Modern day guides will allow anyone to grow mushrooms easily in the comfort of their own home. If you browse online, you will be able to find good eBooks and software that will teach and help you with everything needed to grow the fungi of any species, including white button, oyster, and portabella. All these fungi have a unique taste and texture, and one of them may become your favorite.
You will need to use compost, whether plain or prepared for you at a mushroom farm. The prepared compost will already be inoculated with white moldy mycelium, which is what the fungi will grow from. Alternatively, you can inoculate the bag with mycelium on your own. An eBook will come with detailed instruction for you to follow. You can expect to get several crops from any one mushroom container that you cultivate. You and your children will have weeks of fun growing and collecting mushrooms, one after another.
How long will it take to see the first specimens? This depends on the type of fungi that you grow. It may be as little as one week, or as long as 3-5 weeks. Nonetheless, the wait is worth it, especially when it comes to the very first crop, which is typically going to be very large. As the fruiting continues, the crops will start to become smaller, until finally they stop. Until it does, it will keep gladdening you with crops each 10-30 days.
The mushroom container has to stand at room temperature. If the temperature becomes too high, the mycelium may die. If the temperature is too low, it will “hibernate” and not fruit. The detailed directions that you get with an eBook will help you grow mushrooms easily from the very first try.