Grow Your Own Mushrooms Kit - Colonized Golden Oyster Mushrooms - up to 4 lbs

I started growing mushrooms about 9 months ago, and have bought two Golden Mushroom kits from Michigan Mushroom Company and one kit from another company for comparison. First of all, I would like to mention that the people at Michigan Mushroom Company are extremely supportive and helpful, but I have learned so much with experimentation. I have found that each species of mushroom has specific pinning and growing requirements - some do well with cooler temperature and some are better in very warm temperatures. All require a high humidity, especially to induce pinning, and all require FAE (fresh air exchange) to increase oxygen and keep CO2 levels down.That being said, the Golden Oysters are a species that require temperatures of 75-85 degrees to induce healthy pinning and a humidity over 90% and closer to 100% if you can provide it. If these initial requirements are not met, the pinning stage will look like yellow-brown globs as shown in the first picture. In the fruiting stage, the temperature can be lowered to the lower range nearer 75 degrees and the humidity can be reduced to 85-90%. The 2nd and 3rd pictures show healthy fruiting Golden mushrooms that have been kept at 78-81 degrees 87-94% humidity.This is a beautiful oyster mushroom that may be difficult to grow in a home environment unless your home is very warm. The humidity can be maintained by putting the kit in a large plastic bag that is open at the top and keeping the inside of the bag constantly moist with a misting bottle. Although this mushroom isn't the easiest to grow in a home environment, it can be very rewarding if you can supply the environment required.I would also like to mention that I have had more success with growing large clusters of oyster mushrooms by cutting 3 3" slits in the bag, one in the middle and about 2" down from the top of the bag and 2 3" slits to the sides of the upper slit and about 2" below it. This works better than cutting an "X" in the bag since it helps to prevent the substrate from drying out. For the second flush, after harvesting, tape the slits close on the initial side, and cut the same configuration of slits on the opposite side. It also helps when you first get the kit to fold down the top of the bag and tape it down. This prevents the mushrooms from growing into the space at the top of the bag where they won't develop.UPDATE 05/17/19:Since mushrooms grow so quickly, my Golden oysters looked like the 4th and 5th pictures. These are pictures of what oyster mushrooms should not look like as they develop, and is what they look like as they start to abort. Since I had kept the temperature and humidity at the higher level these mushrooms prefer, I am guessing the problem was that I did not supply enough fresh air in the greenhouse. The CO2 level was kept at under 700 ppm which may be too high for this species. I suppose it's also possible that the CO2 level is low enough but there is still not enough oxygen supplied by fresh air. Since the Golden oysters and Pink oysters have the same requirement, mastering one will mean mastering both. Where all of this gets a little tricky is that warm temperatures require more moisture in the air to maintain the same relative humidity necessary for cooler temperatures. Introducing more fresh air also reduces the humidity and temperature. It's a matter of getting the right balance of each component.In the 5th picture, on the left side and back of the flush, there are a couple of mushrooms that had not yet aborted. This is what they should look like when growing. If you decide to try growing this beautiful mushroom, and they end up looking like the 4th and 5th pictures, they are still good to eat if you can catch them before they are totally closed. I harvested and steamed this flush, cutting off the stems, and they were wonderful. Even without any seasoning, they have a have a good taste all their own. I would recommend trying this Golden Mushroom kit as it is fun, challenging, and the mushrooms are so very good.UPDATE 06/02/19:Since I have 4 of the Golden mushroom kits, I decided that I was able to keep the CO2 down low enough in my basement greenhouse because of the number of mushrooms I had growing. So, I decided to put them outdoors in the garden area surrounding my patio. I had tried this with pink oysters that I have and they are growing beautifully. In less than a week, there were pins on all 4 of the blocks, and a week later most were ready to harvest. During this time, the nighttime temperatures have ranged from the upper 50's to the mid 60's. Daytime temperatures have ranged from the upper 60's to upper 70's. We have also had a lot of severe rainstorms in the last couple of weeks. The 6th pictures is of the 4 blocks just before I harvested them. The 7th picture is of the mushrooms I harvested.I did find out that when the rain stopped for a couple of days, the mushrooms started to dry up. I had so many mushrooms from multiple harvests, I didn't have enough time to harvest and steam them all for freezing. So, some of the ones I hadn't harvested dried up and I lost them. I plan to set up a sprinkler on a timer to water them automatically every day. It will be interesting to see if this will bring the blocks back to life and so they grow more mushrooms.I hope this review was helpful for you. I will update the review as I find out more about these wonderful and beautiful mushrooms.

Already on my 4th flush, wonder if I can get a 5th. Definitely worth the money and value. Grows great, and couldn't be easier.

There were no directions sent with this at all. I was not satisfied with the results.