u/LouSpore

These Black Kings were perfect. Except for a spot or two where I damaged them, both clusters were about the most uniform I've ever grown.

After many years of cultivation, I am finally growing button mushrooms! This is my first flush royalty. Do other folks have experience with these?

I'm curous to hear how people feel about this mushroom. Do you y'all have any experience growing it?

This is from a couple days ago and it's gotten huge. I'll post pics or a vid of that soon.

I'm honestly curious about your experiences, especially as it relates to other, similar products on the market. Also, one of the things that really differentiates our product is the Spore Boostr. It is genuinely helpful, but do people use it?

In much of the US right now, it's super common to find Mica Caps (Coprinellis micaceus) growing off of stumps, buried or damaged/diseased wood in urban settings all over the place. I literally saw it in 3-4 spots just yesterday. Although it's edible, I wouldn't call it choice. Especially in these urban spots on possibly contaminated soils right next to roads, I think I'd only grab some from a spot I know is clean and even then, just to be able to add another species to my list.

These are part of a group called Inky Caps that don't last long. They melt into inky spores, sometimes in a matter of hours.

https://foragerchef.com/mica-cap-mushroom/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRtpnxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFuZTAyUXNnc21tSDB5b1ZRc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHiAaufj34bXOdNALBcNgGR8M9vvyVQUZ4_JsmiJZNunttb_9G45wM0pORevk_aem__GV8PHBVXjbi01_r80Tpkw#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20the%20mushrooms%20are%20technically,as%20opposed%20to%20bacterial%20decomposition

At North Spore, we love growing mushrooms, but we’re just as into the veggies that grow alongside them. We have several acres in the backyard and a perk of working here is that you can have a raised bed. I’m still a beginner in a lot of ways, but have picked up a few nuggets of wisdom over the years that I’d like to share. 

If your goal is to get the most nutrition along with flavor and other garden benefits, a bed full of lettuce and tomatoes isn’t enough. Heavy hitting nutrients like vitamin D, fiber, protein, and functional compounds come from a mix of powerhouse crops working together.

Some crops that we always include are:

• Kale for long-season greens, fiber, and minerals
• Shiitake for immune-supporting beta-glucans and vitamin D
• Oysters for fast-growing protein and powerful antioxidants
• Beets for nitrates, energy, and whole-plant nutrition
• Beans for protein and nitrogen-fixing soil support

These are just some of literally hundreds of crops available to you, but they are among the best. And they can be used together to maximize the benefits (space, nutrition, soil building). When you start planning in ways that include fungi and plants working together, you benefit the whole system. Start stacking your garden with these heroes and it will absolutely benefit your health and happiness.

Should I throw this out, what could that be? It’s been colonizing for what feels like forever now. (Maybe like 2-3 months.

lol I just posted another thing about making my own grain spawn so sorry for blowing the feed up.

There are probably many tropical/humidity tolerant things that could be started and grow the whole way through with mushroom blocks. I'm eager to try some of that.

Today, we began planting some of these seedlings in raised beds behind North Spore!

This Saturday, I'm hosting a group of about 20 teachers at North Spore HQ for a very hands-on class focused on gardening with mushrooms. These educators will be empowered to rbing mushrooms into their classrooms and communities!

Perhaps the most exciting part of the day for me will be the totems. These larger diameter log sections will be stacked with sawdust spawn smooshed in-between each layer, kind of like a fungal birthday cake (getting these was like a birthday present).

Btw, I have to shout out Ryan at Pineland Farms for cutting this prefect red oak for this purpose. This is a pretty major task. This favor won't be soon forgotten. Make friends with arborists!

After stacking, the totems will live in contractor bags for a few months until fully colonized and then let loose. I'm hoping some produce this year. I have 10 totems and plan to do: 2x oyster, 2x lions mane, 2x chestnut, 2x Chicken of the Woods, 2x shiitake. Some will be in the woods and some will be in a MycoSphere. We'll see what happens!

Italian Oyster (Pleurotus pulmonarius) is one of those oyster species that sometimes gets overlooked. I can't for the life of me understand why. They yield a ton, have a nice temperature range of 65-75F and fruit literally faster than anything else in our arsenal. They also have a great flavor and texture. As with Pleurotus ostreatus, they can grow on many different substrates. This is how I'm feeding my North Spore family!

Just fyi, if you've seen the name Phoenix Oyster, they're the same thing.

Sometimes picking the right mushrooms and methods can feel confusing or even overwhelming. So I’m going to help out by quickly comparing 3 common methods in a way that might be just what you need to make the best choices for your environment.

Plant & Grow blocks = Most species available and fastest results

• Bury it in the shade, keep it moist, harvest in weeks. I like to cover the tops of the blocks with an inch or two of straw or woodchips.

Beds (wood chips / straw) = longer-term and great for the garden

• Incorporate into mulching you were going to do anyways. Harvest for multiple seasons, improve your soil, retain extra moisture and reduce erosion.

MushBucket = Very efficient and high-yielding for oysters

• A little more involved because of the pasteurization process, but predictability, speed and yield make it worth it. Can be done outside, but benefit from more stability and care.
• All methods benefit from the MycoSphere, but the MushBuckets can really shine in a controlled environment like this.

It works so well for this. We like to call it the Bloom Room! I don't have blocks in there now, but I totally could. Initially humidity needs for seedlings and blocks line up at about 80-85%. Once seeds have sprouted, lowering humidity significantly is important. You could just remove the seedlings from the tent or just spray the blocks a bit to supplement humidity. Keeping the blocks in the tent will probably still be better than your counter.

Anyone else doing this?

We at North Spore often get asked if mushrooms will survive the winter or put another way, how long they will last. The surprising truth is that even in Maine, the cold doesn't kill most of them. They go dormant.

These blocks in this unflattering picture, fruited several times last year, slept through a harsh winter and are back. Maybe they've got more juice in them yet!

Legendary🙌🏾