Mushroom Cultivation

Mushroom spawn is what is used to inoculate mushroom logs to grow mushrooms. It is readily available from several suppliers in the form of small dowels impregnated with the vegetative growth of the selected mushroom or in a sawdust mixture. The sawdust mixture is cheaper, but requires a special tool to insert it into holes drilled in logs. Sawdust spawn is about $25 per 5lbs and plug spawn is about $12 per hundred plugs. Sawdust spawn can easily be made by inoculating plug spawn into jars of a sawdust/wheat bran mixture or using liquid culture syringes to inoculate the sawdust medium. You can buy liquid cultures of many mushroom species in syringes for $10-$15 per 12ml and inoculate many canning jars of spawn. If you have a pressure cooker and some canning jars you are well on your way to making your own sawdust spawn. The process of making sawdust spawn will be illustrated here when I have time to document the process.  
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