Little Mushrooms Formation and Set Up :)

  Today is the day! After a couple of days in the fridge and in the garage, mushrooms have formed. It is setting up time!!! 

Incisions of about 2.5-3cm were done at the bottom of the bag as above.

Then, the bag was opened and tap water (cold) was introduced inside the bag. For about 30-35 minutes, the bag was allowed to loose any excess water in the sink.

The mushroom bag was put in an aluminum plate. I made cuts on the sides of the bag where there were mushrooms to allow them to grow on the sides.

The final set up consisted of the bag in the aluminum plate slightly open at the top, 4 wooden sticks supporting a plastic covering loosely the mushroom bag and a wet clot around the base of the bag to provide humidity. I placed it further from the bag afterwards in order to avoid promoting mold formation.

On the wall, I installed a thermometer (that measured 17 degrees Celcius) and a hygrometer (that measured 53% [normal] humidity). The Shiitake mushroom prefers temperatures from 10 to 18 degrees and a high humidity ranging from 60-85%. The plastic sheet placed over the Shiitake mushroom bag compensates for the drier conditions in the environment of the set up. Now we must wait and see...

It all started on Christmas day...

I always wanted to grow mushrooms. I read a bit on it and attended one lecture, but never got involved more than that...until I was given a box on Christmas day...The box contained a Shiitake mushroom block and a sprinkle of commitment. It is now in the garage until further notice, in other words, until I try to figure out what to do with it :). I'm then starting this blog on mushroom growing and its challenges. Today, the only thing I know about Shiitake is that it has Japanese origins. Therefore, we will start with a Haiku (Japanese poem) on mushrooms :)

Sign of life and death,
Nature's strange little cupcake:
The charming mushroom.

_{[written on 02-10-2006]}