Grow Guide for Special MycoBox™ Grow Kit

1. Inoculation of Sterile Cylocybe Special Substrate

Reducing the risk of contamination is crucial in successful mushroom cultivation, and you can achieve this by working in a small, clean, and draught-free space, ideally using a Still-Air Box (SAB).

Before starting, cleanliness is paramount; take a shower, put on fresh clothes and clean your hands and forearms with a blue Clinell wipe. Ensure you have a face mask on, and put on your sterile gloves.

Next, prepare your syringe by attaching a new sterile needle. Now, take out your MycoBox from the bag. Be mindful, once removed from the bag, it is more exposed to the open air and any potential contaminants – that’s why working within an SAB is strongly recommended to minimise this risk.

Clean all of the grey rubber injection ports on the MycoBox lid with a green Clinell wipe. Don’t touch or try to remove the white air filter strips – this is essential.

Distribute 3ml of your gourmet spore or culture solution between all the injection ports – take care and do not add any more than 3ml in total to your MycoBox.

If you have any solution left and want to store it – flame sterilise the needle until red hot, leave it a few seconds to cool before putting the cover back on and then keep the syringe with needle attached in a cool, dark place – a drawer is ideal. Before using it again, flame sterilise it another time for good luck.

2. Colonisation of Cylocybe Special Substrate

After injecting the spore solution into the MycoBox, it’s time to set the stage for the colonisation process. Remember, Mycelium is alive and needs to breathe, so storing your MycoBox in an airtight container is a no-go. Instead, utilise the cardboard box it arrived in. It acts as a perfect shelter for your colonising MycoBox and helps keep it free from dirt and dust.

Temperature plays a vital role in the colonisation process. High heat (above 26°C) or cold conditions (below 20°C) can invite problems like contamination or sluggish to non-existent growth. The sweet spot lies between 20-26°C, and consistency is key here. Heat mats are not recommended as they can cause undue condensation, potentially leading to a breeding ground for contaminants in your MycoBox.

Maintaining the right temperature can be challenging. If you find yourself in this situation, an incubator might be the solution. It’s a more cost-effective choice compared to running your home’s heating system constantly, and it tends to yield better results.

With conditions optimised at 26°C, you can usually expect your MycoBox to be fully colonised in about 4 weeks. Still, nature likes to keep us on our toes, and this timeline can fluctuate based on a multitude of factors. Patience will be your ally here.

3. Dunking for Humidity and Hydration

When the substrate is fully colonised (completely covered in white mycelium), you are ready to use a method called ‘dunking’ to prepare for fruiting. Do not ever take the lid off your MycoBox before full colonisation. Note that if the dry vermiculite layer on top isn’t covered in mycelium, this is normal – you’re looking for the dark substrate underneath to be completely white.

Fill a container with water deep enough to submerge your colonised substrate (known as a ‘cake’). Open your MycoBox and remove the colonised cake – it will be a solid block. Place this in the water and use something like a plate to weigh the cake down to stop it floating, as you need it to be fully covered in water at all times.

Put a lid on the container or cover it to keep everything clean. Leave your cake submerged like this for anything between 6-24 hours, depending on how much patience you have. The longer you leave it, the better your results will be.

4. Perlite for Maximum Humidity and Hydration

If you didn’t opt for the Enhanced version of the kit, skip this step.

Pour your perlite into a strainer and rinse under a tap until it’s soaking wet. When it stops dripping, pour it all into the provided XL Grow Tent. Please cover your mouth and nose when working with perlite – it’s dusty and can be harmful if inhaled.

5. Place Cake into XL Grow Tent

If you’re using perlite, cut a piece of tin foil slightly larger than your cake and place this on top of the perlite so the cake doesn’t touch it.

After your cake is finished dunking, take it out of the water and give it a rinse under a tap. Allow excess water to drain off and then carefully place it into the XL Grow Tent.

Make sure to fold over the top of your grow tent to keep the humidity in and contaminants out. A little tape might come in handy if it’s not staying closed.

6. The best bit… Fruiting your mushrooms!

Maintaining a slightly cooler temperature of 20-22°C during the fruiting stage is essential for best results with many popular species of mushrooms. Essential levels of humidity will naturally build up inside the grow tent from the water you allowed to soak into the substrate during dunking.

Unlike some other grow kits, you should not mist this kit (unless it looks dry). The only time you’ll open your tent is when you’re ready to harvest your mushrooms. Even peeking for a few seconds is enough to lose humidity and cause growth defects such as aborted pins and caps breaking.

6.1 Humidity and Air Exchange

Humidity and FAE (fresh air exchange) are extremely important for pinning and healthy mushroom development, as is temperature and light. They all need to work in harmony.

We suggest cutting a 1cm slit through both sides of the tent near the top and placing an electric fan somewhere in the room on a low setting. This will create a gentle air current inside the room, which will help increase the FAE inside the grow tent.

6.2 Light and Environmental Conditions

Your mushrooms will need light to grow. We recommend indirect sunlight or a 6-7000K LED or fluorescent light a few feet away – if the light is heating the substrate, move it further away.

If you notice the inside of your grow tent looking dry, it may be due to the fan being too close, the holes you cut being too big, or grow lights (if using them) being too close and hot. Observe what’s happening and adjust your setup as required. Fantastic results depend on it.

6.3 Pinning and Growth

After around 3-7 days, you’ll hopefully begin to see lots of tiny white dots. These are hyphal knots that will develop into primordia, aka mushroom pins. It will take 4-5 days for them to grow into fully mature mushrooms ready for harvest.

During this time, they’ll let you know if something isn’t quite right. Fuzzy mycelium at the base of the mushrooms and/or thin stems are an indication that more FAE is needed. Increasing the fan speed or length of the cuts on the bag might be something to try.

Don’t worry about any mushrooms growing around the sides and bottom of the cake. You’ll still be able to harvest them. If you want to give your mushrooms more room to grow next time, use a fruiting chamber instead of a grow tent.

6.4 Harvesting and Subsequent Flushes

When the veil beneath one of your mushroom caps is about to tear off, this is when you should harvest your first flush. If you don’t get there quickly enough, spores will begin to drop from your mushroom caps and make a mess! It’s best to cut the mushrooms off with a clean scalpel or knife. You can also just pull them off, but be careful not to damage the substrate too much.

After you’ve harvested all the mushrooms from your first flush, you should dunk your cake again to rehydrate it for round 2! Remember to rinse it and allow excess water to drain off before placing back into your grow tent.

It’s really important that you dunk your cake between each flush for best results. If using perlite – you should also pour it into a strainer again and rehydrate it whenever you’re dunking your cake.

If you’ve taken good care of your grow kit, you should achieve multiple flushes of beautiful mushrooms before the nutrients are all used up.

Happy shroomin’ folks!