General Mushroom Info
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Mushrooms growing in the wild from wild spores are the success stories of an odds game played by each particular mushroom species. Mushrooms choose to produce thousands of spores in a scattershot approach to reproduction. The more spores floating about in the wind, dispersed by rain, moved about ...
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How is North Spore's spawn produced?
North Spore produces 100% of its spawn at its facility in Westbrook, Maine. We start by taking mushroom cultures from our culture bank and growing them out on a proprietary blend including sterilized millet and rye berries. Many of our cultures were isolated and grown from wild New England forage... -
If you started growing mushrooms with our spawn and want to be sure before you harvest and eat them that you've got the ones you intended to grow, send us a photo. For all other purposes, as a policy we do not identify mushrooms. We can however give you some tips on learning how to observe mushro...
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Spray and Grow Kits Inside your Spray & Grow Kit is a living organism, so we recommend activating it upon receipt. If you need to wait, you can store them in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight or in the fridge for around 2-3 months. NOTE: Pink oyster mushrooms don't tolerate temperatur...
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At North Spore we produce three distinct types of spawn (and many species of mushroom for each type!). The spawn types differ by the mediums on which we've cultured our different species of mushroom. We produce sawdust spawn, plug spawn, and grain spawn. Each has its particular use, tradeoffs, an...
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A flush refers to the production of multiple mushroom fruit bodies at one time. Many of the fungi we cultivate tend to produce many mushrooms simultaneously- this is known as a 'flush' of mushrooms.
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The word fruit can be very specific, referring to foods like berries and apples, or a bit more general to refer to how an organism reproduces. So tomatoes and rosehips are the fruits of those plants; they contain the seeds. Likewise, mushrooms are the fruits of a fungus; they contain spores. So w...
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Spawn is the living fungal culture, called mycelium, grown onto a substrate. It provides the backbone to any mushroom growing operation. Think of it as the equivalent of seeds for a mushroom farm. Unlike seeds, though, mushroom spawn is grown from selected genetics and cloned for consistent produ...
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Yes, you should make sure any mushrooms you eat are thoroughly cooked. Mushrooms contain a compound called chitin which is difficult to digest. Chitin also occurs in arthropod shells giving them strength and flexibility. It readily breaks down with heat, so cooking mushrooms makes them easier on ...