DIY: Mushroom Cultivation

Mushroom cultivation is one of the most rewarding DIY pursuits you can undertake: it’s meditative, scientific, and surprisingly beginner-friendly. Whether you're looking to grow your own food, deepen your connection with nature, or just see what your hands are capable of, this guide will walk you step-by-step through the PF Tek method using a Shotgun Fruiting Chamber (SGFC). It’s affordable, low-tech, and wildly satisfying.

🍄 Mushroom Cultivation 101

Mushroom cultivation comes down to two core steps:

1. Grow mycelium on a substrate:
   • Mycelium is the vegetative body of a fungus—think of it as the roots of a plant.
   • Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies, like flowers growing from those roots.
   • The substrate is the material (usually a nutrient-rich mix) where the mycelium grows.
2. Trigger fruiting to grow mushrooms:
   • Once the mycelium has fully colonized the substrate, it can be encouraged to produce mushrooms—this stage is called fruiting.

Why Cultivation?

We call it cultivation instead of just growing because the process is more intentional—you're creating the ideal conditions for a living organism to thrive. It’s part gardening, part science, part art. The benefits go beyond just harvesting mushrooms: it teaches patience, precision, and care. Plus, cultivating your own mushrooms can save money, reduce waste, and connect you more deeply to the food and fungi around you.

Why Mushrooms?

Mushrooms are one of nature’s most underrated powerhouses. They’re low in calories, rich in antioxidants, and packed with vitamins and minerals like B-complex, selenium, potassium, and copper. Many varieties contain beta-glucans—compounds that support immune function, balance inflammation, and promote gut health. Some mushrooms, like lion’s mane, are even being studied for their potential to support brain health, memory, and mood. This process works for all kinds of mushroom cultivation.

🍰 The PF Tek & SGFC Method

For beginners, the PF Tek method is simple, affordable, and doesn’t require fancy equipment like a pressure cooker. Here's the breakdown:

• Substrate: Use PF/BRF cakes—a mix of brown rice flour (BRF), vermiculite, and water, packed into mason jars.
• Fruiting Chamber: Use a Shotgun Fruiting Chamber (SGFC) for optimal humidity and airflow during the mushroom-growing phase.

About PF/BRF Cakes

PF cakes (aka BRF cakes) are the heart of this method. They’re:

• Made from brown rice flour, vermiculite, and water.
• Sterilized in jars, then inoculated with spores in a Still Air Box (SAB).
• Fully colonized by mycelium before being birthed, dunked, rolled, and placed in the SGFC.

Once colonized, each jar becomes a solid “cake” of mycelium that can fruit multiple flushes of mushrooms.

Why Use a Still Air Box (SAB)?

Sterility is everything. A Still Air Box (SAB) helps keep your work clean while inoculating jars:

• It creates still air, which means fewer airborne contaminants land in your sterile substrate.
• It doesn’t need to be sterile—just clean and calm.

About the SGFC (Shotgun Fruiting Chamber)

The SGFC is the environment where your mushrooms grow. It’s:

• A clear plastic tub with holes drilled every few inches on all sides, including the lid and bottom.
• Filled with a few inches of damp perlite to maintain high humidity.
• Designed to allow passive airflow and moisture exchange—perfect for fruiting mushrooms.

Once your PF cakes are fully colonized and prepped, they’re placed inside the SGFC to trigger fruiting and grow mushrooms in a clean, humid, and oxygen-rich space.

🛠️ Workflow Overview

1. Preparation

• Drill 4 holes into each mason jar lid (for spore injection). Spores typically come in syringes that are filled with sterile water. Spores will appear as little black dots.
• Mix your BRF substrate (BRF + vermiculite + water), fill jars, and seal. I make enough for 6 jars in a big mixing bowl and serve it into each jar from there.
• Cover holes with micropore tape.
• Steam sterilize jars in a pot for ~90 minutes. I place all of my jars in a big metal pot with a steamer rack and I fill up the pot just below the rack. Then I heat it up gently until the water eventually boils to create all that cleansing steam for 90 minutes. Cool overnight.

2. Inoculation

• In your SAB, sterilize your spore syringe tip with flame.
• Inject spores into each hole on the jar lid. That's four injection sites for each jar - aim in a slightly different direction with each pump. You don't need a ton of liquid per injection.
• Replace micropore tape and store in a warm (~80°F), dark place.

3. Colonization

• Let jars sit undisturbed for 20–30 days to fully colonize.
• Incubator setup to maintain ideal temperature:
  • Tub of warm water with aquarium heater to manage temperature at ~80°F.
  • Inner tub floating in the water of the outer tub. Place the jars in here.
  • Cover both tubs with a towel to keep heat in and light out.
  • Leave it in a closet or a backroom. Kind of warm is good enough.

4. Prepare the SGFC

While the jars are colonizing, build your SGFC. SGFCs can be reused.

• Drill holes every 2 inches on all sides of a clear tub, including the bottom and lid.
• Fill bottom with 4–5 inches of soaked and drained perlite for humidity.

5. Fruiting Process

• Birth the cakes: Remove colonized cakes from jars. Each cake is a solid brick or "cake" of mycelium merged with the substrate. Takes a little bit of wiggling and shaking to get them out.
• Dunk: Soak cakes in cold water for 12–24 hours. Get a big salad bowl filled with water and submerge the cakes with a small plate.
• Roll: Coat the dunked cakes in dry vermiculite to seal in moisture.
• Place in SGFC: Put cakes on foil squares in the chamber.

6. Maintenance in the SGFC

This is where all the hard work pays off. Stay focused.

• Mist the cakes regularly using a spray bottle filled with clean water until they glisten.
• Keep humidity above 85%. Use a hygrometer. Keep a battery powered one on the inside of the SGFC.
• Fanning may help encourage fruiting—do it 3–5 times a day if possible.
• Pins (baby mushrooms) usually begin forming within 5–7 days after introducing the cakes to the SGFC.
• Once pinning starts, mushrooms grow rapidly and are typically ready to harvest within 3–5 more days.
• The whole fruiting window—from placing cakes in the SGFC to harvest—is generally about 7–12 days.
• This stage doesn't need a ton of attention, just gentle maintenance. Timing varies.

7. Harvesting from the SGFC

Depending on your setup and the timing of the mushroom gods, you should be good to go 12-14 days after putting the cakes in the SGFC. If it ain't happening by now, it ain't happening.

• Harvest before the caps open and release spores. The spores aren't bad, just not pretty.
• Always harvest the entire flush, including any "aborts" (tiny undeveloped mushrooms).
• To harvest, gently twist and pull mushrooms from the cake. Clean hands only.

8. Drying

• Use a food dehydrator or dry in direct sunlight for a few days until completely dry. I prefer the sunlight route for that real farm-to-table vibe but the food dehydrator gives you better results consistently.

9. Reuse Cakes

• After a flush, you can dunk and roll again to get up to 4 flushes.
• New pins typically appear within a week. Repeat the cycle.
• Once spent, cakes can be discarded—or used to start an outdoor mushroom patch. Haven't had any success with the outdoor patches.

📋 Supplies & Estimated Cost

Excluded from this list is the cost of spores. Everything can be used multiple times.

📷 Video Guide

This video covers everything I described above and more. It's very early 2000s straight to DVD vibes so if you're feeling a little nostalgic and want to be educated, this hits hard. Shout out to these guys for educating us all and continuing the movement.

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