In my mushroom growing guides I don't try to recommend specific brands and companies because it's important to focus on the fundamentals and not be so focused on who makes the product. This also helps our group innovate on mushroom cultivation methods, as newer and better products will enhance an already great system. But I will dedicate this post to a great company for those who are beginning their journey into mushroom growing, North Spore. I started growing mushrooms using North Spore's Lion's Mane/Pink Oyster liquid cultures, which have always been reliable and aggressive cultures. I've also bought growing apparatuses, like Martha Tents and Monotubs from this company, because they have such strong guarantees on the quality of their hardware that—when issues do occur—they help replace parts as fast as possible. If you have interest in purchasing from North Spore, I have a referral code that gets you $20 off your first purchase if you spend $40+ with them. They also have consistent discounts on their substrate/grain bags, as well as lab supplies, which I like to stock up on as I slowly scale up my production. I can't recommend many companies out there because I've run into so many questionable quality control practices, but North Spore is the rare company that has gone out of their way to be on the top of my mind when I need certain hardware. Here's a brief list of what I purchased from them the last couple months: - Wide Mouth Culture Jar w/ Port and Filter, which are modified jar lids that save me the hassle (and cut fingers) of drilling holes into standard mason jar lids, which have always been a messy process. Their filter patches and ports last for quite a few sterilization cycles as well before replacement, which is cents on the dollar. - Wide Mouth Silicone Lid Covers, which are a less wasteful alternative to aluminum foil - Trumpet, Pink Oyster, Lion's Mane Liquid Cultures, as I needed to re-up my LC stock after doing some failed agar experiments. - I also regularly purchase Organic Millet from them, as I have trouble sourcing organic millet from my local area (I'm still looking though!). They don't have the best rates for Millet when only purchasing 10 pounds, but when I'm spending more than $150, their free shipping makes it an okay deal.

Our mission here is to share the newest developments for mushroom use for health and wellness and the best methods to grow mushrooms in all their different forms, as well as how to find them in the wild! We want to make the best mushroom resource on the internet. Whether you're new or are an advanced mushroom grower, this is a hub for discussion on improving your knowledge about growing mushrooms. If you want to be involved in making mushroom growing more accessible than ever before, you've found the right place! Here are some rules for the community. 1. We don't spam this community. If you notice somebody DMing you with spammy stuff, let us know and we'll take care of it. 2. We want to submit the highest quality posts that help people learning more about how to grow mushrooms, how to forage them, and how to better understand the underlying processes of mycelial production. We love when you format your posts clearly with an intent to educate and inspire. 3. Please ask questions. We won't know how to produce better guides if people don't ask questions. 4. Let's keep this community positive and open, with no negative posts. Please introduce yourself, and tell us where you are in the mushroom growing journey, whether beginner, advanced, or anywhere in between. Ask us anything! And the easiest way to rise through the ranks in this community is by producing simple, high-quality guides.

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: 1. Prepare Materials 2. Inject Grain Spawn 3. Mix Grain Spawn with Fruting Block 4. 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. --- What you need for Step 1: Prepare Materials. --- 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 --- What you need for Step 2: Inject Grain Spawn --- 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.