How to Grow White Button Mushrooms

White button mushrooms are a variety that is often used in cooking, and they are such a favorite that many gardeners want to grown them at home. Mushrooms usually grow much better indoors where their environment can be better controlled. Grow your own and have some on hand when your next recipe calls for them.

Grow And Care For Mushrooms

Growing edible mushrooms is a different type of gardening, but it is entirely possible to do once you understand the process. Like any plant, mushroom species have a natural climatic and geographic habitat. A large handful of mushroom species are delicious for consumption, while a much larger percentage are either bland to the taste, or bitter or slightly allergenic. Although they get a considerable amount of attention, there are relatively few highly poisonous species among the many hundreds found around the world. Still, people collecting mushrooms in the wild are well advised not to consume any mushroom they have not definitively identified, as some poisonous forms look very similar to edible ones. All these types can be purchased as part of growing kits at online retailers. The small white-capped mushrooms most commonly sold in grocery stores are the immature form of mushrooms that, if allowed to grow larger, would be called portabellas. Native to East Asia, shitake mushrooms are consumed all over the world and are considered medicinal in some forms of traditional medicine. Native to North America, Europe, and Asia, the Lion's mane has long spines and in the wild tends to appear on hardwood trees (especially beech trees) in late summer and fall. Read carefully before ordering to understand what's included. You may also want to consult specific information on the particular mushroom you are growing. Use approximately 1 or 2 cups of mushroom flakes for each 2 x 3-foot tray. The next day, press the mixture into the trays using a piece of wood or some heavy bricks. Apply peat moss to the top of the compost mixture when the mycelial webbing begins to form. Moisten the peat moss until it holds together easily when you squeeze it in your hand. Spray the newspapers twice a day to maintain the moisture level. Small white pinheads should be apparent within several days after removing the newspaper. Your mushrooms will grow faster if you increase the temperature in the room to around 65 or 70 degrees F, but you may end up with too many at once, so it's usually better to keep the temperature between 50 and 55 degrees so that the mushrooms grow more slowly. Your compost and peat moss mixture will continue to produce mushrooms approximately every two weeks for between three and six months.

Grow And Care For Mushrooms

Growing edible mushrooms is a different type of gardening, but it is entirely possible to do once you understand the process. Like any plant, mushroom species have a natural climatic and geographic habitat. A large handful of mushroom species are delicious for consumption, while a much larger percentage are either bland to the taste, or bitter or slightly allergenic. Although they get a considerable amount of attention, there are relatively few highly poisonous species among the many hundreds found around the world. Still, people collecting mushrooms in the wild are well advised not to consume any mushroom they have not definitively identified, as some poisonous forms look very similar to edible ones. All these types can be purchased as part of growing kits at online retailers. The small white-capped mushrooms most commonly sold in grocery stores are the immature form of mushrooms that, if allowed to grow larger, would be called portabellas. Native to East Asia, shitake mushrooms are consumed all over the world and are considered medicinal in some forms of traditional medicine. Native to North America, Europe, and Asia, the Lion's mane has long spines and in the wild tends to appear on hardwood trees (especially beech trees) in late summer and fall. Read carefully before ordering to understand what's included. You may also want to consult specific information on the particular mushroom you are growing. Use approximately 1 or 2 cups of mushroom flakes for each 2 x 3-foot tray. The next day, press the mixture into the trays using a piece of wood or some heavy bricks. Apply peat moss to the top of the compost mixture when the mycelial webbing begins to form. Moisten the peat moss until it holds together easily when you squeeze it in your hand. Spray the newspapers twice a day to maintain the moisture level. Small white pinheads should be apparent within several days after removing the newspaper. Your mushrooms will grow faster if you increase the temperature in the room to around 65 or 70 degrees F, but you may end up with too many at once, so it's usually better to keep the temperature between 50 and 55 degrees so that the mushrooms grow more slowly. Your compost and peat moss mixture will continue to produce mushrooms approximately every two weeks for between three and six months.