REISHI (REISHI LINGZI) GROW KIT INSTRUCTIONS
WHAT YOU NEED
-Box cutter or razor blade
-A spray bottle filled with water (tap is fine, filtered is better)
-A sunny, room temperature surface in your house (ie a window ledge, the counter space next to your sink, your bathroom, near a humidifier, in a greenhouse/solarium/area with other plants and regular attention)
WHAT IS A MUSHROOM GROW KIT?
Your grow kit contains a breathable mushroom bag with fully myceliated mushroom substrate. Mycelium is the intelligent fungal network that forms mushrooms as means of reproduction. Substrate is the material mycelium decomposes, which provides mushrooms with the energy and nutrients they need to fruit. The compacted, myceliated substrate in a mushroom bag is referred to as a mushroom block. As long as it sits in the dark in its box, it will be protected from the environmental conditions that initiate pinning, or, the initial stages of mushroom growing. Initiating pinning is a process referred to as fruiting. To initiate pinning, your mushroom block needs to be exposed to light and air.
WHAT DO I DO WITH MY MUSHROOM GROW KIT?
1. Remove the mushroom bag containing your mushroom block from the kit box. Observe your mushroom block. The mycelium of Reishi mushrooms is incredibly dense and hard. It starts thick, white and rubbery, and turns to a golden, reddish brown as it ages.
2. Look along the top seal of the bag- you will see a black line. This line indicates where you should slice your bag open. The reishi antlers will grow in the direction of light and air, but you want your kit to retain moisture as they do this- leaving the bag mostly intact will help do this.
3. Reishi mushrooms grow slowly, and prefer warmer temperatures. Place your mushroom kit in an area of your home that is sunny, warm and can handle humidity (like a bathroom window). After making your initial incision, insert the nozzle of your spray bottle into the bag and give a couple gentle misting sprays. Observe your mushrooms often- if there is water collecting on the top of the mycelium in the bag, hold off on misting. If there isn’t a buildup of moisture, go ahead and mist gently.
4. The antlers of your reishi mushroom will grow vertically towards the slit in the bag, seeking the fresh air beyond the bag. After 4-6 weeks, these growths begin to push up through the slit. Around that time, white blobs will have begun forming laterally at the end of the antlers- this is when you can cut the entire top of the bag off, giving the antlers room to develop into conks.
6. Once your mushroom fruit body has matured (the caps of the mushrooms have formed conks that are white on the outermost edge and dark red at the center), it is time to harvest! Harvest by slicing the mushroom at its base (where the bottom of the antler extends out of the mushroom block.
7. Your Reishi mushroom is now ready to be made into a tea, a medicinal extraction, or to be preserved (by dehydrating or freeze drying). No need to wash them, they have never been touched by pesticides or herbicides, and you and I are the only people who have handled them.
8. Reishi blocks don’t generally produce a second flush- after you harvest, it is best to compost or bury the spent substrate block.
Questions? Concerns? Feedback? Please reach out!
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