A place to call home for folks who grow mushrooms!

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Welcome to c/MushroomGrowers

c/MushroomGrowers is a thriving and supportive community for amateur enthusiasts and seasoned professionals passionate about the fascinating world of mushroom cultivation. Whether you're just starting with your first grow kit or managing a commercial operation, this is the place to learn, share, and grow together.

What We Offer

Guides and Tutorials: Step-by-step instructions for beginners and advanced growers.
Expert Advice: Insights from experienced cultivators.
Troubleshooting: Help with common problems like contamination, substrate preparation, and environmental control.
Project Sharing: Showcase your setups, grows, and success stories.
Discussions: Talk about new techniques, species, or industry trends.
Resources: A curated list of helpful tools, suppliers, and educational materials.

Topics We Cover

Indoor and outdoor mushroom cultivation
Sterile techniques and lab setups
Growing gourmet mushrooms (e.g., oysters, shiitake, lion's mane)
Exploring medicinal fungi
Wild mushroom foraging and identification
Sustainable and eco-friendly cultivation practices

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Be respectful and supportive to all members.
Share your knowledge and experience openly.
Keep discussions on topic and relevant to mushroom cultivation.
Avoid self-promotion unless it contributes meaningful value.
Use the Search function to find answers before posting questions.

Recommended Resources

Grow Guides

Suppliers

Foraging and Identification

Communities

We encourage you to ask questions, share your successes (and failures!), and help cultivate a global network of knowledge and passion for fungi.

Happy Growing!
The c/MushroomGrowers Team

founded 2 years ago

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casey

Pasteurizing manure? (self.mushroomgrowers)

submitted 1 month ago by WeeSheep to c/[email protected]

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I have chickens, who create quite a bit of poop I can use to grow mushrooms, but I'm not sure how to pasteurize/sanitize it. I was thinking pressure cooker?

I ordered some spore syringes and I'm not sure if i should get premade bags with injection ports or if I should make my own bags. It's the same cost to buy bags and a used instant pot, and I already have coco coir. Once I get some mushroom colonies going I was planning on keeping it going by breaking it up and mixing it with fresh substrate, but I don't want to keep buying pasteurized manure.

How do people do this? I'm very new

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[–] Addv4 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not with chicken manure, kinda hard to grow stuff with it (it's probably possible, but not for newbies). I'm assuming you are growing coir lovers, not gourmet mushrooms? Generally a pressure cooker is good, but it can depend on the media. If you are new, look into brf teks, they're a pretty decent place to start, and I'd recommend jars in the instapot, not bags.

[–] WeeSheep 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have some magic syringe cultures but I'm hoping to grow some edible stuff too. Why would chicken manure not be as good as cow? Why are jars better than bags?

[–] Addv4 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Cow manure is effectively slightly digested grass, and is pretty easy to sterilize. Chicken not so much. Jars are better because they can be reused, and the bags can occasionally melt if they touch the sides of the pressure cooker.

Also, different blends are required for gourmet than magic, generally either wood blends or maybe straw. Depends on the type, would recommend starting with oyster mushrooms.

[–] WeeSheep 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thank you!

[–] Addv4 2 points 1 month ago

No problem, hope it helps! If you want more tutorials, try checking out the shroomery message boards, bunch of knowledge over the decades (both for coir and gourmet). Happy growing!