There are eight essential items you must have when you set out to create a successful mushroom grow room. This guide covers everything you need to know about the equipment you’ll need and more.
Most mushroom growers will tell you that a well-stocked “mushroom grow room” is one of the most important (if not THE most important) elements of a successful mushroom farm. But, what should you stock your grow room with? In this article, we’re going to discuss the eight items that every successful mushroom grower MUST have in their grow room. These are the bare necessities that you shouldn’t do without if you truly want to be a successful mushroom farmer.
Mushrooms are easy to grow, hardy, and can be used for medicine, food, and, as a low-cost “barnyard” crop, to supply a steady stream of income. These are the basic categories of items you will need. Some of these are optional for home growers, but they all will make life easier, and help ensure a successful grow.
At the bottom of this article, I will post products I have used, or that I recommend in each of these categories. The links in the articles will also lead to these products.
M8 Must-Have Items For Your Mushroom Grow Room
1. Clean Box or Flow Hood
2. Grow Area
3. Good Ventilation
4. Sturdy, Cleanable Shelving
5. Cleanable Work Table
6. Propagation Tools
7. Grow Bags
8. Growing Medium
Clean Box or Flow Hood
This is a must-have item. Even for a home grower, you must have a basic clean box. Flow hoods are expensive, but you can make your own clean box fairly cheaply. There are plans on the internet for how to do this. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be clean.
Flow hoods are wonderful if you can afford them. There are plans for how to make your own, or you can buy a unit, the choice is yours. If you are doing more than the occasional home grow, get a flow hood. Just bite the bullet and spend the money. It will save you what it cost in the long run. Grow room contamination is no joke and can wipe out your entire season’s profits in a nanosecond. Flow hoods won’t prevent it, but they go a long way toward that end.
The other preventative measure is good clean procedure. Don’t be tempted to shortcut. If you don’t have time to do it right today, then wait until you do. Having had contamination wipe out my entire grow operation for a season I speak from experience. Do not shortcut on cleaning, ever.
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- Still air box creates clean room for mushroom inoculation with sterilized grain bag, liquid culture
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The Grow Area
A mushroom grow area is an enclosed space where you can grow mushrooms indoors. You will need a place to keep the mushrooms safe from rodents, insects, and other pests. The grow area also needs to be dark, warm, and consistently humid. You can use a closet or a small bathroom with no windows, but the best is a grow tent. These protect your room from the humidity, and proper ventilation protects you from the spores floating in the air.
- Pro-grade grow tent from Spider Farmer-Easy control of light and temperature to create the best growth surroundings for your beloved plants
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Good Ventilation
I didn’t realize I had an allergy to fungal spores until I started growing mushrooms. I didn’t have decent ventilation, even though I was using a tent, and I suffered. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but even without the mushrooms fruiting, there were enough spores in the air that I had a major reaction. Do yourself a favor and get a grow tent with good ventilation. You won’t be sorry you did.
- EFFECTIVE VENTILATION: Powerful blower with a fan speed of 2550 RPM for an air flow of 390 CFM. Moves air through your target location efficiently for optimal ventilation
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Sturdy, Cleanable Shelving
I can’t stress enough how important cleanliness is when growing mushrooms. Shelves seem to be one place that beginners forget about this. The shelves you grow on need to be cleaned just like everything else. Spores from fruiting mushrooms and even the mycelium growing get on them and attract insects and contamination. Plastic shelves that can be cleaned easily are a must-have. Metal will rust over time, get plastic.
- STRONG & STURDY: Wall mounting brackets included for added strength and safety. Each shelf holds up to 200 lbs. when mounted.
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Cleanable Work Table
The same goes for your work table. It must be cleanable. Wood looks good but can hold contaminates. It also doesn’t react well to repeated spraying of alcohol. Get something plastic. I like mine to be portable so I only have to have one. I make my grow bags outside on this table, then bring them in to use in the grow room. It folds up and can be stored away if you are short on space.
- Constructed of high-density polyethylene plastic and gray powder-coated steel tube of 1 mm inner wall, dia 25 mm, superior strength and durability.
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Propagation Tools
This is a lengthy subject so I will only hit the highlights in this article. You will need liquid culture. You can make your own from liquid culture syringes you have purchased at various places. I have an article on how to do this here. You can make liquid culture from spore prints using the same method. If you aren’t sure of the purity of your culture then Petri dishes can be used to check for contaminants and to clean up contaminated cultures.
A lot of tools are sold for growing mushrooms, I have found a good sterilizable (metal) Exacto knife to be my best and easiest tool. I use syringes for drawing up liquid culture and injecting it into bags. Large gauge needles are a requirement, 18 gauge is the minimum I would recommend. If you can find them, 16 gauge is better. I find Tractor Supply and places that cater to farmers and ranchers usually have them. I do sterilize and reuse my syringes, but needles are disposable. There is no reliable way to sterilize them between uses.
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Grow Bags
Everyone has their favorites in this category and there are a LOT of manufacturers. I like gusseted bags for growing on shelves, and ones with vents already in them make life much easier. They are slightly more expensive, but not enough to be concerned with.
You want a bag that will hold enough of your substrate for the mushroom to fruit properly. This varies depending on the type of mushroom you are growing. I have found with oyster mushrooms, a three to five-pound bag works well. I can even get multiple fruiting from them.
- ALL-PURPOSE MUSHROOM GROWING BAGS – These large mushroom grow bags are designed to help you grow fresh, healthy morels, oyster, enoki, portabella, and other mushroom types for a homegrown garden you can start in your backyard.
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Growing Medium
The growing medium is highly dependent on what mushroom you are growing. For the home grower straw works really well for oyster mushrooms. A mixture of hardwood pellets and ground peanut shells work well for basic wood-loving species like Lions Mane. There are lots of growing mediums being made and sold. Some work, some don’t and which works is dependent on your particular mushroom source.
Mushrooms must “learn” to grow on various substrates. This is a long process requiring a lot of knowledge and patience. The substrate you use should be one that your mushroom source is familiar with. Most oyster mushrooms will happily grow on straw. Hardwood species can be a lot trickier. I recommend working with your supplier if you are growing hardwood species. They should be able to direct you to the right substrate for the culture you purchase.
That wraps up the 8 must-have items for your mushroom grow room. Below I have listed all the products I recommend. This is by no means a comprehensive list. These are the basics.
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