Did you know that growing mushrooms at home isn’t just possible—it’s fun, easy, and incredibly affordable even for total beginners?
Mushroom cultivation is one of those hobbies that has a low barrier of entry but plenty of room for growth. We once heard a customer describe mushroom cultivation as a very “balanced” hobby, because it doesn’t require that you dedicate a ton of time to get satisfying results, but it isn’t a “set and forget” activity either.
With a little attention and know-how, you can easily grow mushrooms in your home, apartment, garage, or just about anywhere else you want. Depending on how many mushrooms you want to harvest in a single batch, you really don’t need all that much room, either. It’s cheap to get started—more on that later—and, if you can follow simple directions, it’s not terribly difficult to do. However, if it turns out that you love the hobby, it can even become a profession or “side gig” as many gourmet mushrooms can be sold for a tidy profit.
Speaking of gourmet mushrooms, that’s a whole other benefit of learning how to cultivate mushrooms at home. Pearl oysters, shiitakes, and chanterelles are expensive at the grocery store (if you can even find them; it’s sometimes necessary to visit specialty shops). However, if you know how to grow them yourself, you can have a never-ending supply at a fraction of the cost. In fact, many chefs become mushroom cultivators for this exact reason.
As you can see, there are countless reasons—far too many to list in one place, in fact!—that mushroom cultivation can become quite a positive force in your life, whether as a simple hobby or more. Nevertheless, we’re going to try and put to word a few of the more poignant reasons why you’re going to have a great time growing mushrooms. If you’re on the fence about picking up one of our All-in-One Mushroom Grow Kits, all we can say is to just go for it. You won’t regret it.
Let’s dive in:
Cultivating Mushrooms is the Quickest Way to Understand Fungi on a Deeper Level
While we fully admit that this isn’t the most “exciting” reason to get into DIY mushroom cultivation, we’ve decided to place it first on the list because it’s actually a pretty big deal—it’s just not something you really understand the benefits of until you’ve gotten into things a bit more.
As you may already know, mushrooms aren’t plants. While they share some of the same traits as plants, such as growing in the ground, requiring adequate hydration, and so on, they’re very much “their own thing”, with their own scientific kingdom and everything. In fact, you may be very surprised to learn that fungi are much more similar to humans than plants.
A little mind blowing, isn’t it? As it turns out, humans and fungi share much of the same DNA. Scientists believe that mammals, some of which were predecessors to humans, and fungi had a shared common ancestor that lived over a billion years ago. This is all relatively new information. In fact, at one point mycology (the study of fungi) was actually considered a subsection of botany, the study of plants. Scientists then thought that fungi were a type of “primitive plant,” but we now know that they’re entirely unique.
So, knowing all of this, by cultivating mushrooms you’ll get to enjoy a much deeper understanding of these totally unique organisms. In particular, you’ll understand the fungi reproductive cycle, which isn’t terribly complex but is terribly fascinating. There’s a lot of joy to be had in taking a syringe filled with microscopic spores and ultimately watching those spores become mycelium and mushrooms.
Growing Mushrooms at Home Isn't Expensive
Let’s discuss cost for a moment. Cultivating mushrooms is an inexpensive hobby (and on the professional side of things, offers a “side hustle” that requires limited startup capital—we’ll explore this more later).
Essentially, all that’s necessary are a few simple tools. You’ll need:
- A growing chamber (i.e., a monotub)
- Substrates (for spawning and fruiting)
- Spores, either in a syringe or a print (our All-in-One Kit includes a free pearl oyster mushroom spore syringe)
There’s a bit more to it than that, but not much. For a more detailed look at everything you need for an amazing first grow, read over our articleEverything You Need for Amateur Mycology at Home.
Let’s talk numbers: growing mushrooms, even with all the “bells and whistles” (like a hygrometer to monitor humidity) won’t cost you more than a few hundred bucks at most. It’s one of the least expensive yet most rewarding things you can do!
However, the hobby does come with a few caveats, namely that to truly get into it you’ll have to pick up some new vocabulary. Fortunately, we’ve made that easy for you:
You’ll Learn a Lot of New Terminology – So Here’s a Free Glossary Book
Growing your own mushrooms will of course require you to learn a bit about mycology, the study of fungi. That should come as no surprise of course, but mycology, even amateur mycology, will likely involve a lot of new terms and concepts that you’re not familiar with yet.
For some beginners, this can be overwhelming, For example, do you know what rhyzomorphic means, or why flushing is a good thing in mushroom cultivation?
Here’s the good news: we’ve painstakingly prepared a glossary of the most commonly used terms that you’re likely to run into during your first foray into the mushroom cultivation hobby. It’s part of our free eBook, The Monster Mushroom Company Fungi Crash Course, which also includes a lot of other very useful information for first-timers.
