What You Need:
- Your ShroomBloom Plus kit (includes bag, box, wipes, gloves, rubber band)
- Spore syringe or liquid culture (get yours from our partners)
- Clean scissors
- Spray bottle with clean water
Turn off fans and close windows — still air is your friend. Put on gloves and wipe them down with the large alcohol wipe. Wipe the entire bag, then the injection port carefully with the small wipe.
Shake your syringe, insert the needle straight into the injection port, and inject 2–3 cc toward the bottom front of the bag. Remove the needle and inflate the bag slightly by holding it by the top seal for 1 minute.
Place your bag in the box (filter patch out the top). Store it in a dark, warm spot like a closet or shelf — 72–78°F is ideal. Liquid culture shows white growth in 3–7 days. Spore syringes take 7–14 days. Just wait and watch.
What you're looking for: White, fuzzy, thread-like mycelium spreading through the grain. What to avoid: Don't open the bag. Don't shake it. Just leave it alone.
Once about 20–30% of the grain shows white mycelium, it's time to mix. With the bag still sealed, use your hands to gently break apart the colonized grain and mix it with the rest — like kneading dough.
Flatten it into an even layer. Wrap the rubber band snugly around the bottom to prevent side pinning. Re-inflate the bag, put it back in the box, and wait again.
Your job is patience. Keep the bag in the dark box at 75°F. Check weekly for white growth spreading through the substrate. You're done when the entire block looks mostly white all the way through.
No misting yet. No opening. The bag is sealed and self-regulating through the 0.2-micron filter patch.
Block fully white? Time to trigger fruiting. Using clean scissors, cut a U-shape into the bag just above the substrate block: left side, bottom, and right side. Leave the back attached so it folds down like a hoodie.
Fold the flap backward to expose the substrate. Place your box in indirect light or under a desk lamp (12 hours on/off). Fan once a day by lifting the flap and waving it 5–10 times to push out CO2 and bring in fresh oxygen.
Within 5–10 days, small bumps called "pins" will form on the substrate surface. These are baby mushrooms. Keep fanning once daily. If the surface looks dry and cracked, mist lightly with clean water. If you see water droplets on the walls, you're perfect.
The pins will grow into full mushrooms over the next 7–10 days.
Harvest when caps start to flatten and the veil tears away from the stem — don't wait too long. Twist at the base and pull gently. Pick ALL mushrooms at once, even tiny ones, to give the substrate a fresh start.
Want more? Mist generously, clip the flap partially shut, and mist daily. Most ShroomBloom kits produce 2–3 flushes over several weeks.
Golden Rules
Typical Timeline
Need More Details?
This quick start covers the essentials. For deep dives into troubleshooting, contamination recovery, and advanced techniques, check out our full resources.