Bottle Required for Second Option)

This is the setup that works best for me, and I think it keeps tools and materials to exactly what is needed for growing, no fluff. I do have a spreadsheet that shows where I get most of my stuff, and how much it can cost (organic materials cost as much as how much you want to buy them. I default to 40lb bags so I don’t have to think about repurchasing for a few months.

Let me know if I left anything out or what questions you have about the tools, hardware, and materials needed for growing mushrooms!

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