2

I saw a video of someone growing mushrooms from burying another mushroom in dirt. However, most other videos show only show that you can grow mushrooms from spawn or spores from a company. Can you actually just bury a mushroom and grow your own? If not is there any way to pull the spore yourself and grow mushrooms? I want to grow mushrooms year after year without buying new spawn every time it runs out.

Improve this question
1

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

Depending on what you mean by "mushroom", some are not difficult to propagate , many are difficult to propagate. They have specific environmental needs . I have started cominus comatus -shaggy manes -a few places ; they are tolerant of location. I have just tossed the mature mushrooms onto lawns. I have read that shitake grow fairly well on oak wood ( cut branches and trunks). The common ( in US grocery stores) agaricus compestry is grown on artificial manure in caves or dark warehouses.

Improve this answer
2
  • So you don’t actually need spawn?
    – user11937382
    Feb 26, 2021 at 19:46
  • The mushroom itself is the "fruiting body" , it contains spoors that ,under the right conditions ,grow and produce mushrooms.
    – blacksmith37
    Feb 26, 2021 at 19:56
2

In fact you only need to buy mushroom culture once. Then you have so many options to multiply your mycelium and save this culture for years!

If you have:

  1. Mushroom Spores -> you can make unlimited liquid culture (it can be stored for 6-12 month)
  2. Liquid Culture (LC) in syringe or Spore syringe -> you can prepare sterile liquid medium and share 1 syringe among 3-5 jars 300-500ml each, so that you'll get minimum 1 Quart of LC. LC can be stored 6-12 month.
  3. Spawn -> you can make Grain to Grain transfer (G2G) and create more spawn jars/bags. Usually 1 spawn jar/bag turn into 5-10 spawn jars/bags. Spawn can be stored for 3-4 month.
  4. You can gather spores from mushrooms and make a spore print (for basidiomycetes) and store them up to 5 years !
  5. Working with sterile agar media in Petri dishes:
  • spores on agar
  • spawn samples on agar
  • mycelium on agar to agar (A2A transfer)
  • cloning (you've asked about) placing a piece of mushroom tissue on agar medium in order to obtain growing mycelium. This is not strictly related to the colloquial notion of cloning, and is simply a manipulation of the natural asexual reproduction system of fungi. Mycelium on agar can be stored in refrigerator ~12 month and even longer.

Then you can use mycelium for mushroom growing any time, any season!

Unfortunately, such method as 'growing mushrooms from burying another mushroom in dirt' usually don't work due to high risks of contamination (bacteria and molds) or work with extremely resistant species. However burying mycelium (or even wasted mushroom blocks) works much better;)

Actually a lot of nuances depend on the mushroom species and cultivation tek, but basic principles are the same :)

Cheers, Shroomok

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.