Mushroom Cultivation Process
01
Agar-based Mycelium Propagation
Before mushroom spores even begin to inoculate our various substrates used for mycelium growth, they are trained to digest specific nutrients on agar petri dishes. During this stage, continuous monitoring and grafting is done to isolate more vigorous and robust patches of hyphae. We can then be propagate the selected strains onto new agar plates and continually used to inoculate our grain spawn in the next step of the process.
02
Grain Spawn Inoculation
The next step in producing mushrooms involves the creation and inoculation of a medium that closely mimics the natural environment that mycelium is typically found in. These conditions contain the proper ratio of carbon, nitrogen, and moisture which allows for fruiting bodies to form. In our cultivation process, the mycelium still has one more stage to go before it is allowed to fruit, but this grain spawn medium provides sufficient nutrients, moisture, and structure typically found in natural environments. Before the mycelium is allowed to fruit, it must undergo one more transfer to a new substrate to more closely mimic its true natural environment.
03
Substrate Colonization
As the longest phase of the cultivation process, substrate colonization is the final step before mycelium will be allowed to fruit. During this time, inoculated grain spawn from the previous phase is introduced to a new medium. The new substrate mimics the natural habitat more closely than the grain spawn. Though mycelium and mushrooms can be grown on hardwood alone, as is typical in nature, we sought to maximize the potential of our substrate by supplementing it with a few extra additives. By allowing the mycelium to colonize a chemically and structurally optimized substrate, we can increase fruiting body yields and provide a more nutritious, flavorful mushroom.
04
Fruiting & Harvest
After the mycelium colonizes the entire substrate block and it has exhausted all existing nutrient stores available in this new environment, a clock begins. This time is crucial for mushroom reproduction, as typical in a natural environment, mycelium will be primed to fruit if the correct conditions occur. In our cultivation process, we can circumvent these often rare circumstances and easily recreate these conditions to maintain ideal fruiting temperature and humidity for the entirety of the fruiting process. Because these natural conditions are often short-lived, this final stage of the process will be completed in a matter of days, or up to a week depending on the species. Once the fruit has reached proper size, the mycelium preps for sporulation. Sporulation is the process by which many fungi reproduce and indicates the end of the lifecycle for many species. Because of this, fruiting bodies must be harvested within the window between growth completion and sporulation. This window can be as short as a matter of hours and the timing of harvest is crucial to delivering a consistent and quality product.