Instructions for Grow Kits and Logs

Thank-you for purchasing a mushroom grow kit or log. They are a living organism and just like you and me it reproduces itself by growing mushrooms that release spores when fully mature. Treat them like houseplants..they need air, light, misting and love.....

Oyster Mushroom Grow Kit

Your Oyster Mushroom Grow Kit is comprised of pasteurized wheat straw that has been inoculated with Oyster Mushroom Mycelium. The mycelium is the white mass growing on the wheat straw. After the kit has been inoculated (birthdate on kit) in about 15 to 22 days it will begin to produce small pinheads in the holes that are already on the kit.

DO NOT CUT PLASTIC OFF Of KIT!The plastic needs to stay on the kit in order for it to retain its moisture.  Little pins will start to form on the outside of the bag. Around the 3^rd or 4^th day pick your mushrooms.

2 subsequent flushes of mushrooms will come approx. 10 days to 2 weeks apart. You may continue to get more flushes until the mycelium has lost vitality from food supply exhaustion. 

 At the end of several mushroom harvests, the growing material is considered spent. .SMS contains enough digestible nutrition, primarily decomposed by mushroom, to be fed livestock or used in their gardens. It will increase growers’ income and protect environment to recycle SMS for feeding livestock or soil for other plants. Pleurotus compost contains high percentage of three primary nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus & potassium

All kits are 100 % guaranteed to produce mushrooms. If not call us 423-441-2533 or email info@brewersmushrooms.com

Size of kits vary: 6 lbs Kit = up to 1 - 2 Lbs. 10 lb kit = up to 3- 4 Promotional Kits = up to 1 Lbs.

Helpful Hints

1.When pinheads appear mist your bag 2-3 times a day. Caution: OVER WATERING CAN CAUSE MOLDS TO BREAKOUT. Mushrooms loves humidity but they are very poor swimmers. By allowing the kit to slightly dry between misting waterbourne molds are discouraged.

2.Your mushrooms will be ready to pick when the outer edges have made the top of the mushrooms flat (the Phoenix mushrooms should look wavey on the ends.)

3.Keep your kit in a well ventilated area, persons senative to mushroom spores may want to use an inside area not associated with the general livng area, like a garage or greenhouse would be ideal.

4. Most but not all decolorization of the mycelium indicate contamination. Oyster Mushroom mycelium secretes amber to orange fluid to protect itself from predators, this is normal. The fluid may drip from the kit or collect in the bottom of your kit. Place grow kit on plate to avoid damage on surface.

5.100% Guaranteed. If your kit becomes contaminated prrematurely we will replace it at NO CHARGE (except shipping & handling). Simply contact us for replacement.

(NO NEED TO SEND BAG BACK)

6. Your mushrooms need proper light and air exchange. Long stems with small caps is an indication of lack of air exchange. Regular household lighting or indirect sunlight for at least 12 hours a day should be fine. You may leave the lights on all the time if you wanted to.

7. Remove the mushrooms from the bag by simply giving a quick twist at the base. DO NOT CUT OFF THE MUSHROOMS as this leaves a stem butt that will die and become a contaminated hotspot.

8.Not all pinheads will become mushrooms. Remove them when harvesting.

9.Your Oyster Mushrooms will grow at temperatures between 40-80 degrees:

however they do best between 55 and 75 degrees.

Any Questions or Concerns please call us at

423-441-2533

Shiitake or Lions Mane Log

photo by Skye

This will take from 8 to 12 months, depending on temperature and moister. Stack your inoculated logs in your growing area off the, ground on pallets or supported on cinder blocks at the ends. Stacks can be several layers tall, in log cabin fashion. This is where you need to be patient. Remember, you are growing a living plant inside that log. The log needs to stay moist inside, while the bark dries out between waterings, or rains. If it doesn't rain for a few weeks, you should water the stack of logs. Misting overnight is good.

To keep squirrels and other critters out of your logs throw a net over them.

Fruiting

Mycelia will appear at the end of the logs when it begins to run. The white pattern often reflects

the inoculation hole pattern at the end of the log. Your logs should fruit naturally twice a year, spring and fall. You can force the log to fruit more often by soaking the log in cold water overnight, then stand it up in a shady area out of any drying winds. Within a few days, you should notice small white, bumps on the bark, these are the beginnings of mushrooms. Shiitake can be picked and eaten at any stage, but should be harvested before the cap opens completely.

Resting
After the logs have fruited, lay them back down to rest for 6 to 8 weeks, then repeat the fruiting instructions. Temperatures between 45 and 75 degrees are best, Shiitake like it cooler rather than warmer.

Wintering over
Logs should be left out in the laying yard over the winter. A good snow cover is ideal, but if it is an open winter, or your logs are exposed to drying winds, you might cover the stacks with an old blanket. Spring will come, and another season of Shiitake will too. Your logs will fruit for several years if you manage them well.

 Shiitake Mushroom Block

Your Shiitake Block is ready to fruit. Is the bag still on? Do you see visible signs of little mushrooms? If you do and the bag is on take the entire bag of off the block..if you do not see signs of mushrooms then wait until you see about 5 or 6 of them then take the bag off. Place your block on a table out of direct sunlight maybe on a plate. Shiitakes like humidity but the block needs to stay dry. Place your humidity bag over your block and just mist inside of the bag. It will take 5-6 days for your shiitakes to be ready once they start to pin. After you cut off your mushrooms let the block rest for about 10 days then soak it in cold water for about 2 hours and place back on plate. You should see pins again in about 3 days. Repeat procedure.

How to soak your block:

 Take a 5 gallon bucket and place the block in it upside down (the flat side is the bottom). Too large of a container makes it difficult to gauge how much water to add.

 Next place something heavy on the block (brick, piece of iron, etc…) and fill the bucket to the top with cold water completely submerging the block with water.

 Let the block soak up 1-2 lbs of water (approximately 2 cups of water) for about 2 hours or when you think it’s soaked pretty good.

DO NOT over soak TILL it is waterlogged.

 Place block in fruiting chamber / humidity tent 

 Shiitake blocks love moderately cool temperatures. 55-64F is ideal, but brief periods of 40-50F is ok; continuous temperatures of over 80F should be avoided.

 Direct sunlight is BAD – UV rays Kill fungus. Indirect light is great. Cool fluorescent lights (24/day) is perfect.

 A high humidity is absolutely essential for a long life of the block. DO NOT KEEP OUTSIDE!

 Try to avoid misting the block or mushrooms. It is better to wet the sides of the container or the base of the fruiting chamber to increase humidity. Inside of bag

• Cut mushrooms at base, sauté and eat (refrigerate fresh mushrooms in paper bags.)

• As soon as you pick the last mushroom clean off all debris from block and place it back in the fruiting chamber.

 Option 1: Wait 2-3 weeks and soak block again

 Option 2: Long Term Storage of Block             Wait 2-3 weeks and place block in a plastic bag and put in refrigerator. When you are ready to use again repat soaking step  You should get multiple crops expect 2-4 crops.

Reishi Log

Place logs in a shaded area and keep moist. Elevating the logs from the surface, creating stacks, or leaning against each other for support is best. Frequent and normal rainfall should keep them moist, but periodic soakings may be required during dry spells. If the logs receive no rainfall for two weeks, we recommend soaking them overnight in a tub or bucket of water.

Spring inoculated logs may produce mushrooms by Fall, but will typically take up to one year to mature. Once the log has matured, mushrooms will begin producing in spring when daytime temperatures have started reaching 75F.

Because of their lower humidity requirements, Reishi mushroom logs may also be grown "potted" indoors. Simply place one end of your log in a planter and fill with a mixture of sand and small gravel. "Water" your log at least once every two weeks by pouring water into the sand gravel mix, the log will soak it up. Mushroom conks and antlers will begin forming when the log has matured. Their slow and steady growth is fun to observe!

Properly maintained logs will continue to produce mushrooms for many seasons!

Reishi Block

The reishi mushroom may be grown two different ways depending on your preference. You may grow them completely inside the bag, without every opening it! Mushrooms grown in this manner will have an antler-like appearance, due to the high concentration of CO2 and lack of fresh air exchange. Fruits well at room temperature.

The reishi mushroom will also produce a conk-like growth. To do this, it will need fresh air. Expose the block to fresh air by completely removing the top portion of the plastic bag (cut away everything above the mushroom block). Loosely drape the supplied humidity tent over the block. The tent is long and you may need to roll up the open end to shorten it. You can safely support the humidity tent with skewers, chopsticks or even wooden pencils poked into the block.

Set your block on an uplifted platform such as an upside down pie pan on a dinner plate. This will allow any excess moisture to drain off and collect in the plate, preventing damage to furniture.

Locate a place where your block will receive light, but not direct sunlight. Mist the surface of the block and the inside of the humidity tent with water from a spray bottle as often as you think about it. Several times a day is not too much but at least twice a day is recommended.

Reishi grows very slowly compared to more fleshy mushrooms. Mushroom production begins with the appearance of small white bumps. As the bumps grow and age they will change to a golden brown to reddish color. It will take many weeks for the reishi to mature, indicated by the appearance of a fine brown dusting of spores on and around the mushrooms. Harvested mushrooms should be dried and stored in a sealed container for later use in medicinal teas. Additional mushrooms can sometimes be produced by burying the block outside under the shade of a bush.

Lions Mane Block Instructions

Roll the top of the bag down to the block and secure in place. We staple it together. Keep the bag rolled up as tight as possible. You are going to grow the mushrooms on the exterior of the bag.

• Begin the fruiting process by cutting 1 in. long slits or “X's” in the long side of the bag  Disturbing the sawdust is OK. Cutting these “X's” into the bag exposes the block to fresh air and encourages mushrooms to grow from these sites. Use a clean sharp knife to cut the x's. Wipe with alcohol. 70/30

• Loosely drape the supplied humidity tent over the top of the block. You can safely support the humidity tent with skewers, chopsticks or even wooden pencils poked into the block. Roll up the excess length of the tent to give it some structure. You are trying to prevent rapid drying which will stunt or prevent mushroom growth.

• Set your block on an uplifted platform such as an upside down pie pan on a dinner plate. This will allow any excess moisture to drain off and collect in the plate.

• Locate a place where your block will receive light, but not direct sunlight. Light is necessary for mushroom development, unlike the common button mushroom which can grow in complete darkness. Mist the surface of the block's bag and the inside of the humidity tent with water from a spray bottle as often as you think about it. Several times a day is not too much but at least twice a day is recommended.

• The lion's mane block will start mushroom formation about a week after initiation. Normal room temperature is great, 65-75F. They will first appear as small bumps and then quickly mature into fully formed toothed mushrooms. Harvest your mushrooms when the top of the mushroom near slit in the bag begin to turn brown/tan. Remove all mushrooms large and small by pulling them off at their base when the majority reaches maturity. After harvesting, your block will go dormant for about a week. Continue to mist during this period of rest. Repeat the cycle until no more mushrooms appear. Your block should produce 3 to 5 cycles of mushroom crops before becoming exhausted. Near the final crop the block will be surprisingly smaller than its original size.

If you have any questions about your kits or any mushrooms you need to purchase  please contact us..... we are more than happy to assist you!