Mushroom growing for the ambitious commercial planter
So what sort of person does best at mushroom growing? It’s a cliché, of course, but there are people and there are people. And while some people are happy enough with their daily routine, there are those others who wish they could reach for the stars. Well, that same philosophy could apply to mushroom growing, at least facetiously speaking. Not that reaching for the stars is any real part of mushroom growing, but while some people who grow mushrooms are quite satisfied with growing them out of kits, you’ll have others who want to grow mushrooms on a much larger scale, who learn how to make the growing medium, how to harvest the spores for ‘replanting’ and who learn to cut costs to make themselves truly independent and commercially viable.
However, if you want to grow mushrooms commercially, all the will in the world won’t make it possible unless you have some place to grow them in. You can even grow mushrooms on a medium to large scale in a spare room in your house, but I’d advise against this if you can possibly avoid it. While many people do grow mushrooms commercially within their own homes, it’s best not to push your luck – the growth medium for mushrooms is not of materials that you’d want in large quantities within your house.
An outhouse or perhaps a greenhouse, or, in a pinch, a garden shed, would do much better. Now, the second thing that you’ll need are containers in which to put the growth medium. You might need a number of large, flat trays for this. How many trays you need, of course, depends on the amount of mushrooms you want to grow. I’d advise you to start out small while you’re still in the experimental stages, and then expand as your experience improves and you gain more knowledge and confidence.
Most garden stores should have trays of the kind that you need. After this, you obviously need material to plant your mushrooms in, and no, soil absolutely will not do. Mushrooms do not grow in soil. Instead you need a special medium to grow them in. You can try compost if you’re willing to experiment, but if you’re not, then a specially cultured medium of horse manure and straw is what will make you’re mushrooms grow best.
This is not worth preparing unless you’re really thinking of doing things on a large scale, but if you are, go ahead, because with this and the containers, you have everything you need for your mushroom growing.