There are many ways to grow mushrooms, this is just a proven and timetested method that I and many others have had success with.
Items needed:
- Morter and pestle
- brown rice 200 gm to start off with
- bag of vermiculite (not sure where to source this from) 5L should cost no more than 200 baht
- 10ml syringe with 18 -20 gauge needle (3 baht)
- alchohol wipes (3 baht), bottle of IPA (10 baht)
- sterile water - if you can't buy it at the pharmacy, just get the best looking bottle of water at 7-11, there should be no microorganisms in it.
- pressure cooker (best) or soup pot for sterilization
- aluminium foil
- perlite if you can get it (2 litres is enough to start off with), and/or a spray bottle.
thats pretty much it, then you need the mushroom spores.
I grow oyster mushrooms which is used in asian dishes, there are a few other edible strains you can grow on the brown rice/verm substrate, including mm's.
Plenty of spore sellers on the internet, do a google search, they can ship overseas. This can cost about $30. I don't recommend ordering a spore syringe because it may not make it through customs. Instead, order a spore print which customs wont bother about.
The temperatures in Thailand are good for mushroom growing - 29C for incubation and 26C for fruiting, so I will keep things basic and wont explain how to make an incubator, except to say, it is just a heating element in a tub of water designed to maintain the right temps for mycellium growth.
The second photo is a "glove box" . Its easy to make and will increase your chances of success. The idea of it is to create a still air envirment so no airborne nasties can contaminate your hard work. Its worth the effort of making it. The first photo is just sterilisation equiptment. Contamination is the big problem with this hobby, however if you are careful and take all the right precautions, you should have a high success rate.
So thats the first part, the basic equiptment to get started, over the next few days I will go through how to make the spore syringe, then the inocculation procedure.
This is pink oyster mushroom just starting to fruit.