# How to grow mushrooms at home, from a kit to your own substrate Source: https://spawnrun.com/blog/how-to-grow-mushrooms-at-home Published: 2026-10-12 Publisher: Spawn Run The easiest way to grow mushrooms at home is a ready-to-fruit oyster kit: cut it open, mist it and you can harvest in one to two weeks. Once that works, the next step is buying spawn and mixing it into pasteurized straw or a sterile substrate bag, which gives several times the mushrooms for the money. Every method follows the same two stages, a dark colonization phase and a humid, airy fruiting phase, and this guide explains both along with the four setups that suit a home. ## Pick a species that forgives mistakes Oyster mushrooms are the right first crop. They colonize fast, tolerate a wide temperature range and grow on straw, sawdust, cardboard and coffee grounds. Blue and pearl oysters fruit best between about 55 and 75 F, golden and pink oysters prefer it warmer, roughly 65 to 85 F, which makes pink oyster a good choice for a warm apartment. Lion's mane is the next easiest and fruits well at 60 to 70 F. Shiitake is slower and needs a cold soak to fruit, and button or portobello mushrooms need composted manure and a casing layer, which makes them harder than their supermarket price suggests. Start with the species, then pick the method. [See the easiest species ranked](https://spawnrun.com/blog/easiest-mushrooms-to-grow-at-home) ## Method 1: a ready-to-fruit grow kit A kit is a block of substrate that a farm has already colonized, so the hardest and most contamination-prone stage is done for you. You cut an X or open a panel in the bag, put it somewhere with indirect light away from heaters and mist the opening two or three times a day. Pins appear in about a week, and oysters double in size daily once they start. Most kits give two or three flushes if you rest and rehydrate the block between them. Kits cost more per pound of mushrooms than any other method, but they teach you what healthy pins, good humidity and the right harvest time look like. A 4 to 5 lb block from a specialist grower usually yields more than a small cardboard box kit. [Compare beginner grow kits by species](https://spawnrun.com/best/best-mushroom-grow-kit-for-beginners) ## Method 2: grain spawn and pasteurized straw This is the classic low-tech way to grow oysters in volume. Chop straw into 2 to 4 inch pieces, pasteurize it by soaking in water held at 160 to 180 F for one to two hours, or by a 12 to 24 hour soak in a hydrated lime bath, then drain until it is damp but does not drip when squeezed. Mix in grain spawn at 10 to 20 percent of the wet straw weight and pack it into a bag or a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled every few inches. Keep it at room temperature, out of direct sun, for two to three weeks until the straw is bound together with white mycelium. Then move it to fruiting conditions. Expect roughly 1 lb of fresh oysters per 1 to 2 lb of dry straw across several flushes when things go well. [Find oyster grain spawn](https://spawnrun.com/best/best-oyster-mushroom-grain-spawn) ## Method 3: sterile substrate bags and blocks Wood-loving species such as lion's mane, shiitake, pioppino and chestnut fruit best on supplemented hardwood sawdust, and that substrate has to be sterilized, not just pasteurized, because the added bran or soy hulls feed mold. Home growers do this in a pressure canner at 15 psi for about 2.5 hours for 5 lb bags, then inoculate with grain spawn once the bags have cooled. If you do not want to run a pressure canner, buy pre-filled sterile substrate bags, mix in a bag of colonized grain spawn through a clean opening, seal it again and let it colonize in the bag. Match the recipe to the species: hardwood or masters mix for wood lovers, CVG or manure blends only for compost and dung-loving species. [Compare ready-to-spawn substrate bags](https://spawnrun.com/best/best-mushroom-substrate-bags) ## Method 4: logs and outdoor beds Shiitake, oysters and lion's mane grow on hardwood logs cut from live trees in late winter and inoculated within a few weeks with plug or sawdust spawn. The setup takes an afternoon and then the log does the work: first fruiting comes after 6 to 18 months, and a 4 to 6 inch log can keep fruiting for 3 to 5 years or more. Wine cap is the easiest outdoor bed. Spread sawdust spawn between layers of fresh hardwood chips in a shady garden bed in spring, keep it damp and it fruits from late summer. Outdoor methods need no equipment and very little daily care, but you are on the weather's schedule. [See plug spawn for logs](https://spawnrun.com/best/best-shiitake-plug-spawn) ## Fruiting conditions that make or break a crop Once colonized, a block needs three things to fruit: humidity around 85 to 95 percent, regular fresh air and some light. Humidity keeps the forming mushrooms from drying and cracking. Fresh air keeps CO2 down; in stale air oysters grow long stems and small caps, and lion's mane grows branched and stringy. Normal room light or indirect daylight for 8 to 12 hours is enough, no grow light is required. For one kit, misting the air around it a few times a day and loosely tenting it with a perforated plastic bag works. For several blocks, a shelf tent with a small humidifier keeps conditions even without constant misting. Keep fruiting blocks out of drafts from heaters and air conditioning, which dry them in hours. [Compare growing tents and fruiting chambers](https://spawnrun.com/best/best-mushroom-growing-tent) ## Frequently asked questions How long does it take to grow mushrooms at home? With a ready-to-fruit oyster kit, 7 to 14 days from opening to harvest. Starting from grain spawn on straw, about 4 to 6 weeks. Shiitake on sawdust takes 2 to 4 months, and logs 6 to 18 months to the first flush. Do mushrooms need light to grow? They do not use light for energy, but most species need some to fruit normally and to know which way is out. Indirect daylight or ordinary room lighting is enough; direct sun dries the block. Can I grow mushrooms in my basement? Yes, if it stays within the species' temperature range and you add humidity and fresh air. Cool basements around 55 to 65 F suit blue oyster, lion's mane and shiitake well; pink oyster will struggle there. Why is my block not producing mushrooms? The usual causes are low humidity, too little fresh air, the wrong temperature for the species or a block that is not fully colonized. Our troubleshooting guide goes through each one. [Troubleshoot a block that will not fruit](https://spawnrun.com/blog/why-are-my-mushrooms-not-growing) ## Gear guides for this topic - https://spawnrun.com/best/best-mushroom-grow-kit-for-beginners - https://spawnrun.com/best/best-oyster-mushroom-grain-spawn - https://spawnrun.com/best/best-mushroom-growing-tent - https://spawnrun.com/best/best-mushroom-substrate-bags