I started only a week ago exploring the area of fungus culture--it's been an education! Oyster mushrooms are supposed to be the easiest/most forgiving. I bought a (very expensive) 3 oz box of fresh gray oyster mushrooms, and worked with these. To make a long story short, I now have 3 sterilized/sealed tupperware boxes with sterile brown paper and pieces of either mycorrhizae or gill structures. One of the boxes was stored in the fridge, and the others were stored at 80*F wrapped in foil for darkness.

I prepared one of the boxes (stored at 80*) so that the mushroom pieces could be seen through the plastic, and this one is showing solid white growth onto the paper after less than 4 days, so now all the boxes are stored warm.

Here's an added benefit to growing oysters: apparently they actively destroy nematodes. Maybe using the spent growth medium in the garden would ward off these pests?

I'll keep you all posted if you're interested.

--Rr in CT