Back to the Roots Organic Mushroom Growing Kit

I gifted these. Both recievers thought this was a really interesting gift. One of the people I gifted to is an older Polish man who is familiar with mushroom growing, has tried a few times and wasn't very successful. The box does take some effort, you have to soak the pack for several hours and then mist it daily. But easy enough, with clear instructions. Then you basically just let them sit. They started growing within a couple of days (as pictured). Not sure of the final end result. I say this is a nice gift for a mushroom lover whether they have a green thumb or not! Box comes with mini spray bottle, however one of the gifts was missing the bottle top.

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 UpdateWell, 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!

Mycelium was in great shape. Fully colonized block. looked great. My block was packed with mycelium to the point you could not see any of the substrates. Very happy with the colonization.Needs more in-depth instructions and what things looks like, not a pamphlet with cartoon drawings. People can grow contaminations. At least tell them if they see discolouring to toss the brick.Fruiting was ok. Due to the lack of instructions the good mycelium layer was scraped off after using the pamphlet and reading product reviews. (No Bueno) Reducing pin sets and having me to wait for the mycelium to recolonize the block on the outside. when a smack on the ground and cold water is enough I found out via my second attempt with another product.Add other options for fruiting! such as a shotgun fruiting chamber as I have in the pictures. The fruits were ok but tasted horrid. Probably a contam or bad block. The mushrooms were very strong with a sour note at the end. I was seeing Knotts for a second flush so the mycelium was Rockin. Just bad taste and not enough info with the product to feel safe eating them. So it got tossed into the trash bin before my second flush which would have been quite good. I was pretty sad.However, it spawned a new hobby for me and am now growing some lion's mane. I would like to see the price drop a smidge as 30 for a block is a tad high due to it being sawdust and soy (masters mix) or the substrate you use. Peeps gotta make some money but i would feel a bit more ok at the 20 buck mark. However, the price is also paying for a kit for a school of your choice. Please follow the pamphlet and help kids near you learn some cool mycology.!After all that, my final thoughts...., was it was a blast. No, it didn't go to plan but it was a learning experience. It needs more info for a greater success.For those that read this DO NOT take the advise of some of the comments in here. You will just wreck your block. There needs to be more info and more info on mycelium, and its characteristics. This would greatly improve success and in itself turn a great product into a better product. I suggest a youtube video with a code to scan for easy access.I will also be taking advantage of the buy one, they give one to a school. Everyone one should. This would be great for classrooms as overnight the kids will see changes to the mushrooms. Science that reacts fast to keep kids interested. Great work guys. Hope it works. My sister is a teacher and these will go to many schools! Love this idea.

(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...lolHands 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! 🍄

My Back to roots FB got black molds, bad for me i cannot return the product