- Getting Started
- Beginner
- ~5 min read
Growing Vocabulary, Plainly Explained
Spawn, substrate, colonisation, pinning, flush — the words you'll meet everywhere.
Not published yet
Growing Guides
The growing guide library
A living field guide, written grower to grower and ordered the way a grow actually runs. Work through it from the top, or search for whatever is in front of you right now. Guides appear here as they are finished — nothing sits behind a sign-up.
Start here
New to growing? Take these first
A short pathway through the earliest topics. Nothing here is a course or a certification — just the order that makes the rest easier.
- Step 1Getting StartedUnderstand the process end to end before buying anything.
- Step 2Clean Work & Sterile TechniqueThe single skill that decides whether the rest works.
- Step 3Agar & Cultures / Grain SpawnYour first real cultivation work, in either order.
The library
Every guide, by stage of the grow
Search by keyword, or narrow by category and level. Each card shows where the guide sits, roughly how long it takes to read, and whether it is ready yet.
Showing 18 of 18 guides
Getting Started
FoundationWhat growing actually involves, the vocabulary, and the smallest sensible setup.
Clean Work & Sterile Technique
FoundationAirflow, workspace habits and the handling that keeps contaminants out.
- Clean Work & Sterile Technique
- Beginner
- ~7 min read
Working in a Still Air Box
Why still air beats a breezy bench, and how to move your hands inside one.
Not published yet
- Clean Work & Sterile Technique
- Beginner
- ~18 min read
Clean Work & Sterile Technique
How contamination control actually works: clean versus sterile, preparing a workspace, Still Air Box and flow-hood practice, alcohol and tool handling, movement discipline, and what to do when a culture goes wrong.
Read the guide →
- Clean Work & Sterile Technique
- Beginner
- ~6 min read
Sterilising vs Pasteurising
Two different jobs, two different targets — and when each one is the right call.
Not published yet
Agar & Cultures
Core MethodPouring plates, clean transfers, isolating a strain and reading a culture.
- Agar & Cultures
- Intermediate
- ~20 min read
Agar & Cultures
Why a flat nutrient surface is the best quality-control tool you have: plate work, inoculation, reading growth, transfers, isolation, cloning, storage, and when a culture is ready for liquid culture or grain.
Read the guide →
- Agar & Cultures
- Intermediate
- ~8 min read
Pouring Clean Agar Plates
Mixing, sterilising and pouring plates that stay clean long enough to be useful.
Not published yet
- Agar & Cultures
- Advanced
- ~10 min read
Isolating a Strain on Agar
Reading growth on a plate and selecting the sector worth keeping.
Not published yet
Liquid Culture
Core MethodBroth preparation, inoculation and judging when a culture is ready.
Grain Spawn
Core MethodHydration, sterilisation, inoculation and even colonisation.
- Grain Spawn
- Intermediate
- ~8 min read
Getting Grain Hydration Right
The single variable behind most stalled or soured grain runs.
Not published yet
- Grain Spawn
- Intermediate
- ~20 min read
Grain Spawn
Why grain is the expansion stage between clean culture and bulk: choosing and hydrating grain, preparation and draining, containers and gas exchange, proper sterilisation, cooling, aseptic inoculation, shaking, reading healthy spawn, contamination patterns, storage, records and troubleshooting.
Read the guide →
Bulk Substrates
Core MethodMaster's Mix and friends: ratios, pasteurisation, moisture and loading.
- Bulk Substrates
- Intermediate
- ~9 min read
Spawn to Bulk, Step by Step
Ratios, mixing, loading and why an even spread matters more than volume.
Not published yet
- Bulk Substrates
- Intermediate
- ~7 min read
Master's Mix, Explained
What the mix is doing nutritionally, and how to hit field capacity.
Not published yet
Fruiting & Environment
Core MethodHumidity, fresh air, light and temperature through pinning and flushes.
- Fruiting & Environment
- Intermediate
- ~8 min read
Fresh Air, Humidity and Pinning
How the four fruiting variables interact, and what to change first.
Not published yet
Harvest & Storage
AppliedWhen to pick, how to handle, drying and keeping what you grew.
- Harvest & Storage
- Beginner
- ~5 min read
Knowing When to Harvest
Reading the veil and the cap, and why a day early beats a day late.
Not published yet
- Harvest & Storage
- Beginner
- ~6 min read
Drying and Storing Your Harvest
Cracker-dry, why it matters, and keeping moisture back out afterwards.
Not published yet
Troubleshooting
AppliedWork back from the fault to the cause, then change one variable.
- Troubleshooting
- Beginner
- ~8 min read
Identifying Common Contamination
Green, black, grey, slimy or sour — what each one usually means for the run.
Not published yet
- Troubleshooting
- Intermediate
- ~7 min read
When Colonisation Stalls
Temperature, moisture, air and vigour — narrowing down a run that stopped.
Not published yet
Something gone wrong?
Go straight to troubleshooting
Green mould in the grain, a stalled colonisation, no pins forming — start with the fault, work back to the cause, then change one variable.
Troubleshooting guidesAsk us about your grow
Most diagnostic guides are still in writing. Until they publish, get in touch and we will point you at the right method.
Keep going
Background reading and the supplies to match
Mycology basics cover the biology behind these methods; the shop stocks the materials each guide calls for.