Steps to ensure the best mushroom growth at home:

Find a good spot for your mushroom block to live: A fairly humid space like a kitchen countertop, bathroom(without a constant exhaust) or the bottom shelf of a greenhouse/sunroom away from direct sunlight, drafts, and heaters. The ideal temperature range for most fruiting fungi is between 15 and 23 degrees celsius. The space required is about a square foot when using a single block humidity tent (Think large dinner plate). Note: It’s a common misconception that mushrooms prefer total darkness, but this is not the case! Mushrooms can be a great source of vitamin D if kept in a sunny location.

Use a humidity tent to keep the fungus in the high-humidity environment it needs to produce its best mushrooms. A humidity tent can be things as simple as a dollar store garden dome, a large plastic bag like a ziploc, or small clear garbage bag. A good humidity tent traps moisture but still allows airflow, so make some small cuts or holes in any plastic bags you might use.  Clear totes may be used however they hold a lot of CO2(Carbon Dioxide) as there is a sealed bottom so it can't escape with ease, so if you are using one ensure there are lots of penny sized holes along the top 2” and within bottom 2” of the tub to allow it to cycle and bring in fresh air. To ensure your humidity stays high, mist the inside of it down 1-3 times a day depending on environmental factors.

For “Top-Fruiting” grow kits (pioppino, enoki, king oysters): Open the top of the bag once you see pinning begin to form this will allow the fungus to breathe. Roll/fold the seam down starting half the distance to the substrate, as they continue to grow keep lowering the seam lower till its level with the top of the block or below the fruiting mushrooms. With this type of fruiting style, do not directly moisten the substrate. This way of fruiting may also be used if the bags have already begun to top pin inside the bag prior to you receiving them.

For “Side-Fruiting” grow kits (lion’s mane, oysters minus king variety): Do not open the bag. Using scissors or a sharp knife, cut an approx. 4in “X” or “/” on one side of the bag, giving the fungus a clear opportunity to fruit. Fold and remove excess air from inside the bag and tape the top of the bag to remove any chances of “rogue” fruitings. With this type of fruiting style, avoid directly misting the slit.

Patience, Once you see the mushrooms starting to pin, Keep up the good work and keep misting as mushrooms are close to 80-90% water and dont want them to dry out or they may stop growing! When misting make sure you're not misting directly on the mushrooms. Eventually the mushrooms may become too large to put your makeshift humidity tent back over, this is OK as it will only be a couple days till you're ready to harvest, likely if you're growing an oyster variety!

Harvesting grow kits, Most cap type mushrooms are ready to harvest when the edges of the mushroom begin to uncurl and before they begin to flatten out or reach upwards. Mushrooms are harvested all at once as they grow as a single unit. So picking just the ones you believe are ready wont allow the others to continually grow. If you're growing Lion's mane, you'll want to harvest before it begins to yellow/brown or when the teeth begin to form and are about 1/2inch in size, once they are larger than this they tend to get quite “fluffy” and bitter for gourmet use. The best way to harvest off your block is to grab the cluster of mushrooms from underneath and tilt upwards, the whole cluster will pull from the block. They do not need to be washed or rinsed, just clean the bases up of substrate that came from the block. Now you have some fresh mushrooms to use in a recipe and Enjoy!