If you read my review of North Spore’s lion’s mane kit, you’ll know I had a lot of fun with those mushrooms. My experience with the North Spore’s blue oyster spray kit couldn’t have been more different.
It was early March when I purchased the lion’s mane kit from Woodman’s supermarket. I didn’t shop there again until June. This year, early summer in Illinois (where I live) was unbearably hot. The mushroom kits were still for sale in the store. Were these the same kits from months ago, or a different shipment? I checked the expiration date, and it hadn’t yet passed. I bought a blue oyster kit.
The instructions for the blue oysters were identical to the lion’s manes. Every day, I spritzed the block. With the lion’s mane kit, mushroom pins appeared in just a few days. The blue oyster mycelium showed no signs of life. Days turned into weeks, and weeks to a month.
The kit was next to my kitchen sink, the same place I kept the last kit. However, the June conditions in my house were completely different from March. In spring, the windows were always open. The HVAC system was off. The house was cool. Now, during 100-degree days, windows were closed. The AC constantly ran, removing moisture from the air. The temperature in the kitchen was around 78 degrees, sometimes as high as 80.
Spritzing the block twice a day never caused pins to appear. I visited the North Spore FAQ page. I soaked the block for 20 minutes. I waited a few days, but still no mushrooms. Next I made the ‘humidity tent’, a perforated plastic bag meant to keep the block from drying out. To spritz the block, I now had to untie and retie its plastic cape.
At this point, I already resented the kit. Its chore load was far greater than the lion’s mane. Each day, it used a large hunk of prime real estate on my countertop, right next to the sink, with zero payout. Every day it soaked up a little of my time and energy. Still no pins appeared.
North Spore’s replacement policy says they’ll replace any kit that doesn’t grow after 30 days. However, you must have proof of purchase from North Spore. Even if had saved my supermarket receipt, it doesn’t seem like North Spore would have honored it. Out of curiosity, I reached out to them to let them know I had a kit that didn’t grow, and I specifically asked for a replacement. We never got around to haggling about the receipt. North Spore’s customer service copy-pasted me walls of text about soaking the block and making the humidity tent. I wondered how many interactions it would take to actually get a new kit. If your mushrooms don’t grow, don’t expect a fast, easy replacement from North Spore.
Anyway, I didn’t want my block replaced. I don’t think the mycelium was bad, or dead. I think the conditions inside my house were inhospitable to the mushrooms. The kits should have had more general wording—preferably on the outside of the package—about adverse environmental conditions. It seems to me that dry air is no good for the shrooms. In my house, in the middle of summer and winter, the HVAC system has complete control, and the air is dry. Everybody’s climate is different. For me in Northern Illinois, I’d only try one of these kits in the spring or fall.
Eventually I abandoned the kit—I no longer unwrapped its tent, sprayed it, or looked at it. Finally I decided to compost it. When I opened it up, parts of the block were cracked. Elsewhere were little packets of water pressed to the plastic. There was a tiny cluster of mushroom pins that looked as if they’d died while being born. If only I had patiently sprayed and nurtured them for a few more months! Just kidding.
