Home grown mushrooms

[pugwash52]

Has anyone ever had any success with growing the mushrooms that come in polystyrene boxes?Over the years many people I know have tried without success, but they are still sold at Garden Centres, so I presume that some people have managed it.

[WendyS]

Tried one of these packs ages ago and got two tiny mushrooms the size of my thumb. I would love to try growing the more exotic types of mushrooms which are advertised in Suttons & Dobies seed catalogues in which little pellets incorporated with mushroom spore are stuck into freshly cut logs. However, I suspect germination might be difficult especially if the logs are stored outdoors so it's probably better in the long run to buy them in the market or supermarket. This is probably one of these "More in Hope than Expectation" exercises.

[pugwash52]

WendyS, I wish you luck if you ever do decide to go "exotic". The cost of harvesting my three button mushrooms (slightly mouldy) certainly put them into the luxury class.

[WendyS]

Well, at least you got one more mushroom than I did ! Still, the compost is always useful to dig into the garden borders or veggie patch so I guess it wasn't completely wasted.

[Solarjunkie]

Yes, following the success of the one we had at home I bought several for family & friends and had no ill reports.

[=rizla=]

My dad tried one of these kits several years ago, iirc he had plenty of mushrooms from it.

[woofgang]

My dad had one years ago (about 30!) it did nothing so after a month or so, he tipped it out onto the garden where-you guessed it- it produced a bumper crop of mushrooms!!

[Electrochem]

I have had 3 of these kits and have always had a good crop of mushrooms.

[Hamish]

Mine worked, its important to keep the temp, light and moisture right.

[October]

I've been using them for years and have always had brilliant results. If you can get any of the french makes, they are even better. As Hamish says, light, temperature and moisture are very important, so you need to follow the directions exactly. Only one slight annoyance though - I occasionally get little black flies around the box, but they don't seem to affect the mushroom quantity, quality or taste. The directions say you can use an insecticide to kill the flies, but I'd rather not (I prefer my food organic!).

[pugwash52]

Thanks to everyone for your answers. You've made me want to have another go.I'll become a mushroom farmer yet!!

[Otrere]

Yep, I had one of those mushroom growing boxes a couple of years back. Followed the instructions and yielded a mighty fine crop!

[Dark Angel]

Don't know about mushrooms, but I got some tomato plants in little root-o-pot jars and they yielded a very good harvest in time.

[Toureman]

I tried and followed all the instructions to the letter and managed to grow one very small but expensive mushroom!

[TobyC]

Regarding the poleysterne boxes. Yes I have been bought onw and alos didn't have much success. What I found was that the mycelium died as soon as the temparature droped bleow say 20C. I figured out that the mycelium was very sensitive to temparature. Becasue of this I have biult some of my own wooden box's with a dedicated heater in that has a thermostat for �50. this should keelp the soil and staw at a constant 25C so that the mycelium doesn't die. It seems to be working at the moment but I have only had the units turned on for around two weeks and have been using my won soil instead of the stuff supplied by the garden centre. However I have a mycelium growing on the soil which isn't diying and hope to have some mushrooms fruiting soon. Please e-mail me for a kit design and photo's if wihsed.

Toby

[pugwash52]

Many thanks for all your answers. TobyC , what a clever man you must be, and also very dedicated. Hope you have good results, but I'm back buying my mushrooms from the greengrocer.