So, you’ve waited patiently for what seemed like forever while the mycelium took its time growing inside the jars. Congratulations. You will soon be rewarded! If the mycelium has fully colonized the substrate, the jars will appear completely white, and can be fruited.
Remove the mycelium cake from the glass jar and transfer it to a fruiting chamber. Once the cake is introduced to humid fruiting conditions, it should begin sprouting mushrooms rather quickly. Just before fruiting, the mycelium begins to show “pins”–tiny reddish-brown dots. The pins are infant mushrooms. They can be tricky to detect, but a careful eye will notice.
Once primordium are growing, wait an extra day or more before freeing the cake. Waiting offers the best chance of producing a plentiful, even flush of shrooms. Once the gravid cake is popping with pins, it’s finally time to release it from the glass womb. Most of the fun in mushroom cultivation is creating the “next steps”. Just before fruiting stage is a good time to create a fruiting chamber. A cozy nursery crib must be prepared to rest your newborn mycelium cakes in.
