Mushrooms-Preparation

This is arguably the most critical phase of your grow. If you contaminate the batch, there's simply no coming back. Let's get started.

Gloves

Although not required, highly recommended. Handling surfaces with gloves provides an added layer of protection and sanitation when growing your mushrooms. Any non powdered latex gloves will do. I get mine right off amazon. (See Below)

MedPride Powder-Free Nitrile Exam Gloves, Large, Box/100

Cleanliness

Even with gloves on and a seemingly clean working area, it's important to take steps to make sure all surfaces are disinfected. For this, I use 70% isopropyl alcohol. You are going to want to wipe down ALL working surfaces with this, a good way I think about it is imagining all the surfaces have poop, so give it a good wipe down. I get mine from any local store ( and it's a common household item I recommend keeping on hand anyway). 

Container for inoculation

For this method of growing, the best container to use is a mason jar, once mixed, you'll pack your vermiculite/brown rice mixture into the mason jar, and then sterilize your newly formed base PRIOR TO INOCULATION (we will cover this more in depth later). Any size will do. I recently got these mason jars from amazon and so far they've worked out very well. 

Ball Regular Mouth Mason Jars with Lids and Bands, 16-Ounces (4-Pack)

Mixing bowl and Aluminum foil

I'm not going to go into depth on these two, especially since the mixing bowl should be fairly self-evident. The aluminum foil is going to add an additional layer of protection to the mason jar's integrity as we move into sterilization. 

Sterilization

Although throughout the process you will be maintaining a sterile workplace, you'll still need to take this one, final step to bring it all together. Once the mason jars are filled and covered with aluminum foil, you'll be placing them into a pressure cooker to sterilize the mixture (remember, we sanitized the surfaces, not the mixture). I, personally, did not own a pressure cooker with I came around to my first grow, So I went out and bought the cheapest one I can find. Grab yours below.

Presto 01362 6-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker