Back to the Roots ~ Pearl Oyster Mushroom Kitchen Garden Grow Your Own Kit ~ Grows Out of The Box!

Great product. Fun to use and watch the mushrooms grow.

It works! Be patient. In my case, the mushrooms appeared on day 7. Oyster mushrooms, in my opinion, have the best taste, very potent and clean flavor. They are perfect for soups, sauces, and sauté well with other veggies and meats. There's no earthy taste to them at all. A word of caution, when ready to harvest, collect the entire batch. I made a mistake of cutting three mushrooms only, leaving the rest until the next day. Unfortunately, the bunch dried out completely over night. They were bone dry and hard. When I tried to get them going again by using the back of the package, I had no luck. Overall, a decent product,my it it does need more clear instructions.***Sept 13, 2015 UpdateWell, I decided to give Back to the Roots Organic Mushroom Farm another chance. I'm glad I did. First off, to my surprise it took this second mushroom farm almost two weeks (12-13 days) to start producing. Patience is a key here. I almost gave up on it and actually stopped watering the soil for two days, thinking I must have made a mistake somewhere. However, when I got home one night, I was excited to see tiny mushroom heads which made their way through to the soil top. The tiny farm works, no doubt about it. You will love the taste and the texture of these oyster mushrooms.Here's where this product shines the most.The company that created this product stands behind their work 100%. The community happiness team (*I absolutely love the term) is exceptional when it comes to customer service and they will make sure you are absolutely satisfied with the product. You don't see that very often these days. For example, they contacted me directly based on my less-than-excellent experience with the product the first time I tried it. Naturally, I had quite a few questions about my experience with the farm. Here's the conversation below. Make sure to read it, it will help you with your farm as well.1. Can you please let me know if both sides of the box can be used to grow mushrooms simultaneously, or is it designed to have the harvest from one side of the box only? How many times can the process be repeated?Response: You can use both sides of the box but we recommend just growing one side at a time. We guarantee two harvests from each box, but it's possible to get more so we always encourage folks to keep trying! I am currently growing a box and on my second harvest, using the same side that I grew my first on. It doesn't matter which side you grow on, though. Just note -- once you open the second side (cut the '+' and such) then your kit will be exposed to more oxygen, meaning it can dry out faster. So you will need to give it more water (you really can't overwater the mushrooms so be generous!). That's why I always grow the first two harvests from the same side and then I might open up the second side and try to grow from there. The mushrooms can still grow from any side, though, so be sure to water both and keep it really hydrated. Also, I always give the kit a break by letting it rest for a few weeks in between grows.2. I kept my box on the counter, even after the mushrooms died, but kept spraying it with water. After a few days, the white substance began growing rapidly and covered the "soil" again. Are these spores? The white, dust-like substance also covered a substantial portion of the kitchen counter and I had to wipe it every morning. It was interesting to see..Response: The white 'dust' is spores. Actually that is a great sign. That means your mushroom kit is full of spores and will most definitely grow again! So if you still have this kit I recommend you try to grow it once more. The white layer is mushroom by-product. If it grows back, try scoring the surface with a knife or fork and then re-soak the bag for 1 day. Afterwards, you’ll want to give your kit lots of water.You can even try using a humidity tent to increase moisture.Re-soak your kit overnight fully submerged in water.Cover the kit with a Ziploc or other plastic bag and cut some holes in it for airflow.Spray/drizzle water underneath it everyday.The additional moisture should help boost your kit out of the dormant state and you should see growth in approx. 7 days.Additional information about mushroom growth:Mushrooms love fresh air, so placing your kit next to an open window can really encourage the mushrooms to grow.Oyster mushrooms like light. Place your mushroom kit in a bright area-- filtered light is best.Moisture is extremely important. You can tell if your kit is getting enough water because you will be able to see visible drops of moisture trapped beneath the plastic flaps. The more water the better; don't be afraid of over-watering your mushroom kit. Keep the plastic in-tact. Again, this has to do with moisture. The plastic helps trap in moisture so you don't want to remove it.***As you see, the team is committed to making your experience with this little mushroom farm excellent. You will fall in love with the product, I guarantee it. Also, let me know if this review was helpful to you. Your opinion mattes!

Mycelium was in great shape. Fully colonized block. looked great. My block was packed with mycelium to the point you could not see any of the substrates. Very happy with the colonization.Needs more in-depth instructions and what things looks like, not a pamphlet with cartoon drawings. People can grow contaminations. At least tell them if they see discolouring to toss the brick.Fruiting was ok. Due to the lack of instructions the good mycelium layer was scraped off after using the pamphlet and reading product reviews. (No Bueno) Reducing pin sets and having me to wait for the mycelium to recolonize the block on the outside. when a smack on the ground and cold water is enough I found out via my second attempt with another product.Add other options for fruiting! such as a shotgun fruiting chamber as I have in the pictures. The fruits were ok but tasted horrid. Probably a contam or bad block. The mushrooms were very strong with a sour note at the end. I was seeing Knotts for a second flush so the mycelium was Rockin. Just bad taste and not enough info with the product to feel safe eating them. So it got tossed into the trash bin before my second flush which would have been quite good. I was pretty sad.However, it spawned a new hobby for me and am now growing some lion's mane. I would like to see the price drop a smidge as 30 for a block is a tad high due to it being sawdust and soy (masters mix) or the substrate you use. Peeps gotta make some money but i would feel a bit more ok at the 20 buck mark. However, the price is also paying for a kit for a school of your choice. Please follow the pamphlet and help kids near you learn some cool mycology.!After all that, my final thoughts...., was it was a blast. No, it didn't go to plan but it was a learning experience. It needs more info for a greater success.For those that read this DO NOT take the advise of some of the comments in here. You will just wreck your block. There needs to be more info and more info on mycelium, and its characteristics. This would greatly improve success and in itself turn a great product into a better product. I suggest a youtube video with a code to scan for easy access.I will also be taking advantage of the buy one, they give one to a school. Everyone one should. This would be great for classrooms as overnight the kids will see changes to the mushrooms. Science that reacts fast to keep kids interested. Great work guys. Hope it works. My sister is a teacher and these will go to many schools! Love this idea.

First of all, did everything as stated and more.Full of fruit flies which created an infestation (had to buy a machine to rid of them). I wanted them to grow so much I also invested in a mushroom tent. I’m now 3 weeks and nothing except for a smelly brick of yuck, fruit flies and stench. Threw it all away this morning. ⚠️ at your risk. Policy is also no returns.

I bought this as a science project for my son. I loved how everything came in the box..very detailed instructions, the mushrooms in their pulp thing, and a little spray bottle to "water" them with. Also loved how they grow TWO times, instead of just once. This go around, I didn't have much success but I believe I soaked it too long and/or I didn't scrape off enough of the white stuff on the outside. Make sure you read and follow the directions verbatim.