Stages 1 & 2 can be done in lots of different spaces and just require some basic equipment such as a compost tumbler, workbench, shelving and a few conditions like being able to clean easily and, in the case of the incubation space, to be easily kept at around 20-24C.

Out of the different stages, stage 3 is the trickiest to create, but certainly possible for most people to create for less than $1000.

I’ve built a few different fruiting room designs over the years, but our most recent one is the cheapest and simplest, built inside a hydroponics grow tent like this one.

Our cheapest and simplest fruiting room being built.

That grow room only took 2 days to set up and cost under $1500 (the shelves were a 3rd of the cost – it could be cheaper with existing or lower cost shelving).

The size of the space you need depends on lots of factors like how many mushrooms you’re aiming to grow, how you build your fruiting room and what options you have available to you.

As a guide though, if you optimised everything well, you’d be able to grow up to 50kg of mushrooms a week in a space of around 30m2, and this includes all of the 3 spaces mentioned above.

You may not want to grow this many if you’re working on your own though, as it’s a lot of work.

As a guideline, it’ll take you around 10-15 hours/week to grow 10kg mushrooms on a regular weekly cycle.

The essentials are really just access to water and electric, and being able to add a simple ducting installation bringing air in and out of the growing space.

There are loads of unused spaces out there, and often you can get them for low rent or even free.

We were given free use of a 125m2 space in an office building right in the middle of a city centre, which is where the UK’s first Urban Mushroom farm is based.

You could also use spare space in garages, basements, barns, shipping containers – someone we know is even looking at setting up in an old disused toilet block!

No kidding, she’s thinking that the disabled room would make a perfect mixing room, the gents a great incubation room, and the ladies an ideal spot for the mushrooms to fruit – pure genius!

2) Decide on your design

Once you’ve got an idea of where you might base your mini mushroom farm, you can start to imagine what your farm might look like – it’s time for a design.

There are so many different ways of designing your setup depending on the space you have and your budget, but I’ll show you some examples to help give you the general idea.

Mixing & Inoculation

Our mixing & inoculation room. Nice and simple – just a compost tumbler and workbench (we don’t even use the Hepa air filters these days)

The mixing and incubation rooms are simple and can be created easily in lots of different types of spaces.

Above, is our mixing room at GroCycle Urban Mushroom Farm. The key aspects are just a mixing vessel for the substrate, a workbench and the ability to clean the area down easily.

Incubation

The first incubation room I built, inside a shipping container

Yep, just shelving in an insulated room! This works well for smaller bags, as are often used for Shiitake or small scale Oyster production.

You can also use hanging rails instead, like the image below, if you’re growing Oyster mushrooms in bigger column bags:

Oyster mushroom mycelium growing on coffee grounds in 12Kg hanging column bags

Depending on where you’re based you may need a heating or cooling system in place to keep the temperature around 20 – 24C, so having an insulated space will keep energy usage to a minimum.

Fruiting

There are so many different ways to go about creating your fruiting room – here’s a few ways it can be done:

DIY wood frame with plastic sheeting

Wooden stud frame with plastic sheeting, Blanc de Gris Mushroom Farm in Montreal

Walk in fridge unit

Insulated fridge panel room – providing a well insulated and sealed space, GroCycle Urban Mushroom Farm

Shipping container

Ex-refridgeration shipping containers converted into growing rooms, LifeCykel – a project in Australia that we helped to get set up

Hydroponics tent

Our most recent fruiting room – The Mini Mushroom Farm, built inside a hydroponics tent

There’s ups and down to each of these options, and it’s difficult for me to say which one would be best for you, as it depends on your space and budget.

If you join our free email course (below) you’ll get to learn more about why we think the hydroponics tent is a great option for most people just getting started.

3)Build your farm

Once you’ve decided on your design, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and build it.

There’s a lot of detail for this stage – way too much to cover in any useful way in this article – but it’s totally do-able for most people, regardless of your skills.

Eric (who I run GroCycle with), and I are pretty basic at DIY, yet we built this little 5m2 fruiting room quickly and easily in a couple of days.

Check out this short timelapse showing the first afternoon we spent on it: