How to Grow Mushrooms in Holes in Canning Jars

Mushrooms occur naturally on rotting, dying surfaces in the natural environment. Despite their culinary love for fungi, when told that mushrooms feed on rotting materials, some gardeners may hesitate to recreate the same conditions at home. However, rotting doesn't mean smelly or disgusting. A controlled environment inside a canning jar will produce edible mushrooms. A substrate, the material that the mushroom grows on, is needed. It is important to keep the materials sterilized throughout the process to prevent the mushrooms from dying.

• 1

  Place 3 1/2 cups of vermiculite in a bowl. Pour some water over the mixture while stirring it with a spoon until the material is moist but not soaking wet.

• 2

  Add 1 cup of brown rice flour and mix it with the vermiculite until the mixture is thoroughly coated with the flour.

• 3

  Fill six half-pint jars with the mixture, leaving 1/2 an inch at the top empty. Keep the mixture off of the lip of the jar. Wipe any off if you see it. Top off the jar with some dry vermiculite.

• 4

  Place lids onto the jars and poke four holes into the top of the lid with a pin. Place a piece of foil over the lid.

• 5

  Place the jars into a pressure cooker with a rack at the bottom and seal the lid. Using a stove, bring the cooker to 15 pounds per square inch (PSI) over a medium flame over a period of 15 minutes. Leave the jars cooking at 15 PSI for 45 minutes. Let the jars cool overnight after cooking.

• 6

  Break up the liquid inside your spawn syringe by shaking it back and forth, and run the end of the needle over a flame to sterilize it.

• 7

  Remove the piece of foil from the jar and put the end of the syringe into the holes in the top of your jar.

• 8

  Push down the plunger to inoculate the substrate inside. Place the foil back over the jar. Use one syringe per jar, unless your spawn has multiple applications in one syringe. Inspect the packaging of the spawn to make sure.

• 9

  Place the jars in a room that is 70 to 80 degrees. After three to five days, pass mycelium (a fibrous root) will appear. It should be white.

• 10

  Examine the jar after five to 10 days for pin head mushrooms. Once found, moisten a paper towel and put it at the bottom of your clean plastic container. Place a 1/2-inch layer of moistened perlite over the paper towel.

• 11

  Turn the jar over and empty the fruiting substrate into the plastic container and cover it with plastic.

• 12

  Check the moisture of the perlite at the bottom of your container daily and moisten it whenever it dries out. This provides the mushrooms with moisture.

• 13

  Harvest the mushrooms once the variety has grown to harvesting size.