Welcome to the Some Funguys club!
So you’ve bought yourself or been bought a Some Funguys grow at-home kit, now your probably wondering what to do with the kit.
If your wanting to wait a while the kit will be fine in a cool dark cupboard for a couple of weeks, however, the longer you leave it the less vigorous the mycelium will be.
For those of you who mostly what your doing, here are the simple instructions. If you want to go into much further detail in each step, head further down the page to our In depth instructions.
Instructions;
- Open the box to see if the mycelium is ready to fruit, if it is not ready or you are unsure, place in a warm cupboard for a couple extra days.
- Place bag in the fridge over night.
- Sanitise the bag where you are going to cut it open, give your hands and the scissors a quick sanitise at the same time.
- Cut a cross in the side 10cm across for Greys and Yellows.
- For kings cut the top of the kit off
- Place block in a light, cool but draught free area.
- Spray with water at least twice a day.
- Watch as you mushrooms grow!
- Harvest your mushrooms.
- Soak block in water over night then wrap in clingfilm and leave somewhere warm and dark for a week or two.
- Repeat steps 5-9 until the block stops producing mushrooms.
*Please note that the kits do require some patience and attention and they may not produce mushrooms if the conditions are not right. If your finding that you aren't getting any mushrooms produced, try moving it to a different location and changing up your misting schedule. As with all living organisms they sometimes just won't budge. if this happens get in contact and we will sort out a replacement.
Some Fun terms;Mycelium- the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments, which when fully colonised appears as a white mass.
Primordia- also know as pins- The mycelium that starts to form as the mushroom fruiting body.
Substrate- The material that the mycelium colonises and consumes, the food for the mushrooms.
Pinning- when the kit finds itself in the right conditions, it will attempt to produce mushrooms, the formation of the primordia is known as pinning.
Flush- The mushrooms will try to form at the same time in waves, this is known as a flush, the kits in the right conditions can produce 3 or 4 flushes.
Fruiting body- What we know as mushrooms are the reproductive part of the whole organism, akin to a flower, these are known as a fruiting body.
Fruiting chamber- an enclosed controlled environment where you place the fruitng block to get it to produce mushrooms.
Spawn- Commercially produced sawdust that has been innoculated with mycelium that is then mixed with the substrate.
In depth Instructions
* For White oysters, follow the instructions for Grey Oysters.
The kit features an inoculated mushroom fruiting block, to check when to open the bag, inspect the top of the block and when the mycelium stops looking fuzzy and starts producing more solid-looking growth it is good to open. Each different species will produce a different looking mycelium. The greys look like coral, the kings like pimples and the yellows look like cumulus clouds.
Mushrooms like fruiting conditions of;
- A Temperature of 15-18°C.
- Some light, this can be natural or artificial if the bulb is in the 6500k range, but this does not need to be the same strength a plant would require.
- Relative humidity of 90-95%
- Fresh air.
When you’re ready to open the kit, it is good to induce a "cold shock". This can be done by placing the block in the fridge overnight or outside during the day. Be careful the temperature doesn't get too low as a frost can kill the mycelium, between 5-10°C is ideal**.
** SKIP THIS STEP FOR PINKS
After the cold shock, find a light area that is relatively free of draughts. A bathroom and kitchen windowsill are normally suitable, a shed, garage or greenhouse can be great places to grow them as well.
In the kit are some alcohol wipes, use these to wipe clean some scissors and the top of the bag. Where to cut the bag depends on what variety of oysters you have. For Kings and Yellows, the best thing to do is to cut the top of the bag off, for Grey, the best thing to do is to cut a big cross in the side of the bag.
Grey, White and Yellow kits can be positioned so the mushrooms grow out the side or upright, but the Kings will be best upright.
Place the block in your growing area and using a spray bottle filled with water to mist the top of the block at least twice daily, (3 times if there’s a draught) until the water starts to bead on the surface***. To help retain moisture, a thin plastic bag can be placed over the kit for the first few days.
*** You can't over mist your kit and the more you mist it the better the crop typically.
If you decide to leave the kit upright you could decide to apply a casing layer. The jury is out on whether this is worth the application as you have to remove and reapply the layer between flushes when you soak the block between flushes, but it can help keep the moisture in the block, promoting pinning of mushrooms. If you do want to try it, you can find instructions here. Casing layer
Once the block starts to form primordia, the mushrooms will begin growing to their full size in around 7-10 days, you can then harvest when the edges of the mushrooms start to get wavy.
After you have harvested the first flush, get a bucket of water and submerge the block overnight, the block will float so it will need to be weighed down with a plate, after it has been soaked over night, wrap it with clingfilm and leave it somehwere warm and dark for a week or two. The kit will likely produce subsequent flushes with smaller harvests each time. You could potentially get 3 or more flushes from the kit.
Once you are finished with the kit, the block is compostable. Keep an eye on your compost heap as the block will still be alive and in a compost heap with plenty of wood in, you will likely get some mushrooms growing in the future! The spawn bag is made from recyclable plastic except for the filter patch and cable tie. Please remove these before disposal.
If you want to create a more controlled environment, you could go further and create a “shotgun fruiting chamber”. Instructions on how to make one of these can be found here > Shotgun fruiting chamber