The internet will sell you a laboratory. A first grow needs a fraction of it. This list is sorted by when you actually need each thing, with the price range you should expect in Australia and a note on what it replaces if you skip it.

Tier 1: a first grow

A culture

A liquid culture syringe of a gourmet species. The only living ingredient. Our cultures open soon; any clean gourmet LC works.

Sterilised grain

One sterilised grain bag with an injection port. This becomes your spawn. 1kg for a small tub, 2kg for a full one.

Substrate

A coir-based bag for oysters, a hardwood bag for lion's mane, shiitake or king oyster.

70% alcohol and a lighter

Isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle for ports, hands and surfaces; a lighter or small torch to flame the needle.

A spray bottle

For misting during fruiting. Any clean one.

Or replace the grain and substrate with a single all-in-one bag. That is the whole kit: a bag, a syringe, alcohol, a lighter, a mister.

Tier 2: things that make it easier

A still air box

A clear 50 to 60 litre tub with two arm holes cut in one side. Ten minutes with a hole saw. Makes open-bag work like spawning to substrate far safer. Still air box vs flow hood.

A fruiting tub

A clear tub with a lid, holes drilled and stuffed with polyfill, or a second tub inverted on top. Holds humidity while letting air through. Many growers fruit straight from the bag instead.

A hygrometer

Cheap digital one. Tells you whether the air is really at 85 to 95% rather than feeling humid.

Nitrile gloves

Cleaner than hands, and you can spray them with alcohol.

Agar plates

Five pre-poured plates let you check a culture before it goes into grain and save a contaminated one. The single most useful upgrade after your first grow.

Tier 3: later, if you keep going

A flow hood

A HEPA-filtered laminar flow cabinet. Makes agar and grain-to-grain work fast and forgiving. Several hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. Not needed for your first ten grows.

A pressure cooker or autoclave

Only if you want to make your own grain, substrate and agar. We make them so you do not have to.

A humidifier and controller

For a tent or a room full of blocks. One tub does not need it.

A dehydrator

When you have more lion's mane than you can eat. Harvest and storage.

What you do not need

• A grow tent. A tub, a cupboard or a corner of a room with indirect light is enough for a few blocks.
• A heat mat. Most gourmet species are happy at ordinary indoor temperatures; a mat under a bag cooks the bottom and does little for the top.
• Spores. Spores are for making new strains. For growing food you want a clean culture, which is a known, tested strain.
• Fancy lights. Mushrooms use light as a signal, not food. Indirect daylight or a cheap LED on a 12-hour timer does it.

Buying in the right order

1. Culture + all-in-one

   The cheapest proof that you enjoy this.

2. Grain + substrate + still air box

   The first real bulk grow, three times the harvest for about the same money.

3. Agar plates

   Now you can clean up, test and keep strains, which is where it stops being luck.

4. Colonised spawn + hardwood

   Lion's mane, shiitake and king oyster on proper blocks.

5. Flow hood

   When your weekend has more plates than hours.

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.