The Back To The Roots mushroom kit produces very nice brown oyster mushrooms within a few days of rehydrating the substrate. Since hydration is the primary limiting factor for producing good flushes from kits, it is recommended by this grower that you remove the substrate completely from the mycobag, then submerge the substrate block overnight in clean, cold water. The next morning, drain the substrate block, pat it dry with paper towels, then return it to the bag and fruit as normal. My kit produced 160g of fresh mushrooms on the first flush, and about half that on the second flush.

Once your kit has exhausted itself, (e.g. after the second or third flush), the substrate can be crumbled up and used to inoculate another substrate of your choosing, e.g. straw, coffee grounds, cardboard, cotton cloth, hardwood sawdust from stove pellets, or a combination of these and/or other materials. This variety is both an agressive colonizer and prolific fruiter. Expect approximately 30 days between innnoculation and harvest. Here are some cluster maturing on 20lbs of pasturized wheat straw. Growing on bulk substrate tends to produce larger flushes and larger individual mushrooms than growing from a kit, (examples of both below).

Well, I didn't get a plethora of mushrooms like the super happy girl on the box and it took a more than 10 days BUT I did get the HUGE sucker of a mushroom which I really enjoy. Come on, it's ginormous & it just popped up overnight (it seems). So, 3 stars for the giant mushroom. I'm going to finally pop it off tomorrow and cook it - I suspect it'll be delicious - and see if anymore appear since I'm used to the box on my counter now anyways.

Fun Prime Day impulse buy, but wouldn't buy again.

I purchased the Mushroom Farm in order to have the experience of growing mushrooms in the house. Previously I grew both Shiitake and Oyster mushroom on inoculated wood that was kept in our woods during the summer months. I wanted to see how companies were bringing the same experience into home for both adults and kids to experience.

The directions were clear and easy to follow, and "wala" I had mushrooms spawning in less than ten days. The "first crop" of mushrooms have been harvested and consumed. They tasted better than the Oyster mushrooms I grew previously in the woods.

I am again soaking the boxes (I purchased two farms) so that another crop can be produced. I learned that the record is 10 crops from one farm, so my goal is to exceed the existing record of 10 crops.

I strongly recommend the purchase of a mushroom farm. The learning experience and the anticipation of growth on a daily basis is worth the expenditure plus you get to eat your experience!

Great product be it for a fun one-off project, or as the beginning material for a mushroom farm of your own, My recommendation of this product extends beyond the quality of the product itself, but in just how much this company stands behind its products. I have been slowly building up my stock for growing mushrooms for local-area sales business. When I found a lot of these at a local discount grocery chain at an extremely good price I figured realistically that even if half of the boxes turned out to be duds, I was still ahead so I went ahead and purchased everything the store had left on the shelf, After taking home and preparing according to the directions on the box, I set them on the shelves of my grow-room, Wow, have I been amazed at how quickly these guys have produced, and nice large clusters ranging from .25-.5lb per box., I had pinning on over half of the kits within 4 days, and full pinning on the rest within the next week, The only failures I had out of the entire 30 boxes I purchased were 3 kits , which produced a different, fruiting body that I didn't recognize, not only was Back to the Roots extremely courteous and friendly, they were also happy to help and identify the contaminant, they were also kind enough to replace all three kits! This is the part that impresses me the most about this company, just how dedicated they are their product that they stand behind it 100% I would definitely recommend one of these kits as a fun entry into how mushrooms are grown. Once again, a big thank you to the staff and crew at Back to the Roots , for operating how I wish a great many other companies should be conducting their businesses

Really fun and easy growing kit. I kept it in my kitchen and the mushrooms were ready to be used within 2 weeks. Unfortunately I went on vacation before using them and they were mostly dead by the time I got back. Great gift for a gardener of any age.

UPDATE: I got another mushroom farm thanks to Back to the Roots. It was a resounding success this time and I'm currently working on growing a second batch. Here are some of the things I did differently that helped:
1. Using the mister. This new farm is the "original" size and included a mister spray bottle that the mini version didn't have. If you get the mini farm I would recommend getting a spray bottle to make watering the mushrooms easier/better.
2. Water more often. I kept the farm and the mister bottle with it in the kitchen. Every time me or my husband walked by we would spray the block to keep it moist.
3. Scrape the block better and cut the hole bigger. I used a knife to scrape the block, I left some white/unscrapped spots though and it seems that the mushrooms sprouted from these sections (the scrapped areas seemed to allow water to penetrate better and is probably what triggers the shrooms to sprout). Also, I cut the X bigger then I did last time because more surface area is better.
4. Harvest at the right time. I followed the recommendations and harvested the mushrooms when the tops started turning white and the edges are brown. I put them in the frig until I was ready to use them.
5. Save the block to get a second (and hopefully a third?) harvest.

Also, the mushrooms tasted really good. I marinated them in teriyaki sauce for a couple minutes and then sauteed them. I ate them by itself and the rest was added to the top of a burger. YUM! :)