Not Mush-room Monday!

I love fungus

A new project today on the first day of the holidays.

It’s been shooting an’ shining as they say in Scotland when the weather can’t make it’s mind up.

I tackled about five other things on the holiday plan (more about that later) and then tried to find something else to do out of the rain.

I had a pack of mushroom spores.

I’ve tried using kits before with little success. Meanwhile they are expensive. This was a cheaper option.

I read recently that a kit can cost 22 times the price of buying mushrooms in the supermarkets.

This article in The Telegraph, a UK newspaper, gives the details.
telegraph mushroom article

Previously I’ve tried drilling holes in old bits of wood and putting polystyrene boxes under the stairs. Some were partially successful.

Some were plain useless!

So this time I had to create a manure base first. I used about five kg of garden manure that’s was bagged and dried into pellets. I added water to give it a more moist start.

Then I added the pack of spores and mixed thoroughly.

The instructions said:
Press down well

Which I did with a container as a pressure pad and then I covered this base with an earth and compost mix together.

In theory, the manure is the best environment. The spore mix should create something called mycelium. It’s a kind of root system for fungus. It should take over the rotted manure and turn it into the base that produces the edible aspect of the fungus.

The prepared mixture is now in a box in the shed for a few weeks. It needs a temperature between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius.

You’ll need to watch this space. I didn’t make a single fun-guy joke either!