(Rendered image above is a hand-drawn representation of this mushroom. Some mushrooms were processed or too aged before images could be obtained, and other mushrooms were found when we did not have access to a usable camera.)
Keys most closely to Agaricus Tenuiannulatus (a small Almond Scented Agaricus very much like Subrufescens) that are dried in a carefully controlled environment to preserve the viability of the spawn. Instructions to extract spores are included. (Kit includes a metal tin of dried spawn, and instructions for creating the appropriate substrate and for growing indoors or in the woods.) Brookhaven Woods strain.
A good quality edible mushroom, should be cooked before eating. This mushroom is a substitute for Agaricus Subrufescens as it has similar medicinal and culinary uses, but has the advantage of being able to be grown in smaller spaces.
This is a small button and Portobello style mushroom which naturalizes in woods with good conifer or acidic leaf litter, or in shady compost that has a high amount of the same kind of litter. The cap is a lovely reddish or orangish brown color. It has pale gray gills when young, which brighten and then darken to a deep brown as the spores mature. The spores are brown in color. The mushroom has a partial veil, which creates a disappearing ring on the stalk when the cap bottom edge separates from the stem. The cap is pinky brown in moist weather, but changes to orangy brown in dryer weather, and as the picked mushroom ages.
This is an excellent mushroom to grow in shady unheated winter greenhouses, in large container gardens if you are using deep wood mulch (with some conifer debris), and under trees in landscaping. It may also be grown in compost containers if you have a high amount of woody debris in the mix.
May be used to culture into compost to create spawn, or can be direct sown into substrates or into the soil using several simple non-sterile methods.
Dried Spawn is EASY to use! Just reconstitute in water, and either finely chop or use a blender, and pour the resulting spore and mushroom mixture over your substrate or onto the ground where they need to be sown.
Each order of dried spawning mushroom contains enough to create two batches of active spores, which may be cultured and expanded, and then sown into the desired substrates.
Packaged in metal tins for longest storage and viability. We do not use plastic in handling this product (plastic leaches chlorides, which are fungicidal in effect), and our products are not exposed to chlorine or other harmful chemicals during growth, processing, or handling on our property. You may be assured of the highest quality and maximum growth potential.
NOTE: Dried spawning mushrooms must be selected and handled correctly to produce viable spores. They must also be used correctly to extract spores, and then to culture the spores into the receiving medium. Our proprietary methods ensure viable spores, and we give you instructions for culturing them in a non-sterile environment. (If cultured improperly in a non-sterile environment, things go terribly wrong.) You are not only paying for the mushroom spores, you are paying for our expertise in both the processes we carry out before you see the product, and the instructions we give you for using the spawning mushroom.
Cross contaminations DO occur with non-sterile mushroom spawn (they seem to occur with alarming frequency with supposed sterile spawn as well!). In general, these contaminations are harmless, they may produce other non-edible, or other edible mushrooms, but for the most part, the mushroom you paid for will outnumber the contaminations by many times, and will not establish ahead of the desired mushroom.
Additionally, when using non-sterile methods to culture in natural materials, prior colonizations of unwanted fungus may occur, resulting in the fruiting of unexpected, random mushroom types. This is not at all a disaster, and normally does not cause problems. These mushrooms will typically be inedible, and may be ignored - in our experience, the cultured mushroom still establishes well and will produce well in spite of the interlopers! The chance that a poisonous look-alike would grow instead is virtually non-existent - because dangerous look-alikes don't grow in the same environment as visually similar edible species.
We do advise that you KNOW YOUR MUSHROOM - and that you know what it looks like, so you correctly identify anything coming up. This is wise in every instance, because even when you are using "sterile" kits or materials, rogue mushrooms may grow.
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