How to Harvest Mushrooms from a Grow Bag (and Get More Flushes)

After watching your pins double in size every morning, the moment of harvest finally arrives. Knowing when and how to pick your mushrooms ensures peak potency, flavor, and texture, while also setting your block up to yield a second or even third harvest (flushes).

Step 1: Identifying the Perfect Harvest Window

The best time to harvest mushrooms is right before or just as the veil breaks.

The veil is the thin, membranous tissue on the underside of the cap that covers the gills.

• Too Early: Caps are small and rounded; yield is slightly reduced.
• Perfect Timing: The cap expands, stretching the veil until it begins to tear open.
• Too Late: The cap flattens completely and drops dark spores all over the block below. Spore drops signal to the mycelium that its lifecycle is complete, reducing future flushes.

Step 2: The "Twist and Pull" Technique

Avoid cutting the stems with scissors if possible, as leaving cut stumps behind creates dead organic tissue that can rot on the block.

1. Clean and sanitize your hands with isopropyl alcohol.
2. Reach down to the base of the mushroom cluster near the substrate.
3. Grasp the stem firmly, twist 90 degrees, and gently pull upward.
4. The mushroom will release cleanly from the block with minimal substrate attached.

Step 3: Rehydrating the Cake for a 3rd flush

Mushrooms are roughly 90 percent water. As your first couple of flushes grow, they drain moisture out of the substrate block. To get more flushes, rehydrate it.

1. Clear the Surface: Remove any tiny aborted pins or leftover debris from the block surface.
2. Rehydrate: Fill a syringe with clean, cold tap water or distilled water.
3. Inject: Use about 50-60mL of water.
4. Drain Completely: Pour out all excess water. Ensure no standing water pools at the bottom of the bag, as this causes rot.
5. Reset: Return the bag to its normal fruiting spot. A new wave of pins will emerge within 5 to 10 days.

Maximize Your Yields

A healthy, fully colonized block can produce up to three distinct flushes. Start growing with the heavy-yielding Ready-to-Fruit Mushroom Grow Kit at Telly Monster Myco.