Look all around the grow bag to ensure the white-ish mycelium has fully colonized the substrate.

We carefully inspect each bag before it goes out to ensure they’re uncontaminated and ready to grow, but if you see any large dark-brown spots this is likely the substrate, and the mushroom mycelium needs a little more time to grow. Set it aside for a few days in a cool location.

Use the grow kit within 2 weeks of receipt for best results

Thoroughly clean the area where you plan to have your mushrooms grow and the bag itself. The ideal environment for each species is different, but they all love cool humid spaces.

Our grow-kits will only grow outdoors with highs below 80 F and lows above freezing. Our grow kits do very well indoors otherwise. We recommend growing them right on your kitchen counter, above the fridge, or in your pantry.

Clean the end/side of the bag using 70% isopropyl alcohol or 3% hydrogen peroxide

Sanitize a very sharp blade (box cutter, razor blade, craft knife) with the same chemical used to clean the bag. Then you’ll cut into the bag and very slightly (<1/4”) into the grow block. This is where your mushrooms will grow out of.

For most mushroom varieties we recommend a Z or X, about 6” wide/tall cut into the short end of the bag. Though you may already have pins (baby mushrooms) forming in the top of your bag, in which case it’s best to cut adjacent to those.

For Lion’s Mane grow kits we recommend cutting several 1-2” slits wherever the mycelium appears the most dense.

Next, you’ll push or roll down the top of the bag.

Some liquid may come out, don’t worry, this is just the mushroom’s metabolites.

What you're doing here is helping the mushrooms find their way out of the bag. Mushrooms, unlike plants, breathe oxygen and expel CO2. So, by pushing the CO2 rich air out of the bag, you’re letting the mushroom know it’s time to wake up and start the fruiting process.

Now you mostly just wait and hydrate.

Spray the mushrooms a couple of times a day until small pinhead-sized mushrooms begin to grow out from the bag. They need less humidity the larger they get, but still like a drink about once a day. If your mushrooms seem to be getting too dry, tent them with a plastic bag (also sanitized) to keep the humidity high.

Your mushrooms are ready to harvest when the edges start to thin out (Oysters), or the teeth elongate (Lion’s Mane). We’d love it if you tag us in any pictures you share on social media @PurgatoryGardens.

If you’ve kept your bag clean and cool, you may be able to get a second “flush” from the other end of the bag. If you see anything besides mushrooms growing (esp. green) it’s time to toss your block into compost or break it up into your garden/house plants (it’s a great fertilizer!)