Growing mushrooms at home is not a difficult task if you have a cool place to keep your compost, like a cellar. Mushrooms grown at home have a completely different flavor than the ones you can purchase at the supermarket, and with the amount you can grow from a few simple bags of compost, you may never have to buy mushrooms again.
Instructions
1. Purchase compost from a garden center or seed center. Purchase your spawn either as a clump that looks like cheese, or as a concentrated liquid.
2. Find a dark, damp area, like a cellar or basement to keep your compost free from sunlight and excessive heat. Use thermometers to test the area's temperature, as it should not go above 60 degree F or below 55 degrees F, except for during the sweating period. Water the top of the compost daily to keep it moist. Break the mushroom spawn into golf ball sized pieces and plant them 10 inches apart, 2 inches deep into the compost.
3. Keep the temperature in your growing room at about 70 degrees F for what is called the sweating period, a high heat treatment to the compost that aids the mushroom's growth. Do this for the first 21 days. Drop the temperature to 60 degrees F after that. Cover the compost with a 1-inch layer of garden soil.
4. Water the compost with a spray bottle, keeping it moist, but not dripping with water. Leave the mushrooms for ten days, until white caps appear, then wait another ten days until the caps are big enough to harvest. Pick mushrooms that have split from the stem.
5. Apply gentle pressure to the soil around the stem of your mushroom while picking, twisting instead of pulling the mushroom from the soil. Use a sharp knife to cut the mushroom away at soil level if you are not comfortable twisting it.
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