A Complete Guide To Grow Hydroponic Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a type of fungus that can be grown hydroponically. They have many culinary and medicinal uses and can be added to many dishes for extra flavor or nutrition.

In this guide, you will learn how to grow mushrooms using a hydroponic system. Happy growing!

 

Is It Possible To Grow Mushrooms Hydroponically?

Mushrooms have no roots, so they can’t be grown in a hydroponic system like regular plants. However, you could grow them with a medium soaked in nutrient-enriched water solution.

Remember, growing mushrooms hydroponically don’t specifically mean you should immerse the crops in water. It also means growing food in a limited space without soil. Thus, cultivating hydroponic mushrooms this way checks all the boxes.

 

Important Stages For Mushroom Planting Cycle

a. Reproduction

Mushrooms reproduce through microscopic spores. The microscopic spores are housed in a mature mushroom’s gills- structures found underneath the umbrella-like part of the mushroom. The mushrooms shed the spores, which later fall on fertile surfaces where they grow into mushrooms and continue the cycle.

 

b. Vegetative Stage

When mushroom spores fall on nutrient-rich mediums with enough moisture and optimal temperature, they develop a cellular network known as hyphae. The strands grow and branch neighboring, compatible hyphae strands creating an interconnected filament mat referred to as mycelium.

We refer to them as fungi’s vegetative growth, and they interconnect to form baby mushrooms that look like pinheads.

 

c. Fruiting Stage

The pinheads grow under optimal conditions to form mushrooms, i.e., in the fruiting stage. In other words, the part of the mushroom you see above ground is the entire organism’s reproductive structure or the fruiting body.

 

Basics Of Mushroom Hydroponics System

Mushroom spores require a nutritious substrate to grow properly, much like plant seeds. To do this, you must infuse the substrate with spores, allowing the mycelium to develop, fuse, and colonize the substrate after some time. Hydroponic Mushrooms require nutrients like carbohydrates and sugars to grow since they can’t make food.

 

9 Steps: Growing Hydroponic Mushrooms

Step 1: Prepare A Clean Environment

Fungi need a clean environment to grow in. They also need a nutrient-rich substrate where they can get food to grow. However, if the environment is dirty, it can affect the fungi’s health. The other organisms in the environment might take away the food that the fungi need to grow.

You should clean the environment to get rid of micro-organisms. You should also wash your hands so you don’t introduce any new micro-organisms when you are working with the substrate. If you can, you should also install a HEPA filter. This will help remove contaminated air and replace it with sterile air.

 

Step 2: Grow Your Mycelium

You can buy quality mushroom spores online or from a local gardening supply store. When you receive the spores, you will get a syringe filled with water and the mushroom spores.

Inject the contents into a space where you want the mushrooms to grow. Once the culture grows, you can use it to prepare mushrooms or store it in a fridge for later.

You should place the liquid mycelium culture on a Petri dish with an Agar plate and seal it with paraffin tape. You should keep the petri dish in a cool room with a 90% humidity level and wait two to four weeks for the mycelium to expand. You’ll know it’s ready when you see a white, cottony, thread-like substance.

 

Step 3: Choose A Growing Medium

You should choose a nutrient-rich organic growing medium for your mushrooms. The medium should contain sugar, fats, starch, nitrogen, lignin, and proteins. These nutrients are essential for your mushrooms’ proper growth.

 

How To Prepare The Growing Medium

a. Place the vermiculite in a bowl, slowly add some water, and stir with a spoon, keeping the bowl tilted. You should stop adding water once it begins leaking from the side.

b. Add the brown rice flour to the mixture and stir well, ensuring the components are uniformly soaked. The substrate is ready.

c. Fill the container with the substrate and leave an inch of space at the top. Avoid compacting the substrate since you want it loose and airy. Wipe the side of the jar and around the lid.

d. Fill the remaining space with dry vermiculite. The layer acts as a buffer protecting the mycelium from contaminants. Cover the container with two aluminum foil layers, ensuring they are tightly pressed around the sides. Loosely place the third layer on top of the lid.

 

4. Preparing The Substrate

A common mixture of hydroponic mushroom substrates is brown rice flour and vermiculite. You’ll need to fill your container (a 240mL mason jar will do) with 40mL of brown rice flour, 140mL of vermiculite, and some water.

 

The Following Are Some Of The Substrate Options:

a. Vermiculite: Combine this sponge-like mineral with water and brown rice flour to create a compact block. The mixture should contain enough hydroponic nutrients that the mycelium can feed on.

b. You can also mix vermiculite with perlite in equal amounts.

c. You could also mash wood pellets, add soybean hulls, or sterilized grains and water to create a nutrient-rich substrate.

d. You could also use a mixture of peat moss, corn, and sand.

e. You could also create a blend of organic wheat bran and oak hardwood sawdust.

f. Other materials you could mix include millet, rye, hay, woodshavings, wheat straw, and coco coir. You could even use coffee grounds when growing Oyster mushrooms.

Note: You should research which substrate would be good for your mushrooms before growing your mushrooms. For instance, you should use oak-based substrates when growing mushrooms that naturally grow on oak logs.

 

5. Sterilizing The Substrate

You can use a pressure cooker for sterilizing the substrate. Add water to the pressure cooker (an inch high) and slightly elevate the jar with a metal bowl. Heat the pressure cooker for 15 minutes on medium flame until you achieve a pressure of 15 psi. Turn the heat down to a minimum once the steam escapes the vent and turn it off after 45 minutes.

You should leave the substrate to cool for 5 hours or overnight. You can use a lidded pot if you don’t have a pressure cooker. When using the lidded pot, you should steam the substrate for one and a half hours.

 

6. Innoculate The Substrate

Inoculation is when you introduce the mycelium to the substrate. You should do this process after removing the substrate from the pressure cooker. Do this after the pressure cooker has cooled down.

Take the syringe and shake it to unclamp the spores. Fit it with a needle and sterilize the needle over a flame.

Wait for the needle to cool down, remove the top aluminum cover, and insert the needle about an inch deep into the substrate. In three different parts, inject the mycelium into the substrate and place the aluminum foil back. Remember to label the jar and the date of inoculation.

 

For Those With Pre-Sterilized Substrates

You should inject the bag or cut it open and add the mycelium grown in a petri dish after letting the substrate soak overnight.

Next, seal the bag with a commercial plastic bag sealer, gently toss it around, and mash the contents with your fingers to break the substrate down and allow the mycelium to expand more readily.

 

7. Incubate The Inoculated Substrate

You should store the inoculated substrate in a sterile incubation room with temperatures between 70F and 80F. You could separate them in a rack covered with plastic sheets or use small grow tents.

You could also create a DIY incubator box if you want a cleaner environment. You could do this with a submerged water heater and two boxes. You should attach the heater to the bottom of the first box, fill it with two-thirds of water, and set your thermostat so the heater turns off at 80F.

You should elevate the second box and refill the water when necessary. You should place the substrate in the DIY incubator. Cover your box with a blanket to provide a dark environment and trap the heat. You should provide light during the later stages of growth.

The mycelium takes two to four weeks to colonize the substrate. You’ll notice a fuzzy white color when the mycelium has consumed all food.

 

8. Allowing Your Mushrooms To Fruit

Regardless of how you choose to grow your mushrooms, you should watch them and check them out for pinning. You should store the substrate in a clean place with direct sunlight at regular room temperature (or you could place them in a dark, clean room and expose them to a low-wattage lamp every four to six days).

You could choose to transfer them to a fruiting chamber or cut the plastic wrapping. Give the mushrooms 2-5 days for them to sprout and grow. You can harvest the fresh mushroom by twisting them gently at the base once their caps start to open.

 

What Kind Of Mushrooms Can You Grow In Hydroponics?

Some of the more common ones to cultivate are similar to the ones you would prefer for traditional growth such as oysters, shiitakes, and lion’s manes.

 

What Is a Mushroom Kit?

Some common mushroom growing kits have a square-shaped block about 12 inches long by 12 inches wide. These blocks have compacted sawdust, which has spores of mushrooms already planted in it.

 

Benefits Of Mushroom Growing Kits

You could skip making a substrate for your mushrooms and buy growing kits. Growing kits are better since they’ve already been colonized.

All you need to do is soak it in water overnight, place it in a humid area with ambient light, and wait for it to grow. You can use the below kits to grow hydroponic mushrooms.

 

Final Thoughts

You should opt for a beginner-friendly kit if this is your first time growing some mushrooms. You can move to more complicated mushroom kits. Take your time and read through the instructions to make the best product.

 

Other Helpful Articles For Growing Your Mushroom:

1. Top 7 Hydroponic Mushroom Growing Kits Overviews And Links