The Beginner's Guide to Growing Mushrooms in Bottles
Why Grow Mushrooms in Bottles?
Growing mushrooms in bottles is a growing method that originated in the mid-20th century as countries in East Asia adopted it as a more efficient, sustainable, scalable model that allowed growers more control over the growing conditions and the quality of the mushrooms produced. It has since become a widely adopted method among both commercial mushroom farms and home cultivators. For large-scale operations, the primary advantage lies in the potential for extensive mechanization and automation. Using standardized bottles allows for consistent substrate preparation, inoculation, and harvesting processes, all of which can be handled by machines. This automation boosts efficiency and ensures uniformity. On the other hand, small-scale and hobbyist growers often choose to use bottles or jars because they are more environmentally friendly. Unlike single-use plastic bags, bottles can be reused multiple times, reducing plastic waste, which is a significant consideration for sustainable farming.
Pros and Cons of Growing Mushrooms in Bottles
Pros
Less Plastic Waste: Reusable bottles significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste produced by mushroom cultivation compared to the use of disposable plastic grow bags. Growers can make the switch to bottle growing as a way to reduce their environmental footprint and increase the sustainability of their operation.
Greater Potential for Automation: Bottle growing empowers commercial operations to take advantage of automation. Specialized machinery can mix the substrate, an organic, nutrient-rich material that mushrooms grow on, fill the bottles, inoculate them with mushroom mycelium, and then empty and clean them after harvest. This makes large-scale production much more efficient. However, this benefit is less accessible to small-scale growers who may not have the capital available to invest in such equipment.
Product Consistency: Bottle cultivation makes it easier to produce mushrooms of uniform size and shape. While some variation is expected and acceptable, consumers don't want to be faced with variations great enough that they impact their buying decisions. By using the same substrate recipe and inoculation procedure, growers can achieve consistent yields. This level of reliability helps with planning harvests, managing labor, and forecasting sales.
Cons
Some Species Don't Grow Well in Bottles: Some mushrooms, like shiitakes, naturally prefer to grow from the sides of a substrate block rather than from the top, making them ill-suited for bottle growing. This limits the range of mushroom species that can be successfully cultivated using this grow method.
High Initial Investment: Significant upfront capital is required to start an automated bottle-based mushroom farm. Equipment for sterilization and inoculation, along with autoclavable bottles that are needed to withstand high-temperature sterilization, can be costly. For new growers, it may be wiser to start small, using buckets to test the market before investing in a more sophisticated growing system.
Slower Colonization: In bags and buckets, mushroom spawn can be mixed evenly throughout the substrate, speeding up colonization, the process by which mycelium spreads through the substrate. However, in bottles, the spawn is usually inserted into a central hole, from which it must spread outward. This results in a slower colonization period.
Single Flush Only: Bottles typically yield only one flush, a single wave of mushroom growth, because they hold a limited amount of substrate, usually around 2.2 pounds. There often isn't enough nutrition left for a second flush. Alternatively, mushroom grow bags, which usually hold 5.5 to 10 pounds of substrate, are more likely to support two or three flushes.
Time-Consuming to Clean Jars: For small-scale growers without access to automated cleaning systems, removing used substrate and washing grow bottles can be tedious and time-consuming. This manual labor can offset some of the environmental and economic benefits for small, independent mushroom farms and hobbyists.
What Is the Best Container in Which to Grow Mushrooms?
Choosing the right container for mushroom cultivation depends on several factors, including the type of mushrooms you are trying to grow, the substrate being used, the growing environment, and the desired scale of production. Common container options include plastic grow bags, buckets, jars, monotubs (modified plastic totes), and plastic bottles. While many plastic containers can be used to grow mushrooms, that doesn't mean all of them should be; most are not heat-resistant and cannot be sterilized. If you're limited to using non-heat-resistant containers, opt for growing mushrooms that thrive on lower-nutrient substrates like straw, coffee grounds, cardboard, or sugarcane bagasse, as these materials don't require full sterilization.
For more nutrient-dense substrates, like sawdust, which do require sterilization, specialized containers like polypropylene grow bags and autoclavable bottles are good options and are especially common in industrial mushroom farming. Home growers and hobbyists can also use bottles or glass jars to cultivate smaller batches of mushroom species that grow from the surface of the substrate rather than from the sides.
What Mushrooms Grow Best in Bottles?
Bottle cultivation is particularly well-suited for top-fruiting mushroom species. These species produce excellent yields and thrive under the conditions that bottle cultivation offers.
King Oyster Mushrooms
King oysters are the largest members of the oyster mushroom family and are prized for their thick stems, firm texture, and rich umami flavor. They are frequently featured in gourmet cooking, and although they take slightly longer to mature and require more precise growing conditions than some other oysters, they are relatively easy to grow and adapt well to bottles, bags, and outdoor beds.
Shimeji Mushrooms
Also known as beech mushrooms, as the species favors beech wood, shimeji mushrooms are available in white and brown varieties. They feature a nutty, buttery flavor and a firm texture and are popular in Asian cuisine. Shimeji grow best on supplemented sawdust and are commonly cultivated in glass bottles in Japan. They are well-suited for year-round indoor growing and are highly accessible to home cultivators.
Enoki Mushrooms
Enoki mushrooms are among the most widely cultivated mushrooms globally and are especially popular in East Asia. In controlled cultivation environments, they are grown in low-light, CO2-rich conditions that encourage long, thin stems and small caps. A sleeve is often placed around the top of the bottle after pinning, when baby mushrooms first appear, limiting airflow and boosting CO2 levels. This causes the mushrooms to stretch upward in search of oxygen, giving them their signature elongated shape. Enoki mushrooms are ideal for bottle cultivation due to their compact and vertical growth.
Step-by-Step Guide to Growing Mushrooms in Bottles
Step 1: Gather Supplies
- Autoclavable mushroom bottles or glass jars with filter-modified lids
- Substrate
- Pressure cooker
- Mushroom spawn (ideally fresh, high-quality grain spawn from a local source)
Step 2: Modify Jar Lids
Drill a quarter-inch hole in each jar lid and fill it with poly stuffing or cover it with micropore tape or a filter disc. This allows for fresh air exchange.
Step 3: Prepare and Fill Bottles
Hydrate and supplement your substrate to around 60% moisture content, enough that the substrate clumps but doesn't drip excessively (this part may take some trial and error as you become more familiar with the substrate material). Fill each bottle, leaving 0.5 inches at the top. Gently compact the substrate, then create a central hole about three quarters of an inch in diameter all the way to the bottom of the bottle to receive the spawn.
Step 4: Sterilize
Seal the bottles and place them upright in a pressure cooker. Sterilize them at 15 PSI for 90 minutes. Let the bottles cool inside the cooker to avoid contamination.
Step 5: Inoculate
In a clean area (ideally in front of a laminar flow hood), open each bottle and fill the central hole with grain spawn. Replace the lid promptly.
Step 6: Incubate
Store the inoculated bottles in a warm, dark place at room temperature. Over the next three to four weeks, the mycelium, the vegetative part of the fungus, will colonize the entire substrate.
Step 7: Initiate Fruiting
Once the material within is fully colonized, remove the lid. If small mushroom pins are visible, scrape the top layer of mycelium to stimulate even pinning. Cover the jar loosely with a damp, breathable cloth to maintain high humidity. Pins should re-form within three to four days. Once fully formed, remove the cloth and allow the mushrooms to grow from the top.
Step 8: Harvest
Harvest mushrooms before their caps flatten or release spores. Twist them off or cut them near the bottle's top. After harvesting, remove the used substrate and thoroughly clean the jars before reusing them.
All About Mushrooms
- Poisonous Mushrooms to Avoid
- Mycotoxins: Toxins From Molds or Fungi
- Cultivating Mushrooms
- Mycological Terms to Know
- Mushroom Terrariums
- Maintaining Humidity in Mushroom Cultivation
- Plastic-Eating Mushrooms
- Growing Mushrooms Outside as Part of Your Landscaping
- Should We Eat More Mushrooms?
- Ten Types of Mushrooms: Choosing, Storing, and Use
- The Healthiest Types of Mushrooms
- The Health Benefits of Mushrooms
- How to Substitute Mushrooms for Ground Meat
- Ten Mushroom Substitutes
- 13 Creative Ways to Eat More Mushrooms
