I am planning to start my first mycological experiments and to finally get acquainted with mushroom growing. I recently purchased 1 lb sterilized rye berry bags to make my first grow less stressful. I was wondering if anyone could offer any suggestions as to my technique of how to grow my mushrooms.

My plan is as follows:

1 Inoculate medium in sterile environment

2 let mycellium colonize the substrate

3 transfer substrate to tuperware containers inside of a grow box with small LED lamp

4 wait for pinning and then fruiting while opening the box to cycle gasses

This sounds almost too easy, and since I have never grown mushrooms I just want to know if this is a satisfactory method and if im leaving anything out.

PS: should a casing layer be added?

Hi Cannabinated, it sounds like you have everything just about figured out. I would recommend following a tek on monotubs for beginners I believe there is one here: https://www.dmt-nexus.me....aspx?g=posts&t=6060

I didn't read this properly but I believe it is the same method.

I have just recently acquired a pc and am beginning my mycology experiments from my understandings you will want to spawn straight to your substrate so you would want to already have the substrate in your plastic container/monotub:

1. Inoculate grain spawn, allow colonization of mycelium

2 prepare substrate and put in plastic container/monotub

3 Add colonized grain spawn to substrate and wait until colonization of mycelium is done (Spawn run)

4 Start the fruiting cycle and watch those bad boys grow.

If your going to grow monotub or plastic container add a casing layer it will only improve your success rate. From what I understand it starts off a decent even pinset as colonization also starts on the casing layer and helps keep the mycelium from drying out, so it doesn't die. Something you would want to prevent from happening anyway.

There is a good tek with pictures pm me if you would like a link, should be very helpful.

I hope this helps, good luck and keep me updated in the cultivation section or pm, I would love to know how it goes

Im not sure if using LED's is your best bet. Iv'e used one in the past and it didn't seem to make a difference as with using no lights.

I'm doing my first grow too, i just innoculated 9 1/2 pint brf/verm jars of penis envy and a liquid culture three days ago I'll be getting a pressure cooker today so i can do brown rice flour bags innoculated with the liquid culture to make a super cake for a big yeild.

Wish i could offer a helpful response but i'm clueless to other methods.
I hope your mycological experiements go well. Peace.

Some suggestions cannabinated:

If using multispore syringes, give them a good shake to distribute the spores before you inject, flame sterilize even if its a new needle... the nasties can accumulate inside the lumen of the needle, and its best to be safe. Allow flame to cool just slightly, and waste a drop or two of the solution to cool it completely.

With the sterilized bags of rye berries, as with any jar/bag that you inoculate w. a multispore syringe, don't shake the bag after you inject the 3-5cc solution. Some tek's suggest shaking, in my experience it slows the initial formation of mycelium. When the solution is all in the same place, the little buggers find each other easier and form their connections.

Once you see 10-20% colonization, shake the jar or gently break up the berries in the bag to distribute the mycelium amongst the uncolonized grain. This will rapidly increase colonization time.

Incubate at room temp. Heat lamps, etc will just increase the likelihood of fostering contams.

You didn't mention what you are spawning to. Rye berries need to be spawned to a pasteurized substrate to fruit correctly. You want the sub to be pasteurized instead of sterilized, can be slightly tricky. If you are nervous and have cash to blow (not too much), there are mushroom oriented compost available online. Can't talk about sources here, so you'll have to do some research, but its good stuff. Of course if you live near a farm and have access to horse poo, you can cheaply make your own.

If poo freaks you out, I have had good success w. coco-coir. You can buy coir at pet stores, they use it for lizard bedding. Just make sure that it is not treated with anything, and the package contains only coir.

During the colonization of the spawn to sub, you want CO2 levels to build, so tape off any openings and allow this to happen in darkness. No peeking! After your sub is totally colonized, then initiate light cycle and FAE.


If this is your first time, some people will recommend against a grain based tek, as it can be more work... but the yield is so much better, and think the process is more exciting. Just do research!

Best of luck, starting my next grow this week too.

Sounds like you got it down. But things I could emphasize are this :

1. Sterilization is key. I lost more then half of my cakes through the lack of this. Even when you think you have sprayed/wrapped everything, believe me, you missed something. Take that into mind.

2. Humidity levels are also key for good sized fruits. Make sure you research your specific strain in-depthly and have a machine that can replicate the outside environment accordingly.

Good luck and be safe!

i have had great results with cheap LEDs

just make sure to use indirect light.

LED christmas lights work great, but still on par with indirect daylight IME