White
button mushrooms are a favourite amongst North Americans today. When
searching on how to grow mushrooms, this is likely the first variety
to be learned. Attractive and delicious, white button mushrooms are
easy to incorporate in a wide variety of dishes, including pizzas,
pastas, curries and salads.
Growing
White Button Mushrooms is an easy and inexpensive process. Follow the
step-by-step guide below to grow your own white button mushrooms for
your next stir-fry night.
Where
to grow them
As
I mentioned in my review
of mushroom growing,
mushrooms generally enjoy growing in cool and dark areas. The area in
which you are growing your White Button Mushrooms should stay between
18-24 degrees Celsius (65-75 degrees Fahrenheit) and be shielded from
disturbances and light. A basement crawlspace is therefore perfect
for growing your first batch of white button mushrooms. If you are an
apartment dweller, a dark closet is also a great option.
Materials
- White Button Mushroom Spawn. Spawn is mycelium (the mushroom roots; see review of mushroom growing for more information) in its beginning stages. I got my first white button mushroom spawn from eBay with great results.
- A Box. Find a cardboard box that is at least 6 inches deep. A box with a large surface area is best as it gives your mushrooms more room to grow.
- A garbage bag. This garbage bag will be used to line the above box to keep things from getting messy and helping moisture stay put.
- 100% Composted Manure. This is the growing medium from your white button mushrooms and what will be their food source. You need to ensure that you get 100% manure, and not a manure mix. Cow manure is best, but you can use other types of manure (e.g. sheep) if unavailable. Most good garden stores or centres will sell cow manure.
- Newspaper.
- Vermiculite. Many beginner mushroom growers make the mistake of planting their mushrooms in full manure. However, to ensure success, you need to mix your manure with vermiculite. While the manure provides the mushroom nutrients, vermiculite ensure aeration and moisture retention. You can get it at garden centres or order off Amazon (link below):
Instructions
- Open the garbage bag and line the box with your bag.
- Add a 50/50 mix of vermiculite and manure. 50 grams of white button mushroom spawn can inoculate 5 kg of growing medium – that is, the maximum amount of mushroom spawn 5 kg of medium can take is 50 grams. Therefore, fill the box with the right amounts of growing medium. This doesn’t have to exact, but add a bit more when in doubt.
- Make sure that the medium is not too deep – around 3 inches after patting the whole thing down well is what you should be aiming for.
- Spray the medium with a bit of water if necessary to ensure that the medium is damp, but not waterlogged.
- Sprinkle the white button mushroom spawn onto the growing medium.
- Remove a 4-5 layers of newspaper and dampen with the spray button. Lay these newspapers ontop of the scattered spawn.
- Cover the top of the box with a plastic bag with a few holes pierced into it. This is to retain moisture.
- Over the next 3 weeks, check your mushrooms once a day to ensure that the newspaper is moist. After 3 weeks, you should see the white web of mycelium spreading over top surface of the manure/vermiculite.
- Grab some more manure/vermiculite 50/50 mix. Cover with around 1 inch of the manure/vermiculite mix. Spray with water to ensure that the whole thing is moist. Cover with plastic once again.
- Check once a day to ensure that your medium is still damp and spray with water if necessary.
- Wait another 3-5 weeks, and you should see your white button mushrooms starting to grow!
When
your mushrooms are large enough harvest
the mushrooms by twisting them and pulling them off. As long as you
ensure that your growth medium is moist, mushrooms should regrow in
around 1 week, for up to 12 weeks!