Last Updated on April 11, 2022 by Marco C.
Mushrooms are a great addition to many meals, which is why some cooks often ask about growing white button mushrooms indoors. If you don’t have to depend on running to the store every time you want to cook lunch, growing your own ingredients is a great way to go about it. In today’s article, we’ll be taking a look at growing white button mushrooms indoors.
How To Grow White Button Mushrooms Indoors
You’ll be very happy to know that growing mushrooms is typically much easier and less time expensive than growing fruits and vegetables. Mushrooms don’t need much care, sunlight, water, or anything else you usually have to keep in mind when you’re working on vegetables.
Unlike vegetables, mushrooms don’t grow from seeds, but from spores. For easier understanding, think of spores as ‘mushroom seed’, even though that’s incorrect (strictly biologically speaking). You can buy spores in gardening stores or online.
You don’t really have to think hard about where and when to plant your mushrooms – they don’t need sunlight at all, so you might as well do it in the basement. You can grow them in a pitch-black room if you feel like it.
You can, if you’d like, also buy mushroom growing kits that have instructions already set for how to grow those mushrooms. This is an easier way of growing your mushrooms and it’s definitely helpful if you’re a beginner.
Setting Up The Bed
This is one of the few steps you have to make to grow your own mushrooms. Set up a bed, at least 15×15 inches wide and 6 inches deep. You’re going to fill that bed with compost and manure.
You can’t just use regular soil because the one important requirement mushrooms do have is nitrogen – they love nitrogen. Mix up the compost and the manure in a 50/50 ratio.
Now, take the spores that you bought and sprinkle them all over the bed, after which you’re going to dampen the soil just a little bit. Mushrooms grow much better in moist environments with high levels of humidity. This is why they do very well in basements.
Temperature and Water Control
You should spray your mushrooms with a little bit of water at least twice a day. They like wet environments, so it’s important to keep the soil moist. You should never pour water into the soil directly.
This doesn’t function the same way it would with a vegetable or a fruit. Instead, use a bottle that can mist the water around – this is the best way to cover the mushrooms with moisture.
Another thing to keep in mind is the temperature – mushroom roots don’t like temperatures that are too high, so make sure that the temperature is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the room.
It will take a month for the mycelium to grow, which is essentially the roots of the mushrooms. Once they do, you should lower the temperature of the room to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, as mushrooms grow better in lower temperatures.
Learn more about Guide On Growing King Oyster Mushrooms Indoors
After that, the only thing left to do is watch your mushrooms grow. Depending on the exact sort of mushrooms, it might take a few weeks for them to grow completely and be ready to eat.
How Long Can You Grow Mushrooms For?
With this method, a single bed of mushrooms will continue to produce mushrooms for months. Once again, the exact number depends on the exact sort of mushrooms, but it’s possible to keep producing them for 6 months.
Indoor vs Outdoor Growing
There’s a stark contrast between growing your mushrooms indoors and outdoors. Firstly, you can always control the temperature and the level of moisture indoors, while it’s more difficult to do that outdoors. Also, indoors, you can control pests very easily, while that’s almost impossible outdoors.
Mushrooms are particularly susceptible to pests – deer, rats, raccoons, squirrels, the list goes on and on. Also, having in mind that they don’t have any special requirements except for the temperature and humidity, you can keep them in virtually any room in your home.
Growing them outside isn’t difficult either, but you can’t grow them throughout the entire year. For example, they can’t grow as well in the summer because summer temperatures would kill mushrooms.
If you have the option of growing mushrooms indoors and outdoors, growing them indoors is usually more sustainable and easier.
Read more about: Growing Portabella Mushrooms Indoors & Step By Step Guide
FAQ
How long do white button mushrooms take to grow?
It usually takes about a month for roots to develop, after which the mushrooms will start growing. Growth rate of the mushrooms depends on the environment and the sort of mushrooms you're growing.
Do white button mushrooms need light to grow?
No, quite the opposite actually. White button mushrooms, just like most mushrooms, like the dark and they'll grow much better if they're cut off from all light. That's why, in the wild, they often grow in caves and enclosed spaces.
Can you grow button mushrooms at home?
You can certainly grow them at home - all you need is a dark room and control over temperature and water. Growing them at home is usually easier than growing them in the garden.
How do you grow white button mushrooms?
It's best to start growing them in the basement or a similarly dark room. Keep the nitrogen-rich mix of manure and compost moist with a water sprinkler and the mushrooms should start popping up after a month.
To End
You definitely don’t need to depend on stores to get mushrooms, as you can grow your own. Remember that they like the darkness, nitrogen-rich soil, and plenty of moisture. These three simple requirements ensure that you can easily grow them at home.
They can grow perfectly in an apartment or in a house, and they can actually grow better behind closed doors than in a garden! Mushrooms usually take about a month to develop roots, after which the mushrooms will start growing.
Depending on how well you’re taking care of them and what’s the specific sort – mushrooms can grow for months on end, keeping you with a constant supply of mushrooms for up to half a year.