[Agatha]

I've been given two mushroom-growing kits, one for white button mushrooms and one for chestnut.  I've followed the instructions to the letter as I haven't grown mushrooms before, but I am only getting one or two mushrooms at a time.  The instructions imply that I should have more mushrooms at once which would certainly make the kit more useful, so what am I doing wrong?  Can't really do much with one mushroom at a time!

[bravemurphy]

Never tried the kits but they used to sell mushroom compost (used prevoiusly for shrooms) at our old lotty shop for 75p a bag.
i would dig it into the greenhouse border and a few weeks time there were mushrooms everywhere.

Sadly they dont sell it anymore as the price went through the roof.

[shokkyy]

I bought some mushroom growing stuff from an online specialist, and on his site he explains that the kits bought in shops are rarely very successful because mushroom spawn is very sensitive to temperature. When they sit in warehouses or on shop shelves for any length of time, chances are most of the spawn is dead before you ever start to grow them.

[Agatha]

This kit was from Thompson & Morgan by mail order so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the poor results - maybe I should try digging it into my greenhouse border to see if I get better results! 

[hubballi]

I got an Aldi kit last year and after seeing the photos on the ox and the promise of multiple crops I was eager to go. Suffice to say it was a let down with only  1 really decent crop. Not worth the £3.99 in my case as I could have bought more at the supermarket for the same outlay.

[Peas let my pumpkins grow]

I bought some mushroom growing stuff from an online specialist, and on his site he explains that the kits bought in shops are rarely very successful because mushroom spawn is very sensitive to temperature. When they sit in warehouses or on shop shelves for any length of time, chances are most of the spawn is dead before you ever start to grow them.

shokky do you remember the website? i keep coming perilousy close to buying the kits in shops against the advice of the little voice in my head shouting no no no!  :happy:

[shokkyy]

shokky do you remember the website? i keep coming perilousy close to buying the kits in shops against the advice of the little voice in my head shouting no no no!  :happy:

It's www.mushroombox.co.uk. He has a huge selection of different spawns and kits. He also sells on ebay and I think it's a bit cheaper there. Lots of useful info on the website. I just find mushrooms a bit too high maintenance, because you have to keep on spraying them to keep them moist and I always forget.

[Agatha]

I got an Aldi kit last year and after seeing the photos on the ox and the promise of multiple crops I was eager to go. Suffice to say it was a let down with only  1 really decent crop. Not worth the £3.99 in my case as I could have bought more at the supermarket for the same outlay.

So far I have had 5 mushrooms and I think the two kits were about £8 each!  At least it wasn't MY money that was wasted, but at more than £3 per mushroom it would definitely be cheaper to buy them from the supermarket!

[Peas let my pumpkins grow]

That site looks good, and better prices than i thought!

im going to try button and portabello which are both er ... secondary decomposers 

they give you instructions for each type of mushrooms and these 2 need about 3 weeks to prepare the compost/manure/straw etc

im going to order once everything is almost ready - storing the spawn isnt recommended because of temperatures etc

hopefully it will turn out better value than £3 a mushroom  emphasis on hopefully 

ill let you know how it goes