How to grow mushrooms with a Magic All-In-One Mushroom Grow Bag

Step 1

Clean your work area! If you’re using a still air box, clean the inside thoroughly, wiping the entire inside surface and lid with 70% isopropyl alcohol or bleach wipes. If you are not working in a still air box, choose a room with little to no air movement, no fans, no ac/heat running, nobody walkin' around you. You also ideally want to work on nonporous (not wooden basically) surface. Stone, metal, or a hard plastic surface is best, since those are easiest to clean thoroughly.

Step 2

Wipe your grow bag with the included alcohol prep pads, 70% isopropyl alcohol or bleach wipes. Make sure that you wipe the rubber injection port thoroughly. The flat surface facing outwards needs to be very clean, or contamination will occur. Ideally the port will still be slightly wet from the disinfectant you are using for cleaning when you inject into it. 

Step 3

Once your alcohol or bleach has dried from the bag, attach the needle to your syringe. Make sure that it is completely attached before removing the syringe cap.

Remove the syringe cap and use a lighter to heat the metal syringe tip to red hot. Once red, stop heating, you do not want to overheat this part of the syringe, since the attachment piece is plastic, you do not want to melt the plastic portion. 

Step 4

Allow your syringe tip to cool from red hot. After the syringe is no longer red, wait 5 seconds, then insert into the rubber injection port. 

Once inside the port, inject 2-4cc of genetic material into your bag. If you inject more that is fine, but it is unnecessary. If using only 1 bag for your syringe, you can inject up to 10cc of genetic material, though this is unnecessary. While you inject, you can move the needle around to inject liquid into more portions of the bag. Make sure you're injecting into the grain and not the substrate portion. It's also a good idea as you're removing the needle to put a final small squirt just before withdrawing, so once germination occurs you'll see it right away instead of wondering if the solution at the center of the bag is growing or not. 

Step 5

Withdraw your syringe, recap the needle, and if reusing your genetic material syringe replace the syringe cap. If not reusing, dispose of your syringe and needle appropriately. Tape the needle cap to the needle for disposal. 

Step 6

Allow your grain to colonize. This can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks after the first sign of growth depending on your genetics you’ve chosen, and the conditions you’re growing in. Typically a warm environment of 70-75°F will result in the fastest growing conditions. You should only see white mycelium growing in your grain. If you see cloudy growth around your grains, different colors (red, purple, yellow, green, blue, etc), or black growth, you should dispose of your bag and start again as these are contaminants and not what you’re looking to grow. If you have any questions about what’s growing in your bag, please contact us with pictures of your questionable growth.

Step 7

Once your grain has fully colonized (or at least 95% colonized, sometimes corners will take extra time to grow, sometimes a few pieces of grain just don’t want to colonize) break up the colonized grain thoroughly, and begin mixing into the substrate layer. It may help to lay the bag flat on its side and roll the material to mix. Once thoroughly mixed, hold your bag by the top portion and shake to get the material stuck in the top loose, pat the bottom of the bag to help dislodge anything remaining. Some material will remain which is alright as long as there’s no grains lingering above. Once all your material is back at the bottom of the bag, place on a surface and slightly press on the top and sides to slightly compact your substrate block. 

Step 8

Allow your substrate to colonize. This can again take anywhere from 2-4 weeks. You want to keep your bag in the same conditions as before, 70-75°F. Once fully colonized, you can choose to cut the top seal of your bag, allowing fresh air to get into your bag. This will signal to your bag where fresh air is coming from, allow CO2 to leave the bag, and give your mycelium fresh air which can initiate better fruiting. If growing oyster or lions mane mushrooms, the best option is to cut 2 1-2 inch crossing lines forming an X into the short sides of your bag (avoid cutting in too deep, you’re just cutting the plastic, not the substrate itself), then fold the top of your bag over, pushing the air inside out. This will allow your mushrooms to fruit from the holes you cut instead of from the top of the block, resulting in better looking fruits. 

If you do not wish to cut open the bag, you can just prop up the top portion of the bag and leave the bag completely sealed. The mycelium will find no more material left to consume and begin to put out fruits naturally. We recommend leaving the bag closed if you are concerned about contamination within your grow. 

Step 9

Harvest! Typically mushrooms can be harvested by grabbing the base of the fruit, twisting and pulling in one motion. This can cause a bit of the substrate to come detached with your fruits, so some people prefer to use scissors to cut the base of the mushroom. Either method is fine. Once you have harvested, you can dispose of your block in your garbage or (preferably) in a compost pile/container. Another option is to dunk your substrate. You can fill your bag with cold water until the top of the substrate is covered or until the block begins to float, let sit for 1 hour, then drain and repeat step 8. Second flushes are typically smaller (50% or less) than the first flush.

Ask questions if you need! Please do not hesitate to contact us at Info@MagicalMushroomBags.com. We also recommend the Reddit forum www.Reddit.com/r/MushroomGrowers for any questions you may have. 

Grow bag FAQs

I can only find 90%/99% isopropyl alcohol, is that okay? 

Yes that is fine, you will want to wipe your surfaces twice, or water down your alcohol by ~1/3rd of the volume of the container. 

I melted the rubber injection port by injecting with too hot of a needle! What do I do?!

Just put a piece of tape over the port, this is not a major issue. Tape it sooner than later though, as soon as possible after you see you’ve melted the port. 

My mycelium is growing slowly, what gives? 

Sometimes mycelium grows slow! If using a spore syringe, it can take 2-3 weeks to see growth at all because the spores have to germinate. Patience is key! If you don't see any growth after waiting two weeks, the best solution is to check your temperatures, then wait another two weeks. Checking the bag repeatedly, moving the bag around, or changing the environment frequently can all inhibit or damage growth. 

There's something green/blue/purple/grey/yellow growing in my bag! 

That's likely a contaminant. Mold, bacteria, and other funguses are all ubiquitous in the air around us. It's possible your genetics had something in them they shouldn't have, you didn't wipe the injection port well enough, you did not flame sterilize your needle properly, or you picked up a contamination during the inoculation process. Best advice here is to dispose of your bag in the trash, or cut it open and dump it in your compost. Contaminants can be dangerous, it's best to dispose of things when you first identify them rather than let them continue to grow. 

Nothing is growing! 

Sometimes genetics take longer to start than others. When working with liquid culture, you should see growth within 2-4 days of injection. When working with spores, you might not see growth for 2 weeks! Patience is key here. If you wait more than 2 weeks and don't see any growth, you can either wait another 2 weeks, or you can use new genetics in the bag. It's very unlikely that after 2 weeks the first genetics will start growing, and as long as the bag hasn't contaminated, it's the same as injecting the bag with water and maybe some sugars alongside more genetics, so adding new genetics won't be detrimental.