Back to the Roots Organic Oyster Mushroom Grow Kit, Harvest Gourmet Mushrooms In 10 Days

(Using my fiance account) (Update on 9/21/20) I was not successful with a second crop on the other side of the block as most people have reported they are able to do. With that being said. It could have been my fault. I lost track of time and it was 14 days after I harvested the first crop that I began to try for a second harvest. The block was super dry even after soaking for 10 hrs on second side per directions. Or maybe it could have not worked because the first crop on side one was super duper large! We had a fantastic 1st crop....it seemed as if the second side did not want to absorb water. From the soaking to the daily waterings...it always just puddled on top....not a deal breaker for me because the first side was amazing and fun. However, not being able to get a second crop out of the other side of the block made them extremely expensive mushrooms...lol Hands down the 100% Guarantee to grow given by Back To The Roots is legit. The customer service was great! They're very responsive, knowledgeable and helpful. I purchased my kit off Amazon. Recieved it and following directions to the T began the process. Several days in my block just didn't look right. I knew something was wrong but wasn't sure what because I've never grown mushrooms before. I don't have a green thumb but I love mushrooms! I reached out to Back To The Roots customer service. We chatted, I sent them some requested pictures so they could get a better understanding of the issue. Immediately they said something was wrong and that it could have been an old kit Amazon sent me. They asked me to send them a picture of the lot number sticker on my kit so they could check the age of Amazons stock. The customer service representative said she would ship me out a new kit and that I should receive it in a couple days. A few days later it came. I followed the enclosed directions to the T (soaked my block for 10 hrs) and in just 4 days I noticed these little white clumps appeared out of nowhere. They looked like little cauliflower heads (ref to one of my pics.)Morning of day 5 I woke up to an amazing transformation overnight. They changed to very large looking white sea crustaceans...lol and I could see tiny little mushroom pins starting to form on the heads of the spikes....each day, sometimes in just a few hours time, the transformation of these mushrooms were amazing. These mushrooms grow fast when they start. Wow! Be prepared for major changes within hours of eachother. I would've given anything to be able to do a time lapse video of my mushrooms from start to finish. It would been awesome to see on video. Whether kid or adult this was such a fun process to do and rewarding. I felt like a kid at heart the entire process. I have already recommended this kit to several people....Back To The Roots and other reviewers have also said most times you can get another harvest out of the other side of the block....So with that being said, I am going to give it a shot and will update my review to reflect if successful or not. ..a few little tips that I think were extremly helpful in my bountiful harvest. 1. Watering is key. Keeping them moist is so important. I often times watered more than the required twice a day. Every time I walked past them, I would give them a few squirts. 2. I believe the humidity they got by me moving them during the day to my screened in patio (indirect sunlight) helped a lot as well too considering our humidity levels were in the 90% most days. I will be getting more. This was so much fun. I recommend anyone who likes to eat mushrooms get themselves a kit. Even if you don't have a green thumb! It is rewarding. Happy Growing! 🍄

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 Update Well, 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!

Great Kit for Mushroom Cultivation! Wow, did it produce an impressive yield of mushrooms! We were initially thrilled with how quickly everything grew and couldn’t wait to harvest. However, as we were undecided about the perfect time to pick them, we ended up waiting a little too long. When we finally went to harvest, we noticed some mold on a few of the mushrooms, which was a bit disappointing. It was definitely our fault for hesitating, so I want to emphasize the importance of keeping a close eye on them and acting quickly when you think they’re ready. That said, the kit itself is fantastic and delivered excellent results. The process was easy to follow, and we were amazed at how many mushrooms it produced. The flavor was great, too! Despite our mishap, we learned a valuable lesson and are excited to try again. We will definitely be purchasing another kit to refine our timing and enjoy even more delicious mushrooms. Highly recommend this kit for anyone interested in growing their own

This has been so much fun! I have been wanting to get a mushroom kit since I was a teenager (ages ago!), and I finally bought one. It's been a blast to see how much they grow each day. We started seeing little teeny tiny cauliflower looking things on day 3, and from then on, they just really took off! Notice in the photos the difference in size from day 6 to day 7.....CRAZY!!! I live with my brother and elderly father, and my dad said he was almost scared to sit next to them at the table, lol. I guess he thought they might eat him or something. :) It's now day 9, and time to harvest. I'll get out my digital kitchen scale later when I harvest, and see how much they weigh. We have some guesses going in this house as to how much it'll weigh. My brother thinks only a few ounces. I am going to say 9 ounces. Dad has yet to decide....he's "mulling it over". I will say that the spray bottle that comes with it, is really tiny, but they probably couldn't fit a bigger bottle in the box. I sprayed mine A LOT. I used at least one sprayer bottle full each day, and sometimes double that. For those who had trouble with theirs......I hope they kept them and try it again. I wonder if they: *scraped some of the white like it says to *soaked it in a large bowl or bucket of water cut side down for a full 8 hours *sprayed it a minimum of 2x's each day *had it where too much light got to it *waited a reasonable amount of time to see if it was growing (minimum of 3-5 days with ample watering) *or if they really got a "dud", and if so, did they contact the company for a replacement because they DO guarantee it. I'm very curious to see just how many harvests I can get out of this kit. I am going to try for as many as I can. The current record is apparently 10! That is hard to believe, but I am going to see if I can beat it. If I do, I'll share how I did it. Those who've done multiple harvests past the 2 they claim one can get, never post how they did it. Did they do the same side over and over before going to the next side? Did they do both sides simultaneously? Did they open it all up, and put it in a long wide container? Did they do it outside? So many possible variables. Same with those that claim it didn't work for them. There is a reason.....so, what did or didn't they do? What climate was it kept in? Lighting? Humidity? Heat? What kind of water did they use? I kept this next to my Aeorogarden 7 LED the first 2 or 3 days, but not facing it. I had it to the side or turned the box away from it. Day 3, I moved it to our bay window area next to the table in our kitchen, but faced it inwards towards the kitchen so it wouldn't get direct light. I sprayed it multiple times a day a full sprayer bottle usually, sometimes more. I used water from our Berkey system that filters out 99% of contaminants with 2 charcoal filters, and 2 fluoride and arsenic filters. The water is very pure, but leaves minerals. I am curious as to how adding a drop of fulvic acid to the water from Optimally Organic might affect it. Not sure if I am going to try it just yet for this next harvest. I am going to try to grow these again on the same side I think. I'll update again with the next harvest. It's been a blast, and so very fascinating to watch these multiply so quickly. I think it's a great gift for anyone of any age. My grandparents live next door, and grandpa said he always wanted to buy a mushroom kit too, but never did. I never knew that, so it was nice to find that out when I told him I bought one. He's thoroughly enjoyed watching it grow, and he's 91. Glad I was able to provide this for him to see, since it's something he's also always wanted to do. Check this off the bucket list. Hope he's around for many more years to come! Stay tuned for more harvests I hope!

Be careful with this product. You are bringing a food source for contaminants into your home, so this product should not be purchased without a lotta research done beforehand on myco indicators and pathogens. I noticed many yellow blotches forming on the lower end of my block, what I believe to be Aspergillus flavus, a deadly mold if inhaled in large quantities. I went ahead and tossed it out due to these blotches taking over the bottom of the block. I know what mycelium piss looks like, and, those were not. I followed the instructions and read the advice on their website... Yet nature still beat nature in my case. Be careful "undoing food" with this grow kit because it may end up undoing you if you are not careful. I wish it had worked. A wonderful kit that needs a little bit of refinement, and warnings. Edit February 6 2017: My review was from last year! I have since gone through 3 mushroom kits and currently have one fruiting. I am hoping for a third harvest soon, and am just updating because I am so happy with the outcome of this kit and this company's customer service. Unfortunately, the first 3 did not work out. This company is really great though. If you are willing to put in the effort, they will work with you and send you another mushroom block, until you get a harvest! I had contamination issues up until the 4th block, which I believe is a combination of good substrate (via the company) and some methods they advised upon retrying. I'll say what I did here because I believe it makes it foolproof (as long as the substrate is good): -Make sure to put your soaked and ready block in a sterile area! -Sterility is the most imporant thing in in-home mushroom cultivation. Handy to remember when you want to harvest your mushrooms with dirty hands! Always keep it clean -Have a spray bottle handy! Make sure its clean, but these mushrooms really flourish with a good spray, especially if you are in a drier climate -Recommended by BacktotheRoots: put a big clean plastic bag around your block with plenty of holes punched in it, that is the ultimate way to keep the humidity levels at a prime 95-100% for mushroom formation -I personally soaked my block for 12 hours to give it really optimal hydration even though the box says 8. I think this is only good if you are in a drier climate, which would be any without the bag method^ I hope this helps. Definitely contact the company if you have any questions or just want some general advice. And watch their video on starting the block, it shows the proper standard procedure well. UPDATE MAY 11 2017: Changing my rating back to a one star. This company is just not a good substrate provider. I have been through a couple third party companies ordering mushroom substrate and this one is the worst of the two. The other company is extraordinary though and will send you a bomb kit for around the same price as the larger farm from Back to the Roots. They're called Fungi Perfecti. I emailed them about odd growths in the kit, and they said I had to remove the block from the bag (extra instructions) and cut off the odd growths (more extra instructions) to get a flush/fruiting of mushrooms. AND they said it will take several more weeks to grow. GREAT! They lie about the instructions and the time to flush. It's not that they won't replace the kit eventually, it's just that they lie about how easy it is to get it to grow. So, this kit just is not worth your time unless you have months on months to get whatever mushroom project you want to get started, started.

It appears I have an older bag. There are some dark areas in the "window" that will not germinate/grow or whatever you call growing fungus. I tried to saturate the substrate, but it didn't take much water. I did get one good clump of mushrooms out of it. I re-saturated the substrate. Hopefully I will get more. The small amount that grew the first time around was not worth the purchase. Still a cool project for people that have not grown mushrooms before. I have experience growing mushrooms from spore to harvest so this was a little on the weak side in my opinion.

This was fun and entertaining! I was surprised how quickly the mushrooms started to grow. I didn't get to harvest them and eat them unfortunately as the dried up due to my neglect the last 3 days. I'm definitely going to buy another kit again.

Got 2 nice harvests from this grow kit. Super easy to grow. Great for beginners!