A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home (2026)

Mushroom hunting is chill and fun, but you cognize what’s not chill and fun? Having slugs oregon different mushroom hunters observe your concealed spot. Or, worst of all, accidentally collecting the incorrect benignant of mushroom that could marque you rather sick—or worse.

Ideally, you’d beryllium capable to turn your favourite benignant of mushrooms safely successful your ain location oregon yard, whether that’s shiitakes, morels, oregon lion’s manes, conscionable similar you would vegetables. But similar galore gardening-adjacent pursuits, it’s not that simple. Mushrooms, similar each fungi, request conscionable 3 things to grow: spores, a nutrient source, and a humid environment.

However, due to the fact that mushrooms are incredibly delicate to light, heat, and contamination, it doesn’t instrumentality overmuch to make a prohibitive increasing environment. And past there’s the question of whether it’s imaginable to simulate the captious symbiotic relationships that galore mushrooms, particularly much coveted ones similar porcinis and chanterelles, indispensable support with histrion roots to thrive.

I americium acold from a mycology expert, but during the past year, I, a engaged full-time-working parent, person engaged successful 5 antithetic attempts to turn mushrooms successful my location and backyard: shiitakes connected an inoculated log, oysters connected a cardboard-enclosed fruiting block, vino caps successful spawn buried successful bark chips successful my garden, oysters from atom spawn successful a bucket, and oysters and lion’s manes successful a monotub setup.

I laughed, I cried, I made an epic messiness of chopped straw successful my bathroom, and lone 2 of the 5 methods succeeded. If you, too, are mushroom-curious and looking to turn your own, here’s what I did—and, successful immoderate cases, privation I had done differently.

Also, beryllium definite to cheque retired our guides to mushroom supplements (the functional kind), mushroom gummies, indoor gardening systems, and mushroom gifts.

Method 1: Mushroom Log

There’s thing much natural, simple, and affordable than a mushroom log. Many mushroom logs disposable for acquisition are meant exclusively for outdoor use, arsenic they’re conscionable plain aged logs with sealed holes afloat of colonized mushroom spawn. But this 12-inch-tall enactment from Williams Sonoma is meant for indoor show (though you tin besides spot it extracurricular if you’d prefer), with creaseless waxed ends and a rustic metallic tag printed with its instauration date.

Soak it for 24 hours and—theoretically—you’ll person mushrooms pinning successful astir 30 days. Even though oyster mushrooms are the easiest assortment to grow, for reasons known lone to maine astatine the time, I chose a shiitake log, which came with a portion of insubstantial identifying it arsenic a “younger log.” This means the spawn was inactive successful the process of colonizing and should effect 7 to 9 months from the day stamped connected its tag, which was December 2025. I soaked the log successful mid-May and again successful aboriginal July, but I’m inactive waiting to spot immoderate pins. Williams Sonoma says the log is guaranteed to fruit, truthful it continues to beryllium connected my eating country table, successful a saucer afloat of water, tented with a integrative nutrient bag. Some greenish mold has started to look connected the top, but I stay optimistic, adjacent though this is not my archetypal shiitake mushroom log nonaccomplishment (I tried to turn 1 from a antithetic marque immoderate years ago, extracurricular nether a bush).