ShroomBloom Grow Kit Instructions (Video + Step by Step)

0:00 Intro and setting up your space

Hey, what is going on, guys? A couple of you have requested videos for your ShroomBloom all-in-one grow kit. We are updating the instructions right now and we will have a more polished video for you soon. For now, let us dive into this kit. I want to show you the new procedure we are using, start to finish, and answer any questions you might have. If you have questions after this video, send me an email at any point and I will jump in with you.

I am doing this in my kitchen, which is probably not the best place. If you have the counter space, that is great, but a lot of mold and bacteria can ferment near the sink and near fruit. If you have a dining room or a table that is non-porous, like this marble, that is very good. You want a surface you can clean. Make sure there are no fans on and all the windows are closed. You really want a still-air environment before we get started. Okay, let us slice this open.

This kit just got sent to me. I had to order it on Amazon because I am away from the facility right now, so I can show you what we are up to.

1:38 What is in the box

You get your kit, and we use a plastic seal that covers the filter patch. That way no air filtration happens while the kit sits on Amazon's shelf or in storage. It keeps your kit fresh.

This is your spore card. You probably saw the free culture card. This is your spore provider, and it is 20% off. We feel they are the best spore provider in the industry, and we are only partnered with them. It is not as an affiliate, just a way to give you as much as we possibly can. The reason is that most of the success with these kits comes from the spores. It really is about 80/20 when it comes to spore viability. As long as the bag is good with no contamination, your spores are the biggest lever you can pull. A lot of times people reach out and say, "My kit is faulty, it did not grow, it is mold, it is bacteria." Most of the time it comes from the spores. We have tested a lot of spore companies in this industry, and we feel these guys have the thickest, best cultures. They use a proprietary liquid culture and it is dense. You cannot go wrong with them. We do not make any money off this, there is no affiliate whatsoever. We give all of the 20% off to you so we do not have to replace these kits anymore and you get successful grows.

This is your grow guide. I am going to cover everything in it, plus a few things that are not in there yet. We will have updated instructions soon, and thank you for your patience on that.

This is a troubleshooting syringe. If this kit dries out at all, we can keep a sterile environment without opening the kit. We inject sterile or distilled water into the bag, which lets us troubleshoot without opening it up.

Here are your rubber gloves, because sanitation matters. This packet has your alcohol wipes and a couple of other things we need to kick off. And this is your colonization box. I am going to show you how to pop it out and use it effectively. Let us put that to the side for now.

4:14 Gloves and sanitizing

First off, we put on our gloves. We want a nice, clean, organized area, so try to keep the process precise. I like to wash my hands first as well. It does not hurt, and it is always good to have extra hand sanitizer or alcohol nearby.

This is the large sanitizer wipe. We use it for most of the area and for the bag itself. We are one of the only companies that also provides a full clean-area sanitization wipe. The smaller ones are for the injection port, and we give you an extra one in case you need to do that troubleshooting. These are your bag sealers. Once we snip the bag during the fruiting stage, we can reseal it with them.

I would not cut the package open. Find the seal instead, because if you rip the bag it is pretty compromised at that point. You should have a clean seal at the top. This is your filter patch, and this is your injection port. It is self-healing, so when you push the needle in for the spores and inject, it seals back up when you take it out. There is no need to tape it, though you can if you want.

If I miss any steps or go through this too quickly, I might double back, so try to watch all the way through before you start. Hit the whole bag, front and back, every crevice. Lift the bag and wipe the surrounding area and the underside. Do not forget to wipe your gloves too. See, we double back. Remember: still air. No fans, no open windows, no dogs breathing on you.

7:44 Injecting the culture

I am using this as our spore syringe for today. Usually it would be filled up to about here with spores. For a 10 cc syringe of liquid culture, you need two to three cc at most. You really do not need more than that for good liquid culture to colonize properly. If you only have spores, I recommend at least 5 cc. Spores really struggle and are the least viable form of mushroom colonization, so I recommend finding a spore provider that has cultures, not just spores. Anyway, I am injecting 3 cc of liquid culture today.

Next, the alcohol wipe on the port. Nice and easy, just make sure it is sterile. You also want to follow your spore provider's instructions. I have seen people flame the tip of the needle, and you really do not need to as long as the needle is sterile. If you have used the needle before, you will need a lighter to sterilize it. If this is your first time growing with a fresh syringe and a fresh tip, you do not have to do that.

Pop the cap off and inject at an angle, not too far down or you will puncture the bag. Go in slightly at an angle, push a little, maybe 1 cc, come out a little, go in, another 1 cc, come out a little, and one more. That gives you three locations to colonize from. Go toward the bottom of the bag so you can see the mycelium start to colonize, but be careful. If you go straight down you will puncture right through the bag, and that causes a whole slew of problems. If you are nervous, going straight into the bag is fine too. You might just not see growth on the sides right away, because it will be centralized in the bag. Once you are done you will have about 7 cc left. Put the needle cap back on and store the syringe in the refrigerator.

11:02 Colonization and the colonization box

This is the colonization phase. The box is designed to pop out quickly, but I am using a knife here to keep the video moving. Once the spores are injected, hold the bag up in the air for two to three minutes. You can also hold it off the side of something and press it. Over those two to three minutes, air fills the filter patch and goes right into your bag. You will see it inflate. If it does not start to inflate, give it a little room to breathe. I want you to see how much air is in there. Two to three minutes is perfect.

Then put it down and massage your grain a little. This one is pretty loose, so you do not need to knead it much, but you want some air pockets for the mycelium to colonize. Put the bag in the box and string the top through the lid. This is now your colonization chamber. It gives your mycelium a nice dark place to colonize. There is debate about 12 hours on and 12 hours off, or indirect sunlight, during colonization. I have found the box is one of the better ways to limit contamination and anything else that can get in the way, which is why we designed it. It goes in a closet, a still-air box, or somewhere pretty secluded from the world.

Keep it between 70 and 79°F. That is the ideal range. Below 70 it gets cold, which slows colonization. It will still colonize, but it limits viability. Above 79 it colonizes quicker, but you also run the risk of contamination and mold, and mold grows a lot faster than mycelium in those conditions. Do your best to hit 70 to 79, and if you need help or a workaround, reach out and we will figure it out.

14:20 Checking colonization and the break and shake

Give it 7 to 10 days in the closet. If you used liquid culture, after about 7 to 10 days you should see white spots forming where you injected. That white mycelium is starting to colonize. Put it back in. Do not check it every day. Check once after 10 days, then let it colonize another 10 to 15 days, until the grain is about 30% colonized. That is a couple of good-size patches.

Then take it out and do the break and shake. It is not a big deal if it is past 30%, but past that point the mycelium has formed a really great network, and breaking it up means it has to start over a little. So 30% seems to be the best place to do it. The break and shake is simple: all you need is your bag. Knead the bag as much as you can. You will see the white patches of mycelium disappear pretty quickly as you knead. Get it nicely mixed, then bring the bag back to normal, pack it down a little, and give it some structure.

Do another two to three minute hold to inflate the bag again and get fresh air in there. The mycelium is now spread through the substrate and grain, and this is the rapid growth phase. This is the fun part, and the most exciting one. Put it back in the box in the same spot, a closet or wherever, at 70 to 79°F, with the exact same parameters.

17:18 Waiting for full colonization

Check on it every 7 to 14 days and try not to disturb it too much. The goal is 100% colonization. When we open this up in 20, 30, 40 days, it really depends on the spores, the culture, the viability and the strain. Once we open it, we want all of it to be nice and white and covered, with some moisture still in the bag. That is what we are looking for.

18:17 Fruiting and the hoodie method

Once the whole bag is colonized and completely white, it is ready to take off, and you want to start fruiting. We need to release the CO2 that has built up in the bag and potentially introduce moisture, though probably not. The biggest component is releasing the CO2. There are a couple of ways to do it.

First, you can slice the bag off completely at this level, or scissor it off, and use the bag sealers to fold the top over and seal it. During the fruiting stage you put it back in your box and leave the box open this time. Every day you open the top and fan air inside the bag to clear out the CO2.

The second way is the hoodie method. We leave the whole back side intact. Do not cut the back. You cut the edges and the front side, like this. Before you do, use your other alcohol wipe on the blade. You are fully colonized at this point, so contamination is a lot less of a risk, but it is still good practice. Go right to the edge, then the other side, then the other edge, and there is your hoodie. Take two of the clear stickers and put them on to seal it.

One to two times a day, take it out, exhaust the CO2 and seal it again. If you are having trouble fruiting, if you do not see condensation on the bag, if it looks dry, or if the mycelium looks stressed, which can look a little yellow or tinged, you can introduce a water source. Take a spray bottle with distilled water and spray right up in the hood, then seal it again. That gives your mushrooms nice ambient moisture, especially if the bag has none. You can put it back in the box if you like and the hoodie will still work. I like to fruit outside the box at the last stage, because the box really is more of a colonization chamber than anything else.

22:51 Harvesting and second flush

When you get some really awesome mushrooms, I like to cut the bag off completely and put the block in the box when the mushrooms are fully grown. Then you have these beautiful mushrooms flourishing right inside the box. Harvesting is simple: take the mushroom by the base, twist, and pull it right off the mycelium.

For your second and third flush, you want to reintroduce moisture into the block. Take the block out, soak it in a bowl of distilled or filtered water, put it back in the bag and run the whole approach again. If you are going for two or three flushes, do not cut the hoodie off. Keep that going. Cutting it off is just for photographs. If you have any questions, please reach out. Most of you have been in touch with me by email, and I am happy to get those questions answered. Thanks. I am Chris, by the way, if I did not introduce myself.