Grow Lion's Mane and other mushrooms in your Home Kitchen - Class 3

🌿 From Grain to Grow Bag: Substrate Prep & Spawning for a Thriving Mushroom Harvest

Session 3 of 4 — Mushroom Cultivation Series

You've Got Colonized Grain. Now What?

You've sterilized your grain, inoculated it with liquid culture, and watched white mycelium spread through your jars like a living network. It's one of the most satisfying sights in cultivation. But colonized grain on its own isn't a harvest — it's a starting point.

This is where the magic accelerates.

In Session 3, we move from grain spawn into substrate — the nutrient-rich bulk material that gives your mycelium the food and structure it needs to produce a serious flush of mushrooms. You'll learn how to prepare it, how to treat it properly, and how to combine it with your spawn inside grow bags for a successful, contamination-free colonization.

What We'll Cover

🌾 Substrate Preparation Not all mushrooms want the same thing to eat. We'll break down the most common substrate materials — hardwood sawdust, straw, coco coir, bran supplements, and more — and explain which combinations work best for popular species like Lion's Mane, Oyster and others. You'll learn how to source, mix, and prepare substrate so your mycelium has everything it needs to thrive.

🔥 Pasteurization vs. Sterilization — Knowing the Difference This is one of the most important decisions a cultivator makes, and one of the most commonly misunderstood. We'll dig into:

• Why some substrates require full sterilization while others only need pasteurization
• The temperature ranges, timing, and methods for each approach
• How the nutrient density of your substrate determines which method to use
• What happens when you choose the wrong one — and how to avoid costly mistakes

🛍️ Spawning into Mushroom Grow Bags This is where preparation meets execution. We'll walk you through the entire spawning process step by step:

• How to choose the right grow bag size and filter patch type for your substrate
• Proper spawn-to-substrate ratios for strong, even colonization
• Sanitary technique for mixing and sealing bags without introducing contamination
• What to expect during colonization — and how to tell if something has gone wrong

Why This Session Is a Game-Changer

Grain spawn is the engine, but substrate is the fuel. Getting this step right is the difference between a single small flush and repeated, abundant harvests. Many home growers stall out here — either losing bags to contamination or producing underwhelming results because of improper prep. This class closes that gap.

By the end of Session 3, you'll have a clear, repeatable process for taking colonized grain all the way to a fully loaded grow bag, ready to fruit.

Who Should Attend?

This class is ideal for:

• Students following our cultivation series who've completed Sessions 1 & 2
• Self-taught growers who've hit a wall with contamination or poor yields
• Anyone ready to move beyond small-scale cultivation and start producing real harvests at home
• Curious beginners — while Sessions 1 & 2 provide helpful context, this class is designed to stand on its own

The Series at a Glance

• ✅ Session 1 — Grain Sterilization & Spawn Preparation (Kitchen tools, pressure cookers, jar prep)
• ✅ Session 2 — Liquid Culture & Inoculation Technique (Ordering culture, sterile injection, expanding culture)
• 👉 Session 3 — Substrate Prep, Pasteurization & Spawning into Grow Bags (You are here)
• 🔜 Session 4 — Fruiting, Harvesting & Beyond

🕐 Seats are limited — this is a hands-on class and we keep it small for a reason.

Register today and get one step closer to your first real harvest.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Mycelial Mass