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Mushrooms
Sat 7-Jan-12
2:02 pm
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Sooliz
Somerset

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Has anybody grown mushrooms before, and have you any tips? 

Husband fancies growing them this year, we have a good spot for them " a very shady, damp area underneath a couple of small thickly leaved trees.  He wants to build some kind of raised bed for them (he has a good supply of reclaimed timber).  We understand we need to buy the spores, other than that we know nothing!  Oh, and we have an unlimited supply of manure (neighbour has 2 horses).

Any advice gratefully received, thank you.

learning to love veg…..except celery :-O

Sat 7-Jan-12
2:10 pm
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Toffeeapple
North Bucks

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Good luck with that.  OH's elder daughter gave me a couple of logs that had been inoculated with spores, left in the garden for the last 12 years, they have disintegrated and not given one mushroom!

I'll try that again!

Sat 7-Jan-12
2:14 pm
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Sooliz
Somerset

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Oh! eeek  Thanks for the vote of confidence, TA big_laugh

I seem to remember years ago when we had an allotment, we used to get spent mushroom compost delivered in big bags.  We quite often had a good supply of mushrooms appear from that, which was a bonus.

learning to love veg…..except celery :-O

Sat 7-Jan-12
2:28 pm
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Toffeeapple
North Bucks

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Looks like you'll be alright then! big_laugh

I'll try that again!

Sat 7-Jan-12
2:28 pm
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Danny
Scarborough, England
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Snap, Sue. Mushroom growing is something I am interested in as well.

From the little I know, chestnut mushrooms are difficult to grow. But my uncle had quite a business in Ireland many years ago growing the bog standard white cup ones in ploytunnels under black polythene.

Never knowingly underfed

Sat 7-Jan-12
3:47 pm
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devongarden
Devon, UK

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I'd love to grow them, but haven't tried yet. I didn't get any mushrooms from the spent mushroom compost I put on my raised beds last year, to my disappointment, so I am not sure what the best way to try would be. I did get good crops that I planted later, but I had hoped for mushrooms first. cry

Sat 7-Jan-12
4:19 pm
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typhoo
France - ex Ecosse

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Toffeeapple said:

Good luck with that.  OH's elder daughter gave me a couple of logs that had been inoculated with spores, left in the garden for the last 12 years, they have disintegrated and not given one mushroom!

I remember Alan Titchmarsh doing a garden and put in a few logs.  Same - not a thing happened!

Sat 7-Jan-12
6:37 pm
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Toffeeapple
North Bucks

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Not just me then! 

I'll try that again!

Sat 7-Jan-12
8:04 pm
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seth
lincolnshire fens

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Tried one of those prepared kits in polystyrene trough once , certainly didn't replay the outlay . Research department engineers had a thriving business growing them in air raid shelters on straw and horse poo when I started work .

Seed catalogues are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than the web and playboy combined . (after Michael Perry)

Sat 7-Jan-12
8:06 pm
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Original Redhead
Bulgaria

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suttons.co.uk  and Robinsons " mammothonion.co.uk  are both selling Mushroom Spawn.   Suttons are also doing mushroom growing kits.

Failing is not a fault, refusing to try is

Sat 7-Jan-12
8:48 pm
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Terrier
York

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tried growing them once , same as Seth, in polystyrene trays, got a few but nowhere near the outlay

Sat 7-Jan-12
10:27 pm
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Hannah
Suffolk

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Had a kit once that was an inoculated small bale of hay or straw and that grew some nice mushrooms- had to be kept in the dark for a while if I remember correctlywhat_the_heck

 Are we having fun yet? I am!

Sun 8-Jan-12
2:02 pm
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JoannaS
Latvia

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I was thinking of doing that too and the Mushroom Box seems to have lots of advice on how to set up the mushroom areas and lots of different types of kits.cheers We have a cellar which we could use to grow the mushrooms in, so we must get organised soon.

TA I think the thing you should have done with your log is to hit it on the floor to stimulate the fungi because it thinks it has hit the forest floor where it would naturally start to work on the tree. (I'm not clever just that is something I remember reading from the information the company above posted whistle)

Sun 8-Jan-12
3:14 pm
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Aly
Normandy France

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I get field mushrooms in the ...........fields! sometimes they are as big as dinner plates and we have mushrooms with everything for a few weeks. It would be good to spread it out over the yearok

Trying to enjoy life as it is

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