Description
About this 3kg Kit
Complete Kit: Everything you need is included just mist water and follow the simple instructions.
This kit uses a special Master’s Mix, a blend of sawdust, soy pellets, and water. It’s inoculated with about 300 grams of organic rye or millet grain spawn to give your mushrooms the best start.
We keep things simple and affordable by sending you a fresh, made-to-order bag, just like real mushroom farms use. No fancy boxes, no sitting in cold storage for weeks. This helps keep your cost down by $10; we pass that saving directly to you. We call these kits ‘almost ready to fruit’.
Blue Shimeji is a commercial Pleurotus strain selected for small, shimeji-style fruit bodies: tight clusters, long slender stems and small, metallic-blue caps when harvested young. It colonises quickly and is prized for fast turnarounds and reliable, repeatable flushes , great for both beginners and small-scale producers.
Humidity: Keep 85–92% RH during pinning and fruiting; mist 2–3 times daily
Light: Indirect light is sufficient — avoid direct sun which fades the blue pigment., 12 on and 12 off full spectrum white light is best.
Air: Strong fresh-air exchange is important to keep caps compact (CO₂ suppression causes long stems).
Blue Shimeji Grow Kit – Fast and beautiful
Blue Shimeji (Pleurotus ostreatus) produces tightly packed clusters of small, firm mushrooms with a metallic-blue sheen when young that fades to steel-grey as they mature. They’re appreciated for firm texture and a clean, sweet oyster flavour that holds up when cooked. Fruiting is rapid once conditions are right — expect visible pins within days and harvest windows in about 5–10 days after moving to fruiting conditions.
Step-by-step Instructions & Post-Harvest Care
IMPORTANT— Use cooler, well-ventilated conditions to maintain the blue color and compact form.
Step 1 – Let It Grow
*Take the bag out of its packaging.
*Stand it upright letting the mycelium breath from the white filter and do not cut it yet.
*Please keep it away from direct sunlight, windows, fans, AC, or a wardrobe.
Note: Full colonisation for Blue shimeji oyster blocks can take about 2 weeks depending on temperature ,wait until the block is solid white before inducing fruiting.
Need to Wait?
If you’re not ready to start fruiting after full colonisation, you can store the bag in the fridge for up to a month. Do not store it in the fridge until the bag is fully colonised(white).
Step 2 – Fruiting & Harvest
Once fully colonised:
It’s time to move on to the fun part—fruiting!
1. Cut: To prepare your side-fruiting mushroom growing kit, start by cutting a 10–12 cm “X” into the plastic on the side of the block, where the substrate touches the bag. This is where the mushrooms will fruit from. After making the cut, gently press out any trapped air inside the bag. Then, take the loose, empty upper portion of the bag (since the block only fills the lower half) and fold or roll it neatly over the top of the block. Secure it in place with tape so it doesn’t hang down or cover the fruiting area. This keeps the cut area exposed to fresh air, encouraging healthy mushroom growth from the side of the block.
2. Mist: Lightly mist the cut area 2–3 times daily and keep humidity high.Stop misting when the baby mushrooms tarts to come out. Constant misting is better than heavy misting.
3.Harvest: Mushrooms typically appear in 7–10 days. Harvest when caps are starting to curl upwards, exposing their gills., twisting gently at the base.
Flushes: Expect 2–3 flushes. After each harvest, remove all remaining fruit bodies, allow the block to rest for 3–4 days, then soak it in cold water for 2–3 hours before resuming misting to promote new growth.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Too Warm: Higher temps (>21 °C) speed growth but reduce blue pigmentation and can produce floppy fruiting bodies that are brown and not blue.
Poor Air Exchange: Causes long stems and small caps — increase gentle ventilation.
Low Humidity: Results in aborted pins and dry caps — keep humidity high.
Inconsistent Light: Too little or more light can result in either white or brown pins as the pins that starts off as dark blue start to mature.
💡 Tip: Harvest some clusters early if you want that classic shimeji look (small cap, long stem) — leaving them longer increases cap size and reduces the blue tone.
What to do if pins form inside the bag
Don’t worry. Just ignore the internal pins. Gently fold the top of the bag to push out excess air, cut a small “X” in the side of the bag (where you want the mushrooms to grow), and begin misting that spot daily. Mushrooms will start fruiting from that cut. The internal pins will eventually be aborted naturally, as they don’t have space to grow.
Checkout out our fine Misting Spray Bottle to produce tiny droplets and keep humidity high. The size of droplets formed can easily be evaporated , this constant evaporation signals mycelium to pin.
Want to Learn More?
This kit introduces you to Stage 3: Fruiting, the final step in mushroom growing.
To explore all three stages (including how mushrooms grow from spores to harvest), check out our
Educational Mushroom Growing Kit.
Checkout all the Mushroom Growing kits Available in Our Spray and grow 3 Kg range.
Could not fruit the bag, or was it contaminated? Send us a photo or call us, and we will help you resolve the issue.
