[Undala]

I thought to give a heads-up on a discrepancy I found today on Homebase's Grow your own kit for shitake mushrooms.

The front of the box appears to state that the kit will give 5-8 crops of mushrooms, but I happened to read the instructions on the side, and it claimed only 3-4 crops. I pointed this out to the staff, hoping that they could shed more light, but since the kits are outsourced, they didn't know andare looking into it since its a Trading Standards issue.

Best, Undala

[mumofstig]

Mushroom kits are expensive for the crop you get so very few people seem inclined to buy them anyway,....... as has been discussed on here in the past.

[Kristen]

I think the trick is to buy a really fresh "kit". I'm sure they must hang around for months in the garden centre (perhaps I'll put a chalk mark on the pile of boxes next time I'm there!), they sell the Marshalls "kit" but sadly Marshalls don't sell it online (that I could find) and thus a more guaranteed fresh-source is denied

[sunshineband]

We've had a couple over the years, as gifts from friends and they've never been up to much, as MOS says

[FCG]

I have heard good reports of the mushroom kits for books. I believe KateandHerDucks had a set?

If you could stand it how about trying one but putting the kit into a bucket of near fresh manure? I read online that helps.

[Knoblauch]

I got one for a quid from Woolies and all I got out of it was a single mushroom and a polystyrene box.  I'll stick to nut-trees from Lidl in future.

[SalJ1980]

We also got one from Woolies last year which was reduced to a couple of quid, it did nothing for ages and then I moved it to the bathroom (which had a huge damp problem) and suddenly off they shot, loads of them and they grew really big really quickly, you could almost see them growing as you watched! I'd like to try some more again but would probably try a more reliable kit than a Woolies one - as FCG says the book kits are supposed to be good, and some of the sets you get for logs are popular too.

[mumofstig]

I have heard good reports of the mushroom kits for books. I believe KateandHerDucks had a set?

book kit thread if anyone interested..
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=29716.msg355972#msg355972