The Shiitake Mushroom Kit - Indoor Mushroom Growing Kit - Grow Edible Mushrooms & Fungi. Easy & Fun Mush Room Garden Patch Grow Kits

I actually purchased this some months ago, and followed the directions for about 1-2 months, misting it constantly even putting it in the fridge to try and encourage growth. I got absolutely nothing. So I gave up hope and let it sit in it's open bag and didn't mist it, and when I was ready to throw it out, after leaving it alone for about a month, I noticed it had tiny mushrooms. In total I have about six mushrooms, both on the sides of the log.

I gave this kit as a gift so I only have information from the recipient. I am told that the box tells you the date that the kit was packaged. I read from another review that if the kit not activated for too long, the spores die and you don't get any mushrooms.I told my friend this so she activated the kit within 43 days even though shipping time to my friend was about a week. After a week after activation, little mushrooms have already emerged! We'll see whether they grow into big mushrooms and whether those mushrooms taste good. I will add to this review if I have more information.Oh, I docked this item one star because when I ordered this kit, the Amazon checkout process did not let me 'check the box' that said this was a gift. It did not show any gift options including a free message. I had to send an email to the recipient to let her know that I sent it, and that I'm sorry she saw the price, and that she should activate it right away. Is there a cut-rate checkout for vendors who don't want to pay for the 'regular' Amazon checkout?

It was awkward to grow...there wasn't any room to put it, we ended up putting it by the kitchen sink so we could water it daily...We harvested a couple of handfuls of delicious mushrooms before the whole thin started to turn black, so we threw it out. We did not get enough mushrooms to pay for the kit...It was an experiment, for fun, so now we know that growing mushrooms is not for us!

I was skeptical when buying this product because the reviews varied so drastically. Some chalked this up to climate and geography, but now that I have bought mine and come back to review it I understand. My kit was from Cedarwood Mushrooms, and now they are no longer selling this so the mushroom kit advertised is an entirely different product.Mine was oval shaped and about 10"x5"x5". Mine grew dozens of mushrooms within weeks and they were delicious! Make sure you harvest before the bottoms get brown. The only downside is that for best results you need to spray it at least 3X a day, more would probably be best, so be sure to keep it someplace accessible and get a spray bottle (check a dollar store for a cheap one). I kept mine on a plate in the basement because my girlfriend thought it looked like "a big turd". Okay, it wasn't the prettiest set piece, but it was really fun to watch and grew very quickly.Make sure to soak it for 24 hours in a CLEAN bucket. A new bucket is suggested, but I am cheap so I put a garbage bag in the bucket, added the water, then sunk the kit with a brick inside another garbage bag. If you do this make sure there are no rips.Also, if you keep it on a plate like I did, be sure to dump the water that collect on the bottom about once a day to prevent mold.It is a bit of a hassle to constantly keep it moist, but it was really cool to watch and the results were outstanding (and delicious!)

I received these mushroom colonies one day after the expected date of delivery and when they arrived they arrived as bags of sawdust not an established colony as I had expected and ordered from fungi perfecti directly in the past, needing at least 45 more days to gestate before the colonies could be fruited. The box they were shipped in was so flimsy that UPS had busted it in shipping and the colonies arrived at my doorstep falling out of the busted box

I've had a ton of fun with this mushroom log. I was intimidated by the negative reviews on Amazon, but these mushrooms honestly have been growing really for me. I've never gardened before, and I've had potted bamboo plants die on me, so I'm amazed that this patch is doing really well. Two weeks after receiving the package, I have eight 4-5 inch sprouts all over the log, and some more smaller ones.This really surprises me, because due to my work schedule I'm not able to water the mushrooms "several times a day," as the detailed instruction booklet advises. I usually end up watering them only at night. And yet, here I am with fantastic results!My one complaint is that I wish the instruction booklet had more pictures of different stages in the growing process. The booklet has a picture of the "beginning stage" of growing, and a picture of the fully matured shrooms, but I think it should have some better pictures of how the log should look before you dunk it in cold water, before you remove it from cold temperatures, etc.Either way, this has been really fun! I'm looking into growing more shrooms later, and I'll probably upload a picture when I'm ready to pick them.EDIT: Also, a comment about fridges. If you have a dorm size fridge, you might not be able to grow this item. You have to refrigerate the log for a couple of days. I could do this EASILY in my regular, kitchen-size fridge, but I don't think I would have had room to do this in a dorm-size fridge that was also holding sandwiches, drinks, etc.