Beginners fail for two reasons: contamination and conditions. The best first species are the ones that colonise so fast that contaminants never get a foothold, and that fruit across a wide band of temperature and humidity. Ranked below with the conditions that matter in an Australian house.

1. Pink oyster (Pleurotus djamor)

The fastest mushroom most people will ever grow. It runs through a grain bag in a week and a coir tub in another, fruits at 24 to 30°C, and produces loud, ruffled pink clusters that cook like bacon. The catch is the same as the charm: it is a warm-weather species, and it has a short shelf life, two or three days in the fridge. Grow it in summer in the north, or in a warm room anywhere. Substrate: our CVA coir blend.

2. Blue oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus)

The cool-room counterpart: happy to fruit at 12 to 20°C, forgiving of humidity swings, and a heavy producer with big meaty caps that take on a blue tint in the cold. Blue oyster is the winter mushroom for Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Canberra and the Perth hills, and a year-round mushroom in an air-conditioned room. Grain in 10 to 14 days, coir or hardwood for the bulk, and a first flush that can be embarrassingly large.

3. Pearl and phoenix oysters

The middle-of-the-road oysters, comfortable from about 15 to 25°C, which makes them the species for most Australian rooms most of the year. Same speed and forgiveness as their cousins. If you cannot decide between pink and blue, this is the answer.

4. Lion's mane (Hericium erinaceus)

The first non-oyster worth trying, and the mushroom that converts people. It wants a hardwood block (wood lovers substrate), high humidity and 16 to 24°C, and it fruits from a small cut in the bag rather than an open top. It is slower on grain, three to five weeks, and it sulks if the air is dry, but it is otherwise undemanding. Harvest before the spines yellow and cook it in butter. The lion's mane guide has the details.

5. King oyster (Pleurotus eryngii)

Thick stems, dense flesh, excellent on a hardwood block. It needs cooler fruiting, 13 to 18°C, and a lot of fresh air to form stems instead of caps, which makes it a second-grow species: you need to have your fruiting conditions dialled in. In the right room it is one of the most rewarding mushrooms on the list.

Later, not first

Shiitake

Six to ten weeks on hardwood, then browning, then a cold shock. Superb, but you need patience and a fridge-cold night. Shiitake guide.

Reishi

Slow, warm, and grown for tea or extract rather than the pan. A fascinating block to watch. Reishi guide.

Turkey tail and cordyceps

Medicinal species with their own methods. Medicinal mushrooms at home.

Match the species to the room, not the calendar

Written by the Aus Myco Kingdom crew. Everything here is general growing information for gourmet and medicinal species; your room, your climate and your culture will have the final say.