Nibin said:

I'd personally skip agaricus (button mushrooms). The market is pretty well covered and it would take a huge investment to be able to produce a big enough amount to make it profitable.

Other edible species, on the other hand, are in shorter supply and will fetch a higher price.

If you are close to a big city which will probably have many gourmet restaurants then you should be able to supply locally without having the extra expense of refridgerated transport.

Apart from any research you might do you should certainly go to a Stamets Cultivation seminar http://www.fungi.com/seminars/index.html if only to get your hands on the cultures (and also learn a shitload).

Mycosupply also produce some full sized growrooms which might interest you (or give you an idea of what you will need).
http://www.mycosupply.com/growrooms/

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Nibin said:

I'd personally skip agaricus (button mushrooms). The market is pretty well covered and it would take a huge investment to be able to produce a big enough amount to make it profitable.

Other edible species, on the other hand, are in shorter supply and will fetch a higher price.

If you are close to a big city which will probably have many gourmet restaurants then you should be able to supply locally without having the extra expense of refridgerated transport.

Apart from any research you might do you should certainly go to a Stamets Cultivation seminar http://www.fungi.com/seminars/index.html if only to get your hands on the cultures (and also learn a shitload).

Mycosupply also produce some full sized growrooms which might interest you (or give you an idea of what you will need).
http://www.mycosupply.com/growrooms/

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randy420rhoads said:

Thanks, Sounds like it's not a beginers class Wouldn't happen to know prerequisites for that would you, Like to get a head start maybe read some books while deployed to prepare for it.

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That *is* a beginners class,
I personally had university classes (masters chemistry) preceeding, but what little microbiology I got (sixty hours, split evenly over theory and labwork) wasn't anywhere near impossible for a layman to understand. There were no prerequisites, the exact same classes were offered to freshman student trying to get a BA in chemistry (any field)

Now, I do not know anything about growing edible mushrooms for a living, I have no experience in doing such sort of business so as said before, you probably should talk to people who do. I'll have you know that producing foodstuff professionally is nothing like a hobby in most parts of the world; even ignoring health codes and fda regulations (just knowing what that means is a lifes work on its own in the US IMO), you owe it to the consumer to provide a *food*-safe product.

as for litterature, I'm currently reading a little gem:
"cleanroom technology" by W.Whyte, published by Wiley

I suppose it's out of the budget of somebody just contemplating but if you manage to find it in a library near you (or from another source , I suggest you give it a reading.
It also mentions this airforce manual I might add, haven't managed to read it through with midterms coming up I'm afraid.

On another unrelated or somewhat related note:
Books are *gently caressing* expensive when bought new, I've gotten multiple great reads from university libraries clearing their shelves. This is something to be on the lookout for if you're serious about this entire thing.

Plastered marble said:

Get some lab time in a microbiological lab. Learning the basics of microbiology will include preparing and pouring agar, working with an autoclave, isolation procedures etc ... all very handy

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German Kahuna said:

Just yesterday night my 9-year-old helped me spawn my cubensis Na Muang rye jars to bulk. He's my myco assistant. It's really cute when he's in cap, mask and gloves loading cube trays. He hunts edibles with me all fall, too.

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My son is almost 15 years old now...
and he has been watching me do mycology since he was 4 or 5 years old.

he loves to go hunting the edible and exotics with me.

here is Jake when he was younger out hunting Stuntzii with John Allen...

Nibin said:

Apart from any research you might do you should certainly go to a Stamets Cultivation seminar http://www.fungi.com/seminars/index.html if only to get your hands on the cultures (and also learn a shitload).

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That is good advice for a newbie that has little to no experience already.


And going to Paul Stamets farm/business (Fungi Perfecti) will show you how to set up your farm and lab.
I've been there and it's a very nice place.

Some pictures of Fungi Perfecti that I took...





John Allen in front of 2 of the greenhouses...



















Legal stuff...
When I asked permission to take pictures when I was there, Paul asked that each picture bear his copyright if I was to post them here at the Shroomery.


tc