How to Grow Mushrooms Kit and Video Lectures
In this class you will learn everything you need to know to grow mushrooms at home from world famous mycologist and mushroom farmer William Padilla Brown.
No experience needed.
The cost of the class includes all the materials you will need and 4 video lectures. You will also have access to teachers to ask questions of if you ever need help.
14 Petri Dishes
1 Glass Bottle
2 tubes YPD agar
10 Sterile syringes with needle
1 Dissection kit
2 bags Sterile Grains
Mycellium GIY Kit
Week 1 Intro to Mycology & Sterile Work Flow
Understanding Vectors of Contamination
Understanding yourself as a vector of contamination
Understanding contamination vectors in our workspace
Pouring Agar Dishes
Experiment Protocol: Sterility test. Students will need 5 Petri dishes. One dish will be touched with a bare unwashed finger, another with an unwashed glove, next one with a washed finger (with hand soap), one with a hand sprayed with 70% isopropyl, and one with a glove sprayed with 70% isopropyl. Students will watch the dishes over the next week to see how much mold and bacteria grow from each dish to help visualize why we practice certain sterile techniques.
Week 2 Cloning Grocery Store Mushrooms
Cloning Mushrooms from the Grocery Store
Deciding what mushrooms you want to grow
Experiment Protocol: Students will need to boil water, then soak small strips of cardboard in the hot water. Students will pick a mushroom they would like to grow from the grocery store. Recommended species Oyster (Pleurotus sp.) Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) Once students have obtained their mushroom, they will take it to their clean space, lay it out on a paper towel and gently spray the outside with 70% isopropyl alcohol. Once the mushroom is sprayed down the students can split them open, tear pieces from the inside and put them onto the strips of cardboard. 5 penny-sized pieces are sufficient for a 5x10in strip of cardboard. Cardboard should then be tightly rolled, and placed into a sandwich bag. The bag should be stored in a dark space, like a kitchen drawer or cabinet, Students should see mycelium growing within 5-7 days.
Week 3 Cloning From Wild & Identifying Mushrooms
Finding Wild Mushrooms
Identifying Wild Mushrooms
Making Spore Prints
Tissue Culture of Wild Mushrooms
We will cover where to find wild mushrooms in various ecosystems. We will go over the anatomy of various types of mushrooms, and how to use the morphological features to help us identify them using field guides or websites like Mushroom Observer. Students will learn how to take a spore print, by removing the stem of a mushroom, placing the cap on aluminum foil, covering it with a bowl and waiting for 6-10 hours. Spore print color can be used to help in the identification of mushrooms. Students with microscopes may further explore spore size and shape. The class with end with tissue culture of wild mushrooms, which is similar to cardboard cloning in the beginning steps of preparing the mushroom with alcohol. Wild mushrooms are much more of a contamination vector, students will be encouraged to take only small clean pieces of mushrooms into their clean space. Once the mushrooms are sprayed down, they will be split open and a scalpel will be used to pull out a piece of inner tissue to be placed in a petri dish. Petri dishes should be then sealed with parafilm, and stored in a cool dark area to incubate for 7-10 days.
Week 4 Making Things with Mycelium
Ecovative GIY mushroom planter kit
Using Agricultural Waste Products for Biotextiles