Table of Contents
Commercial mushroom growing is a practice and skill that is growing fast, but still largely untapped. There is a lot of room for efficiency improvement, new large-scale players, and modern takes on growing mushrooms. Continue reading for a full breakdown on how to grow mushrooms for profit.
If you want to grow mushrooms to make money, you will need to garner the skills and setup required to grow at a large scale.
In this article, we assume you know a thing or two about growing mushrooms already. Learning to grow mushrooms at a large scale requires a little bit of smaller growing experience first.
The Mushroom Growing Community in Chester County, PA
Did you know that Chester County in Pennsylvania is the county that grows the most mushrooms in the United States?
Every year, mushroom growers in Chester County grow about 500 million pounds of mushrooms. This area is a hub of mushroom growing and is a great place to learn about.
We recommend researching how they conduct mushrooom growing in Chester County to give you a bit of inspiration and guidance. This area is very well-known for it’s success, so it’s a place to take note of.
If you live nearby and are considering a large scale mushroom operation for your own purposes, then make the trip. You may learn more than you would expect from such an experience.
Can you make money growing mushrooms?
The short answer is yes, you can make money growing mushrooms. Growing mushrooms for profit, much like other agricultural ventures, is a game of efficiency and scale.
Read more about mushroom growing on Grocycle here.
Investments needed for a profitable mushroom grow
We will cover more specific equipment later in this post, but there are some bigger expenses you will need to consider when doing a large scale grow.
The biggest expense will most likely be your space. Mushrooms need space to grow, just like any other item within agriculture. Most commonly, a large warehouse or large shed will be your grow space.
If you have a shed already, then you can get started with that. If you are interested in investing in a greater space such as a warehouse, then this will be your biggest expense, especially if you need to rent or buy the land also.
A large warehouse plus the land required for it may cost you about $20,000-$40,000 USD in 2022 depending on where you live. Consider renting a space, as this will allow you to calculate how much it costs you per month to have the space. Then, you can calculate profitability in the short run easier.
Of course, there are plenty of other expenses related to growing mushrooms such as water, lights, and other appliances, along with substrates and containers. These are all relatively cheap items in a mushroom grow, especially when comparing to the cost of a grow space.
Scaling a mushroom grow for profit
You want to invest in equipment that you can re-use to grow multiple, large flushes of many mushrooms at once. In general, the more space and equipment you add to your grow, the exponentionally more mushrooms and profit you can make.
This means that the bigger your shed, the bigger your warehouse, the more profit you can make because you’re able to reuse equipment many times.
The truth is, mushrooms are quite easy to grow once you understand the basics. The hard part is simply getting and maximizing as much space as you can.
How to sell mushrooms for profit
There are a few different ways you can go about growing mushrooms for profit, specifically in which mushrooms you will sell and how you will sell them.
The obvious first idea is to sell fresh mushrooms, much like the ones you can find at the store. You can take fresh mushrooms and sell them at local markets weekly in your area, you can sell locally via social media also. You can also try to approach a local store to see if they will stock your mushrooms for a price.
You can also try to sell your mushrooms to restaurants in your area! Many restaurants serve dishes with fresh mushrooms, and you could be the one to provide them for a nice price.
The other way you can go about selling mushrooms for profit is to take the supplement route. In this route, you will be drying your mushrooms and then grinding them into a fine powder to fit into capsules. Then, you would bottle your capsules up and sell them as mushroom health supplements.
Both of these methods are valid and have different ways that you can go about marketing your products as products for sale. We recommend trying to sell your mushrooms locally first, before attempting to take the supplement route, as it will be easier to become a local success before you become a national success.
Which mushrooms to grow for profit
In terms of which actual mushrooms are good for growing and making profit from, there are a few great choices.
For gourmet mushrooms, we recommend sticking with popular mushrooms that people already love and enjoy. See this list:
- Oyster Mushrooms
- Portabello Mushrooms
- Shiitake Mushrooms
- Maitake Mushrooms
- Button Mushrooms
- Wine Cap Mushrooms
These are popular, edible, gourmet mushrooms that many people purchase in abundance. That’s what makes these great mushrooms to grow and try to sell locally in your area.
If you are looking to grow a more supplement-focused mushroom to grow for profit, then consider growing the following:
- Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
- Reishi Mushrooms
- Chaga Mushrooms
- Cordyceps Mushrooms
- Turkey Tail Mushrooms
The mushrooms on this list are popular with online supplement vendors and represent a very large portion of online sales.
In fact, mushroom supplement purchases online are growing at a very rapid pace. You may find yourself a strong, profitable mushroom niche if you can make a great supplement.
Commercial growing equipment
We wrote a whole article specifically on commercial mushroom growing equipment here.
For profitable mushroom growing, let’s assume you have a large outdoor shed or warehouse that you plan to grow mushrooms for profit in. You will need to outfit it with the proper appliances first, before you can think about actual mushroom materials.
Lighting, heating, and water for a profitable mushroom grow
Lighting in a commercial mushroom grow
Depending on the types of mushrooms you are electing to grow, you will likely need lights, even if just to be able to work in your space in the dark. Running electricity to your warehouse may or may not be easy, but it will be a requirement for a lot of things.
You will want to install strong LEDs on the ceiling of your grow area, this will be for both the mushrooms and your own ability to see in the space.
Heating in your grow area
Secondly, you will also need reasonable temperature for growing mushrooms. In general, many mushrooms prefer to grow in 65F-80F. If you live in an area that does not reach these temperatures consistently or has strong winter/summer seasons, you will need to heat or cool the room.
You may also need to keep your grow seasonal if your area gets too cold for a wintertime grow.
This can take on a few different forms such as electric heat, natural gas/deisel heat, whichever is safest and best for your grow area. Your air conditiononing, if needed, will also need to take on a similar form.
Be aware that heating appliances and cooling appliances often modify the level of humidity in your space. So, you will need to consider this when setting up your grow area. In general, air conditioning to cool your grow will make it very dry and you will need to compensate by using a lot of water on your mushrooms to keep them healthy and moist.
The heat levels in your grow will be very important. You could risk ruining an entire seasonal grow by using the wrong temperatures, so you need this to be reliable. Always test and make sure your equipment is running well.
Water in your grow warehouse or shed
Taking your watering to the next level will involve getting automatic misters. These will almost be like fire alarm sprayers, that spray water in every direction. You can get hydroponics installed and rigged up in your grow area in no-time by a hydroponic professional. If you elect to not do this or to wait to do it, you will need to manually mist/water your mushrooms as they grow.
The hydroponics setup could be affordable or expensive, depending on many factors with your grow as well as how much of it you can handle yourself without having to pay an expert.
You can also buy a humidifier appliance to help control humidity in your grow area if this will be a problem. Maintaining proper humidity will be important for growing big, strong mushrooms that you can easily sell. Make sure to buy a humidity gauge to be able to monitor your grow space.
Most profitable substrates and containers for mushroom growing
You may be wondering what is the most profitable way to actually grow mushrooms at a large scale. In general, you will find that successful growers use 3 containers for their mushrooms:
- Plastic Mushroom Grow Bags
- 5-Gallon Plastic Buckets
- Grow Trays
These 3 avenues allow for a good use of space, they are cheap, and they are effective. Mushrooms growing bags will be the most popular form of profitable mushroom growing you can find, because they are excellent at preventing contamination.
In general, depending on your mushroom, we recommend starting with mushroom grow bags and filling them with the cheapest version of the best substrate you can get for your mushroom. Once you master this, you can try to grow in large buckets, if your mushroom can perform well in them.
This way, you transition off of single-use plastics and onto re-usable buckets, and buckets are also easier to store and more reliable.
Lastly, for using trays, these will be for mushrooms that are highly resistant to contamination, because trays are exposed greatly to the air. You can use a large, flat grow tray to store your mushroom substrate and grow mushrooms from, but you will need a very sterile environment and a strong mushroom for this.
In terms of other mushroom growing equipment, there isn’t too much else you need beyond the normal equipment for growing mushrooms such as:
- A pressure cooker/canner
- Some basic hand tools such as gloves, a hammer, a drill, etc.
- Workstation outside of your grow area such as a basement or attic
- Ability to lift and move heavy things up to 20,30 lbs.
If you have these items from your first few beginner grows, then you can use them again.
Conclusion
When it comes to growing mushrooms for profit, all you really need is a bigger version of the beginner setup and scale it more and more. Of course, there are ways you can grow mushrooms bigger (see our article here) and ways you can sell them for more profit such as a deal with a major store near you.
But once you are able to get clients for your mushroom growing via social media or word of mouth, the rest is about quality and quantity of output. This will depend on factors like how well you control for temperature and humidity, as well as choosing the right substrate for your elected mushrooms’ preferences.
Good luck on your journey! Back to mushroomgrowing.org home.
