The choice is many and varied when it comes to choosing which vessel to use for growing your mushrooms, if any at all.
When choosing a vessel it’s important to consider whether it has sufficient holes for ventilation or if the material can be altered for this purpose. As a general rule allow for all substrate to be within 15 – 20 cm from a ventilation/fruiting hole.
Buckets are an excellent choice for cultivating oyster mushrooms, coming in a wide range of sizes to suit your particular space and requirements. Any number of found objects can be recycled for mushroom growing including milk bottles, plastic lunch bags and laundry baskets.
Alternatively, mycelium can be left to colonise the straw in a garden bed, this option can be best for species which prefer growing outdoors, like ink-caps, gold tops and the paddy straw mushroom. It’s important to keep the substrate moist and well protected while colonising. Yields may vary greatly when growing outdoors due to a wide range of variables including humidity and competing organisms.