Selecting A Grain 🌽

To cultivate mushrooms, you need to select a grain to innoculate. For a beginner, you have 2 main paths to go down.

1. Premade grain (Uncle Bens Tek / Prepped Grain Bags)
2. Make your own

Both have their advantages and disadvantages which I will go through now.

TLDR: If you want the cheapest in the short term and are only looking to grow a small amount or for a short time, go with option 1 of premade grain. If you want the cheapest in the long run and want to grow a lot of mushrooms or for longer than once or twice, go the 2nd route and make your own.

Premade Grain

Let me start by saying that premade grain is awesome for beginners! If you aren’t sure you are going to enjoy this hobby, or just want to grow a limited amount or for a limited time it may not be worth it for you to invest in a setup for making your own grain. That’s totally fine :) But, you should be aware of both the pros & cons before committing.

Pros ✅	Cons ❌
Lower up front cost	Higher risk of contamination
No Pressure Cooker Required	Higher cost in the long run

Premade Grain Options

You have 2 main options when choosing premade grain.

1. Uncle Bens rice (Microwaveable Rice) This is by far the cheapest and most common option. There is even a whole community around this method! Here are some great resources: https://www.reddit.com/r/unclebens/
2. Premade grain bags You can find premade grain bags ready for mushroom cultivation. These have already been prepped and sterilized for you and are ready to go. Common examples of grain bags include popcorn, oats, rye, and milo. I will give a shotout to my local grow shop ColoradoCultures and their 3lb popcorn grain bags here.

Homemade Grain 🌟

Making your own grain may seem intimidating at first, but it is very straightforward and I find the process to be very enjoyable and therapeutic. This would be my reccomended way to proceed if you want to invest in this hobby and grow mushrooms more than once or twice.

Pros ✅	Cons ❌
Lower cost in the long run	Higher cost up front
Lower chance of contamination	Pressure cooker & mason jars required

For details on making your own grain, follow our guide here.

What’s Next?

Now that you have your grain ready, we can move on to inoculation!