How fast do mushrooms grow?

You’ll be absolutely amazed!

You’re likely here to satiate your curiousity about “How fast do mushrooms grow?”

I’m glad you’re here!

Whether you’re a seasoned cultivator or new to the world of mushroom growing, understanding the timelines for various mushroom types can make your home cultivation experience both successful and satisfying.

In this guide, we’ll dig into the growth patterns of different types of mushrooms like:

gourmet oyster mushrooms
medicinal reishi mushrooms, and
psilocybin (magic) mushrooms

providing you with the insights needed to embark on your own mushroom-growing journey.

Gourmet Oyster Mushrooms

Let’s start with one of the most popular mushrooms for home cultivation: the oyster mushroom.

Known for their rapid growth, oyster mushrooms are an excellent choice for beginners.

When using a 'grow your own mushroom kit', you’ll be amazed at how quickly these mushrooms can develop.

Typically, once you initiate your home oyster mushroom grow kit, you’ll see pinning—small, baby mushrooms—within just 1 to 2 weeks.

When I was selling oyster mushroom home cultivation kits, our kits would often pin within 3-5 days of initiating the kit!

This is when the excitement begins: the mushrooms start to form and grow rapidly.

During the fruiting phase, oyster mushrooms can double in size overnight.

Species Variation is HUGE. Saying "mushrooms" is like saying "animals" when discussing growth. Some species, like oyster mushrooms, can reach harvestable size in a week, while others, like truffles, can take years.

This growth spurt is both dramatic and rewarding, as you watch your mushrooms expand before your eyes.

By the end of a few weeks, you’re likely to have a harvest of fresh, delectable oyster mushrooms.

This rapid growth not only makes oyster mushrooms ideal for beginners but also provides a sense of immediate gratification.

Medicinal Reishi Mushrooms

In stark contrast to oyster mushrooms, medicinal reishi mushrooms—also known as lingzhi—grow at a much slower pace.

Reishi mushrooms are prized for their therapeutic properties and are revered in traditional medicine.

However, their growth requires a lot of patience. From the moment you start with spores, it typically takes about three to four months for reishi mushrooms to reach full maturity.

The slow growth of reishi mushrooms reflects their deep-rooted medicinal qualities.

Unlike the rapid growth observed with oyster mushrooms, reishi mushrooms take their time to develop.

Regardless of time, growing your own mushrooms offers a unique opportunity to engage in a meditative and mindful cultivation experience.

You’ll need to nurture them carefully, but the rewards are worth the wait.

Watching these mushrooms mature over several months can be a lesson in patience and perseverance, with each stage of their growth offering a new form of beauty.