Growing your own mushrooms

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Australia doesn't have a good selection of mushrooms that I'm used to from the UK (south of England in particular) and France, so I have to grow my own when it's warm enough. Typically the choice in the supermarket is brown/white, flat/button and that's it. Head into the Asian areas and you'll find oyster mushrooms and if you're lucky fresh shiitake mushrooms but the prices are eye watering even for standard white button mushrooms (currently around the £7/kg mark at the local supermarket, oyster mushrooms you'll be looking at 150g costing you £3.50-£4 (roughly £25/kg) and fresh shiitake mushrooms at a staggering £35/kg at supermarket price and only in 100g containers.)

Oddly though you can buy imported dried shiitake mushrooms in the same supermarket for £3 per 100g and dried porcini on special at £2.50 for 10g!

So I'm trying this new company out at the moment because they have a range of 19 different mushrooms I can try in time... other places tend to have 3 or 4 options (yellow, grey, king or pink oyster mushrooms are the main 4 I see advertised).

Pink oyster mushrooms which I've grown before need really hot weather (25°C at night type weather), so I don't buy those until January/February so i get the best results.

I know yellow oyster are in there in the biggest bag (2kg size) 2nd from the left. The others include Blue Shimeji mushrooms, giant King oyster & princess of pearl oyster.

Does anyone else grow their own mushrooms? I used to pick wild mushrooms on the UK, knowing a few very easily identifiable ones that no mistakes could be made with, but over here I've not had the same confidence to go out and forage wild mushrooms.

 

[badjak]

We used to go foraging for mushrooms in the Netherlands.
Here in Zam we can buy wild mushrooms on the side of the road in the season. They are quite bright orange and that scares me ....

In the shops, just button mushrooms at around 3 U$ per 200 gr (I think its a rip-off) or oyster mushrooms at around that price level but for a kg (at the Chinese market)

The Chinese market also has different type of shrooms, but expensive.
The shops around the fresh food market sell a lot of different types of dried mushrooms.

I would like to try my hands at growing them, but I think it is too hot here

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I would like to try my hands at growing them, but I think it is too hot here

Some species need the heat. Pink oyster mushrooms are one I know that does and is not warm enough here for them yet despite being 20-30°C currently, so you might be on with those. There are a few others as well, but I'd have to look them up. Pink oyster are really tasty.

 

[badjak]

Thanks
Now to find mycellium....

 

[karadekoolaid]

I'd love to grow my own, because (a) I love mushrooms (b) they retail at about $8 for 350 gms here and (c) there's rarely anything except white button mushrooms available.