What do I need to grow mushrooms and other fungus?

Question

By this I don't mean "magic mushrooms" but I would like to know how they are grown. I understand psilocybe mushrooms grow quite often on cow dung.

I currently have some wet bread in a bottle dark cupboard.

I am curious about other types of fungus as there isn't really many different fungi that grow on bread.

Know that I only want to know this for study purposes. I left school at 16 but still want to learn so I do it all myself when not at work. If I learn how to grow "Magic Mushrooms" I will not eat them of course, in case of mistaken identity and eating toxins.

I am aware of toadstools growing in pine forests, generaly, and penacilin growing on bread.

This seems like a very fun project and want to see all the different types of fungi there are, and the colors.

If there is a specific way to grow very colorful mushrooms please let me know.

Answer 1

There is a bit to learn about growing fungus and to start you need to have a spore source (clean as possible), petri dishes or glass jars (free), a medium for those dishes that is one the spore will grow on, a pressure cooker, and a glove box. Yup, seems a lot but it really isn't. Medium is frequently agar usually found in the grocery store but also found in pharmacies. it is the basic material in unflavored gelatin. You add to this agar the food that will encourage growth from your specific spore. That frequently is grain but not always. It could be beef broth on occation, so you need to know what your growing. Also, growing the wrong or unknown fungus could be a health issue, as in if you grow the black stuff that grows on the cellar rafters (just for Ha Ha's and yes I did that) you may have a great crop of Stachybotrys chartarum and you could die breathing the spores. Most of the edible mushrooms probably culture on grains which are boiled with the agar and strained out. For more detail look up mushroom culture or get a library book. Any who, the medium when cooked needs to be transfered to sterilized dishes or bottles and for that you want to do the work in a glove bos. That is a well lit box about 2'x2'x2' with a glass front and a couple of sealed elbow length gloves so you can reach in an work in a portable clean room. Easy to make. Before you use it you sterilize it and then put all the stuff inside and do your work. There is so much air borne junk that it limits contamination of plates/ bottles. You need to take a spore print or spore sample and using a sterile innoculating loop you mark a path on one side of the plate, then turn it 90 degrees and drag some of the innoculum around from the half just done, then turn 90 degrees more and do it again. Purpose here is to spread out the first set of spores progressivly lighter. When they grow in you will have areas too dense to pick a clean patch and then lighter areas where a clean colony will be easy to isolate. From spore prints or spore dust you always get bacterial and algae contamination but that plate will allow you to pick a single colony that is not contaminated. When the plates/ bottles allow this you pick that clump off and carefully put it in another fresh sterile bottle (this time bottle and using the glove box still) and then allow that to grow out well. At this point all fungus differs, especially if you want those delicious fruiting bodies, mushrooms! When the white fuzz grows to the right stage it has to be set on what it will grow on. That is the basics but get a good book out of the library to help as there is a lot more to know. You may want or need to make your own spore prints and having a good plan for a glove box is important. Also, technique for using an innoculating loop and keeping it clean, need to be explained a lot more thoroughly.

Answer 2

try here  

http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Mushrooms

Answer 3

Here are some good references on growing mushrooms. The first one is probably the best one. The video is interesting and there are many other videos on youtube if you are interested. A recommendation to you, You can spend the rest of your life studying and raising mushrooms alone. Concentrate on them at first and go into other fungi latter if interested, but there are thousands of fungi species in addition to mushrooms. Taking on the study of all of them would soon become overwhelming. There are places on the net where you can buy spores and kits for growing different types of mushrooms. I grow them and they are fairly easy and you don't need a lot of equipment to grow them. Have fun and be very careful with wild ones until you really know what you are doing.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-G...

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/d...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHJQrsZFQ...