How to Cultivate Mushrooms Step by Step

This is the practical, hands-on version of mushroom cultivation, the actual steps, in order, with the details that matter most.

Step 1: Prepare your workspace

Wipe down a clean, still surface, ideally away from open windows or airflow that could carry contaminants. Wash your hands thoroughly. If you're using loose equipment rather than a pre-sealed kit, review our sterilisation guide first.

Step 2: Injection technique

If you're inoculating an Inject and Forget Bag or similar sealed substrate with a spore syringe or liquid culture, technique matters:

• Never heat or wipe the needle before injection.

• Only ever wipe the injection port with the included alcohol swab.

• Never spray alcohol on the filter patch.

Insert the needle through the injection port and inject 2-5ml of spore solution or liquid culture. Withdraw the needle cleanly and set the bag somewhere dark and temperature-stable.

Step 3: Colonisation

Store the bag or jar at 70-78°F, out of direct light. Check every few days for contamination (green, black, or pink patches are red flags; white, cottony growth is healthy mycelium). Gently mix the substrate around day 10 and again around day 15 to distribute mycelium evenly and speed colonisation.

Step 4: Confirm full colonisation

The substrate should turn entirely white with no unclonised patches before you move to fruiting. Fruiting too early reduces yield and increases contamination risk.

Step 5: Trigger fruiting

Introduce the substrate to indirect light and fresh air. For bags, this can mean cutting a small "X" in the plastic. For a monotub, this means fanning fresh air in daily and misting lightly to maintain humidity.

Step 6: Harvest

Pins should appear within days of fruiting conditions starting, growing to full size within a week or two. Harvest just before the cap fully flattens for the best flavour and shelf life, twist gently at the base rather than cutting, to avoid leaving stem material that can rot in the substrate.

Step 7: Second flush (optional)

After harvest, mist the substrate and return it to fruiting conditions. Many substrates will produce a smaller second flush within one to two weeks.

For a deeper look at the equipment side of steps 1 and 2, see our Lab Supplies 101 guide on petri dishes, syringe filters and sterile technique.