Mushroom grow kits offer an inexpensive way to get your feet wet in the world of home mushroom cultivation. These kits include a monotub, pre-sterilized grain spawn (usually rye or wheat), and substrate, eliminating the need to track down these components separately. Mushroom grow kits also simplify the cultivation process, allowing newbies to focus on learning the intricacies of cultivating mushrooms and less on the minutiae of getting the system to work.

Mushroom kits typically consist of a block or log of pasteurized mushroom substrate inoculated with mycelium. The blocks are usually made of sawdust and may contain other ingredients such as soy hulls. Some brands will even include a spray bottle for misting the blocks twice daily. Once the mushrooms have finished producing, you can either eat them or use them as soil-enriching compost in the garden.

This kit from North Spore comes with a colonized growing block and instructions to get your mushrooms started. The company notes that it takes about two weeks for the first harvest, but some online reviews claim that you can get a second harvest and possibly even a third with this kit.

Lion’s mane mushrooms have a crab-like appearance and are known for their fatigue-reducing, mood-enhancing, and overall health-boosting properties. This kit from Baltispore includes a fruiting block, spray bottle, and complete instructions to get you started with these tasty fungi. This kit does require patience as lion’s mane mushrooms can take 2-5 months to produce, but it is fun to watch the orange spindly mushroom fingers develop over time.