If you are interested in how to grow mushrooms commercially, then you are in the right place! Discover online resources, videos, and info here
There are numerous ways to learn how to grow mushrooms commercially. I developed an online course to help this process for people located anywhere.
You can learn all about my commercial mushroom growing course here. Below I am sharing more resources for learning how to grow mushrooms commercially.
How to grow mushrooms commercially with online resources
We have an online course available that you can use to learn how to grow mushrooms commercially.
I designed this course so you don’t have to learn the hard way through trials and tribulations. That is how I learned and a lot was uncovered in that process. I teach this course so you can start at a different level than I started from. You will be able to grow mushrooms and mycelium with greater ease and understanding after taking this course. This course teaches the fundamentals of mushroom cultivation and gets into all the necessary elements of farm design and selling products. It even discusses opportunities for getting grants.
Learn all about the commercial mushroom cultivation course now.
Beyond this online course, you can
check out our YouTube channel where there are dozens of videos on growing mushrooms. Some of the most popular videos on our channel go over the process of running a mushroom farm, which you can see for yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q30YzanTMKU
How to grow mushrooms commercially: Avoid doing everything in-house
I see the mushroom industry being divided into a few main areas. There’s spawn production, fruiting block production, and sales of fresh mushrooms. More of these micro-businesses are popping up, which takes a lot of pressure off mushroom growers who are just starting out and don’t have the time or resources to do all steps. For instance, a mushroom farmer focusing on selling fresh mushrooms could buy ready-to-fruit blocks to grow their own specialty mushrooms. This way they would not have to make the spawn in addition to fruiting and harvesting the fresh mushrooms.
If you are just starting out, you can work with a block producer to bring blocks into your farm. Then you can spend more time finding steady customers. You can also be developing your fruiting process, including your fruiting room and schedule for fruiting your mushrooms.
Starting in this manner allows you to get a consistent process of fruiting and consistent sales before attempting to take spawn production on internally for making the blocks. This is a good opportunity for gaining the experience you need in mushroom cultivation and doing so without taking on too much at one time.
How to grow mushrooms commercially with supplemented sawdust blocks
Indoor mushroom production on supplemented sawdust blocks (referred to as “blocks” in this article) is the largest scale method for specialty mushroom production. This method allows for fast cropping cycles with high yields. Indoor block production allows for precise environmental controls and year-round production. This method also means that management of the crop intensifies, and costs like rent, infrastructure, and materials increase. If a farm is being developed as a large scale mushroom farm, it makes sense to produce mushrooms using this method.
Indoor fruiting typically means creating a fruiting environment inside of another building or existing structure. One major advantage of indoor fruiting is the flow of production. A farm can be designed to include handling/treatment, lab, incubation, fruiting, storage and shipping areas all in a single flowing building.
Outdoor fruiting on supplemented sawdust blocks is one of the easiest methods to start growing mushrooms. Very little infrastructure or space is needed to successfully grow mushrooms outdoors.
Note: It is not recommended to grow oyster mushrooms in this fashion as they get larvae in them when grown outside.
Depending on how the sawdust blocks are procured and what method of shocking is used, the outdoor fruiting area will look a little different. This process can be as easy as putting blocks in the woods and letting them fruit. Find a nice canopy of either deciduous or evergreens and clear away the dead organic material on the ground. Place the blocks directly on the soil with sufficient space between them to allow fruiting and mist 2-3 times per day for the first four days. One issue that can come up is that the mushrooms fruiting at the bottom of the blocks can get a little dirty. To prevent this, simply place pallets down in the woods to lift the blocks out of the soil, so the mushrooms will stay clean even if it rains.
To create the optimal conditions for growing mushrooms, particularly to increase humidity during the pinning process, install a low tunnel consisting of plastic or metal hoops and greenhouse plastic above the pallets. This allows the moisture to be held in and supports good mushroom pinning. Spraying with a hose once a day for the first five days of mushroom formation will create beautiful pin sets. If you are soaking blocks, particularly 2nd flush blocks, green mold can become abundant if the exterior of the blocks are not allowed to dry before placing the plastic on the low tunnel. After soaking, allow the blocks to dry out for 12-24 hours and then place the plastic over the low tunnel.
