Outdoor Spore Kit Directions
Easy Outdoor Mushroom Grow Kit Directions & Tips
Mushrooms offer us a plethora of flavors, provide truly amazing health benefits, and frankly are pretty fun to grow. We think mushrooms should be easy and we created these outdoor kits to be as simple as possible and consistently successful.
You can easily create an earth friendly, sustainable and organic outdoor mushroom patch with our Simplified Mushroom Grow Kits. More than 40 years of mushroom cultivation knowledge stands behind each and every grow kit.
You can start your Mushroom Patch almost any time of year. During Spring or Summer is best for most varieties. Planting in early Autumn does well also, even during Winter if you are in a warm climate. In most areas the mycelium will need time to develop before freezing during winter and we recommend a planting pause during the late autumn for growers in those areas.
Use these tips for planting your Simplified Mushroom Grow Kit and your new mushroom patch will be off to a great start.
Prepare Planting Bed - For best results prepare the planting bed by roughing the soil a bit, opening a few furrows in the soil for the mycelium to penetrate into. A shady location is best, such as trail edges or brush/high grass areas, often planting near a few trees or large plants will produce the best results. Many varieties naturally grow near trees and particularly good results sometimes come from planting near fruit trees, though any hardwood variety will work.
Planting Time - Spore packets are the seeds of the mushrooms and are very easy to plant. Spread the spores on top of the prepared mushroom bed and cover with natural mulch, such as wood mulch, leaves, brush or forest duff. A layer of cardboard over the planting area and under the mulch layer will improve moisture retention very effectively and assure a quick start to the growth.
Wait and Harvest - If conditions are perfect the fast colonizing varieties often produce some fruits later the same year, while most patches will fruit the following spring and then proliferate/expand as the seasons pass. Nearly all of our Simplified Mushroom Kit varieties produce mushroom patches that will continue to fruit and produce delicious mushrooms for you year after year with very little maintenance.
Our Mushroom Spore Packs contain a powerful array of natural boosters and mycelium foods to provide all the nutrients the new mycelium will need to grow fast and fruit soon! There is no need to create a slurry to use our mushroom grow kit, but if you prefer a slurry each spore pack will create about 8 gallons of inoculation liquid, and a entire 3 pack will make about 25 gallons of slurry liquid.
Each spore package will cover a 6'x6' area, though the area can be smaller or larger, and higher densities will hurry colonization. We only recommend watering your spore packs if you have well water because of the chlorination in city water, otherwise it is best to wait for rain since the water will carry the spores into the micro-cracks in the soil and wash the nutrients directly down with them.
TIP: It is best to spread the spores shortly before a rain so that nature can take care of the hard work of spreading, watering and getting the spores to the roots of the trees.
The spores will continue to lie dormant until they are watered. Mixing leaf litter or grass clippings into the soil provides an excellent natural mulch and extra food for the mycelium. It also increases the water retention in the soil, which at harvest time will increase the harvest.
TIP: Outdoor mushrooms grow slowly and will not begin fruiting until they have enough mycelial energy stored in the mycelial (root) mass.
The Mushroom Spores in the packs will remain viable and healthy for many years to be used when needed, as long as they are kept dry and protected from heat during storage. Contact with water will activate the spores and begin the germination and growing.
TIP: The higher the concentration of spores used in an area the faster the rate of colonization, which means mushrooms can fruit sooner!
Ancient Way Naturals is always happy to help you! More than 40 years of Naturopathy, Herbalism and Mycology experience is here to answer any questions you run into. Contact us at: AncientWayNaturals@proton.me