ES EVVIVA SCIENCES Grain Bag 3 LBS for Mushroom Growing – Easy to Use Grains – Self-Healing Injection Port – 0.2 Micron Patch – Ready to Use Immediately

This product is the first step towards successfully growing mushrooms at home. It is 3 and 1/2 lb of grain-based medium on which the mushrooms and mycelium can grow. It is placed in a sealed mushroom bag, that is one that has a small port for injecting spores into the grain medium. It is still very highly recommended that you sterilize the bag before you use it, and then at least wipe down the port with rubbing alcohol before you inject the spores. Other than that you should have everything you need to begin to colonize the spores. Despite a few important considerations for healthy growth, it is very easy to use this bag and to grow mushrooms. The ingredients are high quality and the bag itself is made of a durable, water resistant bag. Although price gets more reasonable with higher quantities, this one is a good value for the money. The grains themselves are very responsive to growing spores, and the mycelium for my oyster mushrooms grew very quickly and aggressively inside. There are other steps, and there are other things to learn about growing mushrooms, but the first step in a successful first grow would be purchasing this bag with the grains. As long as you keep all those considerations in mind, this bag performs very well. The completely clear, steam proof plastic allows you to carefully watch the mycelium grow. The appearance of white stringy material throughout the bag will indicate that you are ready for the next step. Overall, a great beginner's item for initial mushroom growth!

Clean. Well sealed. Ready to use. If you're not 100% clear on what this is or how to use it, you might be confused or disappointed in the condition of the grain. This is a bag of sterilized grain ready to be injected with spore cultures to start mycelium growth prior to blending with substrate before you grow your fruiting bodies. The grain may appear wet, but so long as you don't see any mold or growth inside the bag, it is perfectly fine. The bag should not be opened until it is fully colonized with mycelium. With the primer aside, this bag makes getting a sterile start for your mycelium quite easy with few worries about cross-contamination during the inoculation process. Simply sterilize your needle and the injection port with 90% isopropyl alcohol and you should be fine. The only issues I had with this grain are nominal: First, my bag weighed slightly under 3lbs - 2.87lbs to be exact. This might be within the company's margin of error, but it was significant enough that I thought I should mention it. Second, at over $30 (time of writing) the price is a bit higher than similar packs of pre-sterilized rye grain. Other than that, it is good quality grain that makes a great starter for your mycelium.

I ordered this for my mycology hobby because I wanted to try a different grain. The grain arrived on time and as described. It was sealed in another bag for protection. Which I appreciate because the biggest challenge with mycology is contamination. The grain bag is 3 lbs of rye berries. That said I have used rye berries before but I have to soak and then sterilize them. So I'm weighing out the cost vs time and effort. I normally use 1 to 2.5 lbs depending on what I'm growing. I recently moved to liquid culture for better control and this bag saves me a lot of time. Conversely, I am currently exploring adding a set of nutrients to my soak so this will serve as a comparison in yield times. The bag has the injection port and the micron filter which keeps the process as clean and easy as possible. I just inoculated the bag so time will tell. Notwithstanding I'm pleased with it and definitely recommend it for newbies. For more advanced mycologist like myself this is purely a matter of efficiency that it boils down to.

Review Update: Updating to one star as the grain bag has been colonized by mold after one month of sitting untouched. The outside sealing bag was not opened and nothing was injected through the injection port. Warning: If you use this bag for mushroom growing you will lose your spores. Initial Review: This is sterilized grain in a sealed bag, meant for growing mushroom mycelium. You would inject using the injection port. The other reviews do not seem to understand what this product is used for. Don't open the bag - it is a useless pile of moist grain then. When you open it, have all of your tools sterilized, inject using the port, and then store the bag in a clean location while it colonizes.

I do believe it arrived sterile and well-sealed in its plastic covering bag. It has not worked out so far, but I believe that is mostly my own fault. I did not have a different bulk substrate ready to move this to. The two fully covered injection ports are semi-impervious and not easy for a first total soaking (water saturation) of the grain, if that fits your method. The mycelium seemed to cover the bottom half of the bag quickly but then stopped for some reason. (Again, I suspect my fault with the many temperature, moisture, and other variables and not this product.) I am still working with this, as it has a long useful life for trials and it may yet produce beautifully and unexpectedly as temperatures cool in the fall.