Grow Your Own Mushrooms in Used Coffee Grounds

Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, co-founders of Back to the Roots LLC in Oakland, Calif., have grown a business out of other companies’ trash. They manufacture grow-at-home oyster mushroom kits filled with used coffee grounds. WSJ’s Lauren Rudser reports. Video originally aired November 13, 2011.
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28 Replies to “Grow Your Own Mushrooms in Used Coffee Grounds”

  1. Hi Guys, Please I want to know from where I can buy these size of mushrooms grow bags with filter? or I just want to know this growing bags dimension sizes. I want a small size same as in this video to use it for coffee grounds substrate. Thanks.

  2. I have a fully colonized coffee ground and oyster spawn block that has not fruited. It is in an area that has done well with Back to the Roots oyster kits but no action. The mycelium is strongly present in the block but it has not fruited. I have put it in water for an eight hour dunking like I did with the Back to the Roots kit but nada. Any thoughts on how to get it to fruit?

  3. you MUST sterilize the substrate before use and grown the mycelium in a clean air at 25°C. As you see in this video, if you get the same, you will harvest molds and flyes.

  4. I love these products! I bought my first box maybe 2011 or 12 to show my 4 year old how mushrooms grow. We've been living on the beach a few years now and all our gardening is in pots on the patios. I bought a few of these boxes a couple weeks ago and I am hooked! This product was good years ago-even better now and I am so happy for the success the company has had!

  5. You should go back for an update to see if now that they are making “magic mushrooms” legal in Oakland,if they are getting in the game… in the beginning this started as a joke but finished with we really curious if they would. Lol

  6. Thanks. I have too many coffee grounds. I can grow my own and avoid the soggy ones from Wallys.😉

  7. I don't trust myself to be able to do this. I'd make some huge mistake and they'd turn poisonous

  8. If I put soil into a strainer and poured a load of boiling water over it and then put it in a big empty mineral water bottle, followed by oyster mushrooms on top would it happily feed off the soil without the need for coffee grounds?

    And I've heard straw is a good option because of the cellulose, so how about putting a load of scobies into a blender and then pouring on a layer of that?

  9. I wonder how much processing of the coffee grounds occurs and how many fertilizers they add to have consistent product, lol

  10. You can buy one bag of these then after you finish the grow . Take some of the old coffee grounds and mycelium . Put them into a new bag with your own coffe grounds and let them germinate in a cool dark place . Once they turn white repeat the process . You will have unlimited mushrooms …

  11. So, you take a biodegradable waste, and re purpose it packaged in plastic, which is choking the planet. Nice one guys.

  12. It's not often I'm surprized however watching this certainly made me think but have you looked at the website called Gregs Mushroom Grower just google for it

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