Solitary chicken - need advice

[cordelia]

I have a mushroom kit, and it should be showing signs of life by now....but isnt..

 

I think I've followed the instructions ok...

 

Has anyone had experience of them it was £10 from homebase...

 

And can anyone tell me how to get it to work ??

 

thanks very much for any help....

Edited March 30, 2009 by Guest

[fluffyknickers]

I had one a couple of years ago and had no signs of life at all even though followed instructions!

 

Michelle

[Tessa the Duchess]

I've done loads of these, Woolworths (RIP) used to sell the kits for £3.99. Haven't had one for a while, but I recall you had to keep the box in a cool dark place and spray, not water, the earth on a regular basis, it takes about 2 weeks before the mushrooms appear. What is happening to yours, how long have you had it?

 

Tessa

[cordelia]

oh dear and oh..

 

its on its second week...at a cooler temp and gets a daily spray....it now has 2cm of gap in the lid to let the air circulate...and is doing nothing...

 

there are no nice little white shoots appearing, and i have never had to cover any up in the previous week, as it suggested I might...

 

oh and its in the light...not direct sunlight , but the instructions never said to have it in the dark for the second week....drat...perhpas thats the problem

 

 

so I'll fingers crossed for another week....

 

I was so looking forward to them too Im on a major mushroom urge at the moment, having got some lovely chestnut mushrooms from Sainsbury's

[Tessa the Duchess]

Hmmm...I think I would advise moving it to a dark place, I used to do mine in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. I only sprayed mine when it looked dry not every day. Try this and hopefully it will start happening When mine had finished growing I used to chuck the contents of the box into the compost heap, mushrooms still kept appearing for a while.

 

Tessa

[cordelia]

thanks Tessa..I'll move them into the dark when i get home..thanks

 

and water less..(although it was a spray )

[fluffyknickers]

Yes its suposed to be in the dark (mine was but still got nothing!).

 

x

[Helly Welly]

Ours was successful in the dark and with spraying every other day but we had hundreds of little black flies so it had to go in the end

[cordelia]

oh goodness..black flies!!!! yikes I can never buy pot plants anymore because of those darned black flies.. although I ahve found a swift spray with wasp killer does the trick...

but I couldnt do that with mushrooms obviously !! LOL

 

I will try the dark..thanks very much for the advice..

 

 

fingers crossed

 

[Happy chickens!]

I've tried these once or twice in the past, but never had any joy - must go on one of those mushroom foraging courses one day! - unless anyone has the secret of growing their own??

[craftyhunnypie]

We had a kit as children, which we kept in the shed. We had to keep it covered & misted it with water. We hd loads of side plate sized mushrooms. Yummy with garlic butter on. But we also got a mouse living in the kit box!

 

Emma.x

[melly264]

he-he just brought one home today, if I'd have known they were such a hit and miss thing I might nto have bothered!

For future, if you do try again Squires are selling an Unwins model for £5.99....I'll let you know how it goes

[Valkyrie]

We were given 2 lots over the years. One we had a go at and the other my dad did for us because he would give it better tlc at the time. Result failure of both and poor dad was really cross about it!

[Milly]

I remembered Which doing a trial a few months ago so I just looked it up. The verdict was that all the kits they tried cost a lot more than shop-bought mushrooms (between 7 and 22 times more). And some testers didn't get any mushrooms at all.....

 

You never know, they didn't test all the kits on th emarket, you might be lucky.

 

Milly

[cordelia]

...I sure am pleased I asked for advice...and thankyou to everyone who has posted...

 

if no mushrooms grow, at least I can show this to hubby to indicate that its not just "me", and sometimes they just dont work

 

[Valkyrie]

The compost is handy though afterwards!

[bluekarin]

I've not tried the kits but I bought my parents a couple of mushroom logs for Christmas. They never grew mushrooms either

[Old Speckled Hen]

must go on one of those mushroom foraging courses one day! - unless anyone has the secret of growing their own??

 

You should come up here.

Because it rains so much the mushrooms here are monsters.

My favourites are the ceps and chanterelles as well as the common field mushrooms.

You find giant pufballs regularly though in all my years mushroom hunting I have never found a morel.

[Happy chickens!]

Ok sounds fab, I'll just find my wellies....

 

Very

 

Be lovely to have a totally 'home sourced' mushroom omlette!!!

[Muvver hen]

Hi,i have a mushroom kit on the go at the moment

[cordelia]

Thanks for all the advice......I now have 4 mushrooms growing weeks after the orginal timeline in the instructions...

 

I took your advice, and put them in the dark for the second part of the growing process...and its worked...

 

admittedly they are now covered over with a black carrier bag,rather than in a dark cupboard, but its made all the difference..

 

so even though my instructions didnt say place in the dark for the second part, all you lovely people said to, and its worked

 

 

so thanks very much indeed

 

[Tiggy]

this is my 3rd one, I failed misearabley the first twice but I have put this one at the top of the cellar steps this and mist it every so often and it seems to be working, it seems to need the exact mix of shade & moisture and temp to work. Its prob cheaper to but mushrooms