Process
The spine of every grow, in order. Each stage links to the next, and each one tells you what "done" looks like before you move on.
10 pages
- Getting a culture Every grow starts with a genetic starting point — a clone, a spore print, or something bought. The three routes differ enormously in how predictable the result is. Varies
- Agar work Growing mycelium on a clear plate is the only stage where you can actually see contamination before it costs you anything. It's also how you isolate a strain worth keeping. 5–14 days per transfer
- Liquid culture Mycelium suspended in sterile sugar water. Fast to inoculate with, easy to multiply, and the one stage where contamination can hide completely until it's expensive. 7–14 days
- Grain spawn Sterilised grain colonised by mycelium — the multiplier that turns one culture into enough inoculum for a room of substrate. Also the stage most grows die at. 14–21 days
- Spawn to bulk Mixing colonised grain into a low-nutrition bulk substrate. Ten minutes of work that determines whether the next three weeks go well. One session
- Colonisation Two weeks of leaving it alone in the dark. What's actually happening, what to check, and why opening the tub to look is the main risk at this stage. 10–18 days
- Fruiting conditions Four variables — temperature, humidity, fresh air and light — and the fact that pinning is triggered by change rather than by any particular value. 5–14 days to first pins
- Harvest Timing, technique, and why harvesting slightly early is almost always better than slightly late — for yield, for storage, and for the block's next flush. A few minutes, at the right moment
- Subsequent flushes Getting a second and third harvest from the same block — rehydration, timing, and the point at which chasing another flush stops being worth the risk. 7–21 days between flushes
- Spent substrate What to do with a finished block. Some of it is genuinely useful, some of it is a way of spreading contamination around your garden, and the difference matters. Ongoing