Spread the Spore! Golden Oyster Mushroom Growing Kit

North Spore Mushroom Growing Kit–a Pictorial Journey

We received this kit as a gift from afar–from some mushroom-loving, mushroom-growing relatives!

A big thank you to Uncle Rick and Kathleen for this lovely gift!!!

We’d never grown mushrooms before, but I’ve always wanted to try. I thought it might be too hard!

This kit arrived just before Christmas.

I opened it right away! I actually did a little unboxing video that I was going to add, but just noticed that it was recorded in slow-motion, so that would have been strange!

The kit came with a tiny little sprayer to keep the kit spritzed. All we did was follow the instructions!

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Below is the timeline in photos! 🍄

After that will be my synopsis! 😃

January 2. First sprouts

Same day

Jan 3 5:43 am

Jan 3 9:55 pm.

Jan 3 9:57 pm.

Jan 4. 2:36 pm

Jan 5 9:06 am

Jan 6 6:35 am

Harvested and ready to use!

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One word about the growing of this kit:

REWARDING!!

🍄

One word about the taste of the golden oyster mushrooms:

DELECTABLE!!

🍄 😋

One word about the whole experience:

ADDICTING!

👏🏼 🍄 👏🏼

I want to now grow more, which is the whole point of the kit–to introduce you to a new hobby or skill!

There’s a whole new world out there in the mushroom-growing culture! I plan to be a part of it!

Next I will probably get the kit of plugs so that I can grow the mushrooms in a log. You can get those here 🍄

For some reason, Amazon doesn’t sell this particular kit, but they have a different brand for Growing golden oyster mushrooms at home, as well as the outdoor kits from North Spore to grow Shiitake , Blue oyster, Chicken of the Woods, and a bunch more! The outdoor kits are grown on logs. I haven’t tried those yet but want to.

All I know is that this kit was easy and fun, and I would do it again anytime!

🍄 You can order mushroom growing kits directly from North Spore’s website! They have all kinds of information and you’ll be inspired and awed!

Words to the Wise

🍄 We waited a little too long to harvest our mushrooms. We didn’t know what we were doing, so I let them keep growing. There was one point, a day before we harvested them, when everyone kept commenting on a smell. Well…it was the mushrooms. They actually started to shrivel up around the edges and dry out. I think the trunk was getting old and started to smell quite earthy.

I’ve since learned that you’re supposed to harvest them before they start to curl up at the edges. According to Fungially, you should harvest them (this is for commercial use, to private growing may have a tad bit more leeway)

Oyster mushrooms have an extremely fast growth rate. When growing in the 60’s or at higher temperatures, the mushrooms typically need to be harvested twice a day in the morning and night. The oyster mushrooms should be harvested before the edges of the caps flatten out completely or even flip up. Having a slight roll on the edge of the oyster mushroom will maintain the ideal texture and storability of the mushroom. Harvesting at this stage also limits the amount of spores being released by the mushroom. 

Fungially

🍄 I know ours released spores. Everything around looked like it was covered in a fine dust. Live and learn.

To me, since we’d never tasted them before, I thought the texture was awesome!

Hands down the best tasting mushrooms I’ve ever tried!! 👏🏼 😋 🍄

🍄 They were kind of chewy, which I really liked. Maybe golden oyster mushrooms are supposed to be more tender, but for me they were perfect!

North Spore Customer Service

One note about the customer service at North Spore. After harvesting the mushrooms, I didn’t know what to do–should I cut off the stalk, leave it, or what? I’d heard that sometimes the kit would produce a second or third time, and I wanted that if possible!

I emailed North Spore and they emailed me the next day. They told me to soak that big thing that the mushrooms grow on (the rectangular medium) for several hours, and to cut off the big stalk.

So I did that, and am waiting and spritzing! We will see if we get another crop!

*I didn’t get paid to write this or anything. This kit was legitimately a gift. If you use any of my links, to Amazon products, I may get compensated at some point, but they’re there for your convenience.

So now I’m wondering…who has grown mushrooms at home?

• Did you use a kit!
• Or grow on a log?
• Or neither?

I’m very curious to know!

Please tell me you mushroom experiences!