What is low tech mushroom farming?

If you have a scroll around some mushroom growers website, or have a browse through their social media platforms, you’ll start to notice the term ‘low tech’ and probably wondered to yourself what it actually is.

Well, if you ask anyone about how mushrooms are farmed, the general reply is probably how difficult it can be, not to mention expensive with all of the specialist equipment.

But low tech and expensive don’t marry together at all. So what is low tech mushroom farming?   

When I first started growing mushrooms, specifically the oyster mushroom varieties, I generally ordered in pre made inoculated bags of substrate and mycelium, and grew these on my kitchen windowsill so I could keep an eye on them and spritze them with water at regular intervals. And over a week or so, I’d be rewarded with home grown oyster mushrooms bursting out of the packaging and doubling in size each day.

But I then started to wonder about how the small businesses I ordered from created the pre made bags in the first place. And this lead me into the fascinating world of mushroom farming.

If you’re planning on growing oyster mushrooms, which are one of the easiest types to grow at home, these lend themselves to the low tech method.

And all this means is keeping things simple and using mushroom varieties that are so fast growing when in the incubation stage that the mycelium takes hold of the substrate before any other spores, such as mould etc, have a chance to make a home there.

Low tech also means using less expensive equipment and even using items you have at home to grow your own mushrooms.

For instance I use both buckets and bags to inoculate, incubate and fruit the oyster mushrooms I grow. The buckets have holes drilled into them so the mushrooms can grow out from them, and what this means is I can reuse the buckets for future growing.

The substrate I usually use is straw, bound together in netted bags, and then soaked in a lime/ water mixture in a water butt.

After draining the bags of straw, I make sure my mixing area is cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, wash my hands and all measuring equipment/ grain spawn bags etc, wear clean clothes and get everything together so I can reach for them as and when needed.

And then I mix everything together, measuring out the required amount of grain spawn and layer mixing it all in the buckets.

Once done, a warm and dark place, such as an airing cupboard, provides the right conditions for the incubation stage.

And once the mycelium has taken hold and eaten its way through the substrate, you can literally keep the buckets/ bags in your kitchen and watch as the mushrooms pins appear over the course of a week or so, and double in size each day.

It probably sounds like a lot to do but it really is a low tech way of growing oyster mushrooms, there’s no sterilising of the substrate, no specialise equipment (which can be expensive) and a lesser chance of contamination if you use a fast growing variety.

What’s great about to low tech way is it’s easy to buy the equipment from diy/ aquarium stores, apart from the grain spawn, and start learning about this fascinating world of fungi in a short space of time. And what can be better than growing your own produce at home?!

Growing gourmet mushrooms needn’t be a difficult thing to do, especially if you do it the low tech way.   

Have you tried the low tech way of growing mushrooms? Let me know!