The MiniTub method helps people grow mushrooms in 3-easy steps. It is the easiest, most cost-effective way to grow your own mushrooms!
The MiniTub method has three steps:
Mix spores with Grains
Mix Grains with Spores
Move MiniTub into the Light
Trust the process and follow every step as directed.
There are no shortcuts in mushroom cultivation. Once you complete Step 1, you are on fungi time. This means you can expect to wait 4-6 weeks, or longer depending on temperature, for your mushrooms to grow.
STEP 1: Mix Grains with Spores
The First step is to inject mushrooms spores into sterilized grains. For this process, we always use sterilized whole oats.
Inject spores directly into the sterilized grain jars.
The grain jars will incubate for 10-14 days between 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. After 5 days, or so, you’ll start to notice little patches of mycelium growing on the grains.
Around day 10, or when the jars are ¼ covered with mycelium, you’ll gently shake your jars to disperse the mycelium. The goal is to gently disperse the mycelium across the jars. Then allow jars to continue incubating undisturbed.
The jars should be fully colonized around day 14. This depends on the incubation temperature. The closer you get to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, the more quickly they will grow. However, do not exceed this temperature. Fungi will slow when you exceed 85 degrees.
Fully colonized jars are known as “Spawn Jars”. You’ll notice that the mycelium holds the grains together.
Fully colonized grain jars below!
And now that your jars have fully colonized and your spawn is prepared, you’ll need to move to Phase II.
Step 2: Mix Oats with Soil
After some time, your jars will begin to turn from a golden oat color to a white color. This process is known as "colonization" by some savvy mycologists.
Once your jars are totally "colonized," you're ready to move to Step 2.
First, gently shake the jars and breakup the spawn. You’ll notice that the spawn smells sweet and wants to stick together.
Then layout the black liner on the bottom of the MiniTub.
Make sure that it is laying as flat as possible. You can use some pieces of tape to hold up the edges.
Empty about 4/5ths of the substrate into the bottom of the MiniTub.
Open the spawn jars, one at a time, and empty each into the substrate. Mix with your hands or a clean cooking utensil like a large clean spoon. Repeat with the remaining jars.
Gently pat the top. Do not compress the mixture. Give the fungi room to grow and air to breath between the particles in the substrate.
Empty the remaining substrate on the top. It should be about an inch or so. Ensure that there are no grains in the top layer. This top layer will be place where primordia, or baby mushrooms, will form.
Place the lid on the MiniTub, set in an undisturbed dark area, and allow to incubate for another 2 weeks between 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Check the tub one time during the incubation period for contamination.
If there is only white growth, then you are good to allow incubating for another week.
After about two weeks of incubation, the top layer should be covered with mycelium.
Now that the top layer is covered with mycelium, you’re ready for phase three! Hooray!
Step 3: Bring MiniTub into the Light
This is the easiest and most fun part of growing mushrooms.
Remove the tub from the dark incubation. Open the lid completely, cut back the black liner, and remove the clear tape from inside the tub and place the lid back on top of the MiniTub.
Place the tub in an area of your home that receives ambient light. You do not need special lights or timed-controlled lights. All you need is ambient light that reaches the top layer of the substrate. Mushrooms do not need light to grow. However, they do need light to initiate the formation of primordia.
The temperature can drop to ambient room temperature. Mushrooms will grow easily at 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything cooler and they will struggle.
After a couple weeks of sitting in ambient light, you’ll begin to notice the formation of primordia. Primordia are like baby mushrooms. Some will grow larger, others will remain small. But after a week, or so, you will begin to notice them growing rapidly. Sometimes it will look like they are growing right before your eyes.
You’ll then harvest your mushrooms when about ¼ of the mushrooms have broken their veils. The veil is a thin piece of the mushroom that connects the stem to the edge of the cap. When the veil breaks, the mushrooms begin to drop their spores.
Now it’s time to harvest!
Gently twist and pull the mushrooms from the top layer of the substrate. Try to keep as much of the substrate intact.
Cut off the base of the mushroom. Though the substrate isn’t toxic, it’s not fun to eat.
Keep the base and throw them in your garden, mulch or a flowerpot! You might see mushrooms grow outdoors!
That’s it! You’ve successfully grown your first mushrooms! You created spawn with spores and grains, mixed the spawn with the substrate, and set it all in fruiting conditions. Now you have a fresh crop of beautiful mushrooms.
When you’re done harvesting, place the lid back on the MiniTub and place the tub back into fruiting conditions for two weeks. You should see another crop of mushrooms grow. This process can be repeated about three times.
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