How to Grow Mushrooms With Mason Jars

The mason jar creates an air-tight environment that preserves goods for a long period. It also makes the ideal environment for mushrooms. A steamed Mason jar is perfectly sterile, keeping impurities out of your mushroom spawn. Although growing mushrooms may seem mysterious, it is a rather simple process, only requiring clean equipment and good spawn. Buy your spawn from a trusted garden center or an online distributor.

Things You'll Need

Mason jars
Brown rice
Distilled water
Pressure cooker

Spore syringe
Plastic container
Plastic bag

Instructions

- 1
  Wash your Mason jars thoroughly in warm, soapy water. Rinse the soap out so no residue remains.
- 2
  Add 1/4 cup of uncooked brown rice and 1/2 cup of distilled water to each jar. Place the lids on the jar with the seal up to sterilize the seal and place the Mason jar band loosely around the lid.
- 3
  Fill the pressure cooker with 2 inches of water. Place the jars in a pressure cooker at 15 psi for an hour to sterilize them. Turn off the heat after an hour.
- 4
  Clean the area you are working on with anti-bacterial spray.
- 5
  Shake the syringe with the spawn to break the spawn up inside. Touch the flame from the stove to the tip of the needle to sterilize it.
- 6
  Insert the syringe tip under the lid of the jar and inject 1-1/4 cc of spawn into each jar. Close and seal the jar.
- 7
  Place the jars in a dark spot for three or four days inside a container sprayed with antibacterial spray.
- 8
  Put the jars into light for six to eight hours a day after white spots begin to appear inside the jar.
- 9
  Spray the inside of the jars with a misting of water after three weeks by lightly lifting up the lids and spraying the insides. This keeps the substrate moist.
- 10
  Turn out the jars into the container after the fifth week and cover it with a plastic bag. Harvest the mushrooms once they are the correct size for the variety.

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