lichme wrote:As it says on their website, you don't need to be a skilled gardener to follow some simple instructions:

Place indoors away for direct sunlight
Open panel and cut a + in the plastic bag
Mist with water 2x/day and watch your mushrooms grow
In as little as 10 days, harvest and enjoy
Turn box around and repeat steps for a second harvest

I bought this for my father who loves mushrooms. The box has cutouts on 2 sides so you can get 2 crops. It is the exposure to air that triggers the mushrooms to grow (according to the manufacturer) so we got to thinking... why only 2 sides? The box has 4 sides. With the second side already harvested, we are cutting an opening on the third side to start another batch. There is no reason this shouldn't work. Then the fourth side. Then, probably bust open the bag and lay it out like a fillet to expose the inner mycelium for yet another big crop. Looks like you can more than double the production with a little ingenuity and a knife.

dliidlii wrote:Way overpriced. Go to the library or use google and save about 90% of this price.

I'm not getting that. I guess not using a kit would be cheaper, but isn't it always?

k9sar wrote:I bought this for my father who loves mushrooms. The box has cutouts on 2 sides so you can get 2 crops. It is the exposure to air that triggers the mushrooms to grow (according to the manufacturer) so we got to thinking... why only 2 sides? The box has 4 sides. With the second side already harvested, we are cutting an opening on the third side to start another batch. There is no reason this shouldn't work. Then the fourth side. Then, probably bust open the bag and lay it out like a fillet to expose the inner mycelium for yet another big crop. Looks like you can more than double the production with a little ingenuity and a knife.

Eventually, you will use up the growing medium in the kit. Unlike green plants, mushrooms do not photosynthesize their own food. But I wonder whether you can add your own used coffee grounds to provide for future growth, after exposing the used mycelium as you describe.

asianglow wrote:5.99 and Free Shipping... after spending $19 @ norm.

CODE: 13096

I tip my coffee cup to you, sir. Thanks for the link and the code.

burns11 wrote:$16.29 shipped on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Roots-Oyster-Mushroom-Kit/dp/B0052Z92WA/ref=pd_bxgy_hpc_text_c

Interesting...this link now takes you to a page where the price is $19.16.

Very excited to try my packs of mushrooms that are on their way to me (I love oyster mushrooms in a light pasta dish). I'm less excited about the price moving shell game...especially if it really was $16.29 on Amazon this morning before the poster pointed it out.

EDIT: I just noticed that amazon has two prices...one for "single purchase" and one for "subscription". If that's the reason for the discrepancy, that makes me feel a little better.

artemisnin wrote:cheaper here, $5.99 per kit, plus $5.99 shipping

normthompson

Sweet! 2 delivered for $16.77 w/10% off coupon 13118

Sorry Woot! - I love ya, but I'm a cheap SOB.

The picture looks more like Pleurotus eryngii (king oysters or king trumpets) than Pleurotus ostreatus, varieties of which can come in various (pale) colors (white, grey, pink). Pleurotus eryngii are more elongated, like the product picture here.

We've cultivated Pleurotus ostreatus. It was easy and fun. Fruiting depends on temperature and humidity, and optimal conditions are different for the different variants.

Some people say you can become allergic to the spores due to too much exposure if you cultivate them in your home. We didn't, but I think I would do it in a garage or shed the next time. They do drop a lot of spores.

macarletta wrote:The picture looks more like Pleurotus eryngii (king oysters or king trumpets) than Pleurotus ostreatus, varieties of which can come in various (pale) colors (white, grey, pink). Pleurotus eryngii are more elongated, like the product picture here.

We've cultivated Pleurotus ostreatus. It was easy and fun. Fruiting depends on temperature and humidity, and optimal conditions are different for the different variants.

Some people say you can become allergic to the spores due to too much exposure if you cultivate them in your home. We didn't, but I think I would do it in a garage or shed the next time. They do drop a lot of spores.

Put paper underneath and catch the spores, you can use them to "seed" a new substrate I use a rice based cake. An old cooler (clean) and a waterbed heater make growing year round quite easy.

where is everyone getting woot off coupons?
BTW, these are awesome mushrooms to cook, just a little minched garlic, green onion sauteed in butter, add thr shrooms, cook til they soften and release some of their water. Add a little dry white wine if you choose, 1/4 cup or so, and reduce the liquid.
This would be wonderful over pasta, tossed with shrimp, added to the top of any meat like a steak, pork chop or chicken breast.
Add a sprinkle of chopped herbs like parsley if you have them. Add salt and pepper to taste.

doryg151 wrote:Put paper underneath and catch the spores, you can use them to "seed" a new substrate I use a rice based cake. An old cooler (clean) and a waterbed heater make growing year round quite easy.

I'd love to hear more details about this set-up. Do you use the rice-based cake for a medium? Could one just add the spores to sanitized coffee grounds to get a new batch?

Seriously, woot can sell mushroom gardens on wine.woot, but beer.woot can't be done?!?

So, if I'm a previous wooter that hasn't wooted in a while & these entice me to woot multiple times again, should they be called "Back to the Woots Mushroom Garden"?

Cyradia wrote:I'd love to hear more details about this set-up. Do you use the rice-based cake for a medium? Could one just add the spores to sanitized coffee grounds to get a new batch?

Tidbits chopped from my guide.

In order to grow mushrooms, a suitable substrate must be inoculated and colonized by the fungus. This step requires sterility because the substrate contains no preservatives and can be overrun by any mold or bacteria that is present. This first step takes place in canning jars prepared in your home's kitchen. It uses brown rice flour and vermiculite, which are both readily available. A substrate is prepared, placed in the canning jars and sterilized with heat. After the jars cool, they are inoculated with spores.
In general, there are two broad classes of cultivated mushrooms: those that prefer to grow on compost, and those that prefer to grow on woody material. The common button mushroom and other Agaricus species fall into the first class, growing readily on compost. Oyster mushrooms, shiitake, reishi, maitake, etc, all prefer woody materials such as sawdust, or wood chips.
If you Google a little you can find the rest.

Do note that the bulk of people talking about growing mushrooms on the internet are not talking about button or shiitake. However that does not mean the information is bad.

Another starting point, not psychedelic.
http://teresa8go.hubpages.com/hub/GrowingMushroomsABeginnersGuide

Fun random fact I learned recently: Mushrooms are the only plant source of Vitamin D out of all fruits and vegetables there are. The only other sources are from dairy products and sunshine.

Tiamat114 wrote:Fun random fact I learned recently: Mushrooms are the only plant source of Vitamin D out of all fruits and vegetables there are. The only other sources are from dairy products and sunshine.

Conventionally grown mushrooms are typically grown in darkness/minimal UV exposure when harvested, which severely inhibits the amount of Vit D produced. So, we're sitting on some powerful stuff with this woot offering.

"In the summer of 2004, mycologist Paul Stamets discovered that the level of vitamin D in freshly picked, indoor- grown shiitake mushrooms rose from 110 IU (international units) to an astonishing 46,000 IU per 100 grams when the mushrooms were placed outdoors in the sun for just six hours with the gills facing up (when the gills were facing down, the level rose to 10,900 IU)."

Ah, now if only there were a similar kit for growing Psilocybe cubensis. I'd be all over that like ... well, like fungus on damp coffee grounds.

Re normthompson.com offer of $5.99 Better yet - order 2 - enter code 15005 and get 2 for $15.57 shipped !! Twice the product

I have a box of these growing in my kitchen right now. Picked them up at the Philly Flower show a couple of weeks ago, and so loving watching them grow - can't wait for them to be big enough to harvest.

Must admit to a great deal of consternation when I got the kits and opened the first box and found it looking completely moldy, but hit the website to find out that is normal. It also took a little longer than I expected to get growing, but now it seems I can almost watch them getting bigger, they're growing that fast.

Got the twofer deal at the flower show, so will pass on this one, but would highly recommend the kit. Fun and Delicious!

Pufferfishy wrote:Sweet! 2 delivered for $16.77 w/10% off coupon 13118

Sorry Woot! - I love ya, but I'm a cheap SOB.

Thanks Puff
In for two.

Sorry Woot, also cheap SOB !

Pufferfishy wrote:Sweet! 2 delivered for $16.77 w/10% off coupon 13118

Sorry Woot! - I love ya, but I'm a cheap SOB.

13096 from norm thompson. . . the better way to go.

backtotheroots wrote:Hey Artemisnin - thanks for sharing that..it's the first we've seen that too! We sold a lot through them during the Fall/Winter last year and it seems they're doing a "blow out" on leftover inventory to make way for new items in their catalog (and they're taking a significant loss on it too at that price point!) - so won't be enough on there for all the wooters. That $5.99 price point is not real/long-term, it's well below our wholesale cost even! Hope this helps provide some clarity - this Woot deal is a special offer and an awesome way to grow the Mushroom Garden at a nice discount!

Thanks!!

Would the mushroom growing kit from Woot yield any better results since presumably they are newer than what is being sold by the other website? If the $5.99 blowout special website is selling kits for well below cost like you say, then I question whether they will be as viable as the kits from woot.

I received one of these kits from my daughter at Christmas. We have harvested the kit many times since then. We just flipped the box around to use the second side, this week.

I bought one of these (same brand) from ThinkGeek for my girlfriend. She did the recommended cut-the-bag-and-submerge-for-24-hours thing, but after over two weeks of frequent spritzing, had nothing to show for it. She gave up on that and cut the other side open and resubmerged. Now she's been spraying both sides for a bit, and yesterday we just finally noticed the first hint of activity on one side (oddly, the side that was opened first).

Not sure if it's a product of our environment or what, but this has been much more work and waiting than advertised, and we're still not sure what we're going to end up with. As this is a living product, I'm sure your mileage may vary. We may have just gotten a bad pack.

Available for $5.99 at http://www.normthompson.com/jump.jsp?itemID=18194&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=18194

yewnicornsss wrote:Available for $5.99 at http://www.normthompson.com/jump.jsp?itemID=18194&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=18194

Really? It's almost like this entire thread didn't already talk about this deal.

Check out an upcoming spot on PBS!

Meet our founders!!! Check out our warehouse!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBBmKuvKpUc&feature=youtu.be

glibdud wrote:I bought one of these (same brand) from ThinkGeek for my girlfriend. She did the recommended cut-the-bag-and-submerge-for-24-hours thing, but after over two weeks of frequent spritzing, had nothing to show for it. She gave up on that and cut the other side open and resubmerged. Now she's been spraying both sides for a bit, and yesterday we just finally noticed the first hint of activity on one side (oddly, the side that was opened first).

Not sure if it's a product of our environment or what, but this has been much more work and waiting than advertised, and we're still not sure what we're going to end up with. As this is a living product, I'm sure your mileage may vary. We may have just gotten a bad pack.

Thanks for the note glibdud! We totally guarantee all of our kits - have her shoot us an email at jared AT backtotheroots.com and I'd love to offer some tips / tricks to get her mushrooms growing! Excited for her to harvest her first batch soon and look forward to hearing from you! Thanks for the support!!

I was just coming here to post the $5.99 Norm Thompson deal, but I see everybody's already stolen my thunder. Harumph!!!

I would order this today from Woot if I had the money in Paypal. Unfortunately, I checked and I am totally broke.

If you are considering going to the other site who is clearing these out at a tremendous discount and are planning on paying with Paypal--forget it. They only take credit cards.

I hope Back to the Roots offers this mushroom kit again in the future. I would definitely buy it if I had the funds.

Thumbs up from me.

My 4.5 year old son and I grew the ones in the pictures (not time lapse).

What we did: Soaked bag over night Sunday to Monday, we noticed small growth late Saturday of same week. Growth in picture was on Monday or Tuesday (7 days after first soak).

For the record the mushroom plant in the pictures has a name...Monty the Mushroom.

We had fun, son really liked spraying Monty and watching him grow.

We placed him in a window in the kitchen, on the table on the covered patio outside and the window of my cubicle. He was happy anywhere.

Congrats Monty enjoy your 24 hours of fame!

safe for cats, dogs, amphibians and other earthly creatures!!!

mschauber wrote:Are these safe for cats and dogs?

backtotheroots wrote:I'd love to offer some tips / tricks to get her mushrooms growing!

What tips/tricks can you offer? I may want to use them to insure that they grow.

2 candy deliveries today from the woot off,
Candy Basket Milk & Dark Chocolate Fleur de Sel Salted Caramel Pecan Patties &
Candy Basket Milk & Dark Chocolate Fleur de Sel Salted Caramel
mummmmmmmm

tmillerwoot wrote:Thumbs up from me.

My 4.5 year old son and I grew the ones in the pictures (not time lapse).

What we did: Soaked bag over night Sunday to Monday, we noticed small growth late Saturday of same week. Growth in picture was on Monday or Tuesday (7 days after first soak).

For the record the mushroom plant in the pictures has a name...Monty the Mushroom.

We had fun, son really liked spraying Monty and watching him grow.

We placed him in a window in the kitchen, on the table on the covered patio outside and the window of my cubicle. He was happy anywhere.

Congrats Monty enjoy your 24 hours of fame!

You know you should NEVER name dinner...

I was scarred when my mom cooked Fred the chicken that I raised from a little chick..

Thanks for growing! FUN FACT: - the white stuff is actually "mycelium"-- see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium.

Feel free to email me at Mai-Ling@backtotheroots.com if you have any other questions!

sthnbelle wrote:I have a box of these growing in my kitchen right now. Picked them up at the Philly Flower show a couple of weeks ago, and so loving watching them grow - can't wait for them to be big enough to harvest.

Must admit to a great deal of consternation when I got the kits and opened the first box and found it looking completely moldy, but hit the website to find out that is normal. It also took a little longer than I expected to get growing, but now it seems I can almost watch them getting bigger, they're growing that fast.

Got the twofer deal at the flower show, so will pass on this one, but would highly recommend the kit. Fun and Delicious!

I've been growing mushrooms forever. my favorite is the lion's mane Mushroom. This looks like a great kit for learning the process of mushroom development.

Let the Mycelium grow!!

Our local EarthFare store sells this exact kit for $20.00. So, this sounds like a deal to me.

Sorry could not pass up the better deal at NT 3 sets for $20.37 delivered

gusvonpooch wrote:Sorry could not pass up the better deal at NT 3 sets for $20.37 delivered

Better check your email. The comformation email looked like an order, but it had "Cancelled" and Cust Serv said they were out of stock.

Dadoboy wrote:Better check your email. The comformation email looked like an order, but it had "Cancelled" and Cust Serv said they were out of stock.

WineDavid should get a commission from the other vendor: they were still stocked 2.5 hrs ago, now sellout. I'm sure they'd never have gotten there today, had it not been for WD's 'help.'