Mushrooms aren’t the easiest of plants to cultivate, but they can grow in your own kitchen. These grow kits give you everything you need to get started, from the spores to the gardening block to the water mister. Just cut an X in the plastic and mist twice or three times a day to harvest bountiful mushrooms. Some take longer to fruit than others, but all of the kits on this list promise a good harvest.
The North Spore mushroom kit includes a growing block and the spores in one package, so there’s no need to sterilize your own substrate. That makes it a great choice for beginners who want to try out different kinds of mushrooms or for those who don’t have a lot of room in their home. The kit also comes with a handy chart of the mushroom varieties you can expect to see in your grow.
This particular kit grows pearl oyster mushrooms, but the company offers other varieties, too. The most intriguing option is this cordyceps grow kit, which takes 2-5 months to produce a small harvest of orange spindly mushroom fingers that are often used for their energy-boosting properties.
Mushrooms typically grow on logs in the wild, and this kit aims to replicate that at home by including a mushroom-growing “log.” It’s made of pasteurized straw, so you can be sure there aren’t any contaminants present. It also has a black base that blocks out light to encourage colonization and prevent contamination. The monotub that the kit comes in is a great feature, as well: its large latches and recessed grips make it easy to handle, while its dark color helps prevent light from hiding contaminants. Mushroom grow kits