Fresh Air Exchange

Small fungi are already growing in my grow kit, but I am not finished filling. What should I do now?

We regularly receive questions, but the above came by very often. Time for action from our side with a brand new blog. In fact, our very first blog post is a fact! We like it so much that we will bring one more often, because there are so many questions to answer about Mycelium that we can continue endlessly.

Foothills in your grow kit

Good, back to the question. We hear from many growers that small oyster mushrooms form in the breeding set. What are you doing then? In itself a very nice development, but a bit early if you are only at 3/4th filling coffee grounds. A comfort is that it sometimes happens to us (we are sometimes so busy with your orders that there is no time for coffee). The solutions are very simple and really just a matter of daring. We understand very well that experimenting is exciting for a novice grower after you have neatly topped up your coffee grounds for a month.

Let's start with the phenomenon. For the 90's kids among us: foothills look like the snorkels are coming up in your grow kit. Look for the differences:

There are of course a few differences, but you probably understand our point. You can actually give yourself a pat on the back at this point, because you have come far when you have reached this point. The Mycelium believes that it's time to get a tooth.

Why do they arise?

Foothills are caused by a lack of oxygen. The "snorkels" are actually a way of the Mycelium to look for oxygen. Oyster mushrooms need heat, moisture and fresh air to grow optimally. Especially in the winter it is a common phenomenon, because people have the windows closed more often and there is no trip in the house.

How do I solve it?

You have a few choices to make. First of all: do you continue to fill or not? We now have the unwritten rule for ourselves that we no longer do it with foothills when we are past 3/4th with topping up coffee grounds. The Mycelium is then more than strong enough to produce large oyster mushrooms. You can also top up, but we notice that it has hardly any effect on an almost filled grow kit for the size of the oyster mushrooms.

Suppose foothills appear and you choose fruits (growing oyster mushrooms), simply get the lid of your grow kit and let the foothills grow into full -fledged oyster mushrooms. Do not cut them off, even if you think it will be nothing anymore with a few shoots. The Mycelium itself determines which oyster mushroom all energy is pushed and some shoots will shrink without having to do anything about it. You can remove the tape on the side, because every bit of airflow in the grow kit is always nice. Within approximately 1 to 2 weeks your foothills will grow into large oyster mushrooms!