Start here 3 min read
Grow kit, all-in-one bag or bulk grow? Which one is right for you
Three ways in, three different trade-offs. Kits are for eating, all-in-ones are for learning, bulk is for volume.
Every path to a home-grown mushroom passes through the same biology, but the three products people buy package it very differently. A kit hands you a finished block. An all-in-one hands you a sealed bag that becomes a block. A bulk grow hands you the ingredients. Which one suits you depends on how much you want to do, how much you want to harvest and whether you want to be able to do it again next month without buying everything twice.
Grow kits
A grow kit is a substrate block that is already colonised, boxed and ready to fruit. You open it, cut the bag, mist it and watch. Time to first mushrooms is 7 to 14 days. There is nothing to sterilise, inoculate or mix, and the only way to fail is to let it dry out or cook in the sun.
- Effort
- Minimal: a mist two or three times a day.
- Time to harvest
- 1 to 2 weeks.
- Harvest
- 150 to 400g first flush from a typical block, a smaller second.
- Cost per kilo
- Highest. You pay for someone else's weeks of work.
- What you learn
- Fruiting conditions and harvest timing. Not spawn or substrate.
Our gourmet grow kits are coming soon. The grow kit guide explains what to expect from one.
All-in-one grow bags
An all-in-one bag is sterilised grain under sterilised substrate in one injection-port bag. You add a culture, wait for the grain to colonise, knead it through the substrate inside the sealed bag, wait again, then cut and fruit. It is one bag and one injection, and it teaches you the whole cycle without the one open-air step (spawning to substrate) that catches most beginners.
- Effort
- One injection, one knead, then fruiting care.
- Time to harvest
- 4 to 8 weeks for oysters.
- Harvest
- 200 to 500g first flush from a 2kg bag, plus a second.
- Cost per kilo
- Middle. Cheaper than a kit, dearer than bulk.
- What you learn
- Inoculation, colonisation, mixing and fruiting. Everything but open spawning.
Bulk grows: grain plus substrate
A bulk grow is the method itself: inoculate a sterilised grain bag, spread the spawn through a substrate bag at your chosen ratio, pack a tub and fruit it. One 2kg grain bag at 1:2 covers 4kg of substrate, which is a full 50 to 60 litre tub and a first flush measured in kilos rather than grams. You can also expand one grain bag into several, which is how growers run a season from one culture.
- Effort
- One open-bag step in a still air box, plus tub management.
- Time to harvest
- 4 to 8 weeks for oysters, longer for wood lovers.
- Harvest
- 1 to 2kg over two flushes from a 4 to 5kg tub of oysters.
- Cost per kilo
- Lowest, by a wide margin. The cost guide has the numbers.
- What you learn
- Everything. This is the method commercial growers use at a different scale.
Side by side
| Kit | All-in-one | Bulk | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skill needed | None | Low | Low to medium |
| Equipment | Spray bottle | Spray bottle, alcohol, lighter | Plus a still air box and a tub |
| Weeks to harvest | 1 to 2 | 4 to 8 | 4 to 8 |
| Typical first flush | 150 to 400g | 200 to 500g | 1kg plus |
| Repeatable without rebuying? | No | No | Yes, by expanding spawn |
| Best for | Eating, gifts, kids | Learning the cycle | Volume and repeat grows |
Our recommendation
Not sure you will like it? A kit. Sure you want to learn? An all-in-one plus a culture, then a bulk grow once it has fruited. Already growing? Grain, substrate and a colonised spawn bag for the species that take weeks on grain. Whatever the path, the grow builder will tell you how many bags.
Questions people ask
Is an all-in-one grow bag worth it?
For a first grow, yes. It removes the open spawning step where beginners most often pick up contamination, and it teaches the full cycle for the price of one bag and a culture.
Which gives the most mushrooms?
A bulk grow. A 2kg grain bag spread through 4kg of coir substrate in a tub will out-produce a kit several times over, and the spawn can be expanded for the next run.
Can I turn an all-in-one into a bulk grow?
Yes. Once the grain layer is colonised you can tip it into a tub with extra substrate instead of kneading it through the bag. You will need a still air box for that step.
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.
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