Growing Mushrooms in Grow Tents on an Urban Farm
Let's see what we have going on in this grow room. So yeah, we did uh big harvest in here yesterday, but we still have some remaining mushrooms. So this is like the Pioppino mushroom or Agrocybe aegerita. And this mushroom is really nice. Uh grows out these nice canopies of orange mushrooms or orange-ish yellowish uh really beautiful-looking mushrooms that everybody really adores.
Uh really good in uh pastas and soups and stews and all kinds of stuff. Really any recipe that calls for a mushroom. I just you know, like to use them. So we'll just cut down one end of the plastic like that. And you kind of just roll that bag down.
And uh check them out. This one's a pretty pretty easy harvest. The cluster kind of just pops right off if you can kind of grab them at the base. And there might be a little bit of substrate attached to the bottom. Oops.
But you can kind of brush off as much as you can. Uh and then that kind of just goes packed in with the with the mushrooms. So now we have a box with three different strains. Um it's almost a complete mixed case. We're whipping out uh some king trumpet.
Uh this is just from uh grow room four. And we'll just harvest these and throw them into that box and finish up the mixed case. So these are uh another another simple harvest. Let's see. And we'll just kind of take these and just pop them right off.
They're a super dense mushroom right here, but at the same time also fragile as well. The mushroom is brittle. Uh if it's squeezed too hard, the mushroom will kind of just break up into little bits and and just kind of be a little stringy. So, we'll just kind of peel them apart and use the scissors to kind of trim it down. Then also kind of just peel any substrate right off of it.
I'll just pack that right in that box. And the trumpet's a really really popular mushroom cuz people like the fact that it does have this stem uh that can be used uh for like scallops. You can kind of cut it uh into like little little uh cylinders. And also, you can shred the stem and kind of create like a pulled pork-like consistency. So, it's really tasty.
I also just like mak- making really thin slices lengthwise, and you can kind of make like a mushroom bacon kind of thing. So, yeah. I think king trumpet is one of the best-tasting oyster mushrooms uh cuz it is actually an oyster mushroom species. But, it grows out totally different as far as the oyster mushroom being uh cultivated for the cap and this one being cultivated really mainly for the for the nice nice stem. Uh cuz the stem actually does taste better than the cap with this mushroom.
It's really cool. And we'll call call this one done. All right. So, it's kind of like a oh it's kind of like a mixed box right there. Uh just with some variety uh, the chefs and and whatnot can come come get these and and be happy.
And the cool thing about it is every week it's changes. It's just a mixed box according to what we have available or what we we're growing. So, we're always switching it up and keeping these guys uh, and you know, excited for the next the next box. See what's going to happen next time. You know, you don't get stuck into just the same thing every week.
So. And it actually helps me out. Lets me have that freedom, that creative uh, control. You don't just get sucked in and just growing one thing all the time every day. All right.
The Pioppino is a fast-growing uh, wood-loving species. And it matures relatively quickly. You want to harvest this one on time. Just because it really becomes not that it becomes super fragile uh, if you wait too long. Take the clusters and kind of pull them apart.
And this one uh, had a good amount of sawdust on it. So, just kind of make it a little neater and trim that up. And they're also uh, a good amount of aborts are on this mushroom as well um, because it just produces so many mushrooms. Not all of them can can make it. So, we'll just trim that up.
Yeah, the perfect stage for harvest is basically like this. You get the mushrooms to barely uh, the cap barely starts to separate from the gills. So, the veil is still attached or the veil. So, yeah. You want the veil still slightly attached to this mushroom because the cap is uh, has a lot more firmness to it and it can withstand like shipping and distribution stuff like that a lot easier.
Now same with this one we notice the veil is still attached to the cap but after maturity or as the mushroom matures we'll notice that the veil separates from the cap and the mushroom is mature. Uh I personally like eating them like this but as far as like storage and shipping and stuff like that uh the veil attached is way better. And sometimes you get some really uh really meaty uh mushrooms out of this strain that I grow. Uh what's so cool about this one too is the stem is super edible. So I'll just kind of like slice the mushroom lengthwise or even just chop the stem up into smaller bits along with the cap and then saute it and then in addition to like a soup or a pasta uh really adds a nice uh dimension to that dish.
So and I think it's become a uh quite a quite a favorite around here uh whether be at the market or just with like the chefs that that grab these these mushrooms. And you just cover with a bit of wax paper. That kind of locks in some of the moisture for the mushroom mushrooms and kind of keeps them from drying out as they're stored stored away. As for the cleanup after the block is harvested I just take my cleanup bin and then just kind of brush the mushrooms right off that block. Remove any small baby mushrooms that just didn't make it to full maturity.
Kind of brush those down. Get a nice clean slate. And ready to go for this next next round. After the second crop, we will dispose of the substrate. Here we can see a super mature block and this is kind of what I was talking about when it's over mature.
The cap kind of flattens out and the mushrooms kind of just become a little bit more fragile. For people that don't know what it is, a flush is basically every time that the mushrooms produce a crop of mushrooms for you. So, this would be a flush of mushrooms. They have grown out and they have flushed. So, after we harvest this, we can put it back in the grow room and when they grow the next time, that'll be called the second flush.
And each time that you do get a crop of mushrooms is considered a flush. And usually you can get anywhere between three to five flushes out of a good substrate block. Uh depending on, you know, environment and care. With the Pioppinos, we usually do like to weigh them out around 5 lb. That's basically it for my Pioppino harvest right now.
Um I'll put this block in. Get that back in the grow room. This we call call that side done. Here's an example of the Pholiota nameko second flush. And here's the top fruit.
That's what I mean. It's a better suited as a top fruiter all the way throughout. So, when you're looking at that second flush, just I prefer to leave the bag open because you don't have any of those mushrooms just growing in on the inside of the bag. And they just look way better when you can kind of just let them grow free. They they do start off kind of darker and kind of turn to a nice orange orange colored mushroom.
So, that's kind of how I can tell when it's mature. And also, you'll start to see little little specks or little fragments of gelatinous type substance on the cap. So, this is also its cousin mushroom, the chestnut mushroom. So, this is a bigger than they usually grow, but this is a a second flush for us. Instead of having like the gelatinous substance, it kind of has like a a freckled speckled cap, actually, is what it's called.
And you can see like bits of mycelium all around the cap. And this mushroom, also just like the Nameko, lends well to like soups, pastas. It's a great mushroom in a stir-fry. Um and it's just like an excellent showcaser. So, it's a beautiful mushroom.
Usually, this mushroom will grow out into clusters of like a hundred of them. So, right now we're looking at 2 4 6 8 10 We have 12 mushrooms right here. So, instead of a hundred mushrooms getting the moisture from the substrate block, we have 12 mushrooms. So, they're allowed to get much more than is necessary for them. And they We notice that they get these big sized mushrooms that are just huge.
I mean, it's almost like a a good substitute for like a portobella or something like that. Um but even better. I mean