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Mushroom grow kit
PF-Tek MycoPot DIY
The original cake method, the hands-on way. You make up and sterilise eight brown-rice cakes yourself, inoculate them with your own gourmet culture, then dunk, roll and fruit them. You finish it understanding every stage of a grow.
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Want to know the moment it returns?
For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only. A gourmet liquid culture or spore syringe is not included.
substrate mix and consumables prepared fresh to order
arrives clean and sealed or we replace it
any gourmet species, your choice
dispatched in about 3 working days, plain packaging
The short version
A DIY PF-Tek kit built around eight 280ml MycoPot cakes. You pack the pre-measured brown rice flour, vermiculite and gypsum mix into the pots, sterilise them yourself in a kitchen pot, then inject each cooled cake with your own gourmet culture (about 16ml in total). Once a cake is fully colonised you dunk it in water, roll it in vermiculite as a casing, and fruit it in a grow tent over rinsed perlite. It teaches the whole classic method end to end, and eight separate cakes spread both your risk and your harvests.
How it works
How a PF-Tek MycoPot grow works
This is the original cake method, the one a lot of growers learned on. You make up the substrate, sterilise it yourself in a kitchen pot, inoculate it, colonise it, then fruit each little cake in its own humid space. It takes more hands-on work than a ready-made kit, and that is the point: by the end you understand every stage of a grow rather than just misting and waiting.
Fill and sterilise the pots
Pack the pre-measured PF-Tek mix (brown rice flour, vermiculite and gypsum) into the eight 280ml MycoPots, then sterilise them in a pot of water on your own hob. This is the DIY part, so there is no pre-cooked cake waiting to be used up.
Inoculate each cake
Once the pots have fully cooled, wipe a lid with an alcohol wipe, fit a fresh sterile needle and inject your gourmet culture into the substrate in a few spots. Work somewhere clean and draught-free. With 16ml across eight pots you have roughly 2ml per cake.
Colonise the cakes
Leave the pots somewhere steady and warm while the mycelium runs through. Aim for around 24 degrees, though 18 to 24 is fine as long as it stays consistent, and watch for condensation. Skip the heat mat. Do not open a pot until the cake is solid white throughout.
Dunk and roll
This is the step that gives PF-Tek its name. Pop each colonised cake out of its pot, submerge it in cool water for several hours to rehydrate it, then roll it in dry vermiculite. That coat is the casing layer: it holds surface moisture and gives an even surface to pin from.
Fruit your mushrooms
Stand the rolled cakes in a grow tent on a bed of rinsed perlite, with a barrier so the cakes never sit directly in the wet perlite. The perlite keeps the air humid so you do not mist. Drop the temperature to around 20 to 22 degrees and give the tent a little fresh air. Harvest as the veil under the cap starts to tear, then dunk again between flushes for more.
Why this one
What makes the DIY MycoPot different
Most of our kits arrive sterile and ready to inject. This one hands you the raw substrate and the kitchen-pot sterilisation step too, so you learn the full PF-Tek method from making the cakes to taking a print off the harvest. Eight separate cakes also means eight separate grows.
The classic method
Why PF-Tek still works
PF-Tek has been the beginner's route into cultivation since the early 1990s, and it has lasted because the principle is sound. A small, dense, nutrient-rich cake colonises quickly, and a fast colonisation is your best defence against contamination.
Small cakes, fast colonisation
A 280ml cake is colonised by healthy mycelium before most contaminants get a foothold. Speed is the whole game.
Eight separate grows
If one cake picks up contamination you bin that one, not the lot. Eight pots spreads your risk and your harvests.
Humidity from perlite
Rinsed perlite under the cakes keeps the tent air humid passively, so there is no fiddly misting routine.
Spore to spore
Once you have a harvest you can take a print from a mature cap, so a single grow can seed your next one.
In the box
What's included
Everything for the full PF-Tek cycle except the culture, which you add yourself.
The cake side
You add 16ml of culture
- 8 x 280ml MycoPots (inject-through lids optional)
- Pre-measured PF-Tek substrate mix (brown rice flour, vermiculite, gypsum)
- 2L vermiculite for the dunk-and-roll casing
- 8 x sterile needles
- 8 x alcohol wipes
The fruiting side
For colonising and fruiting
- 4 x XL grow tents (optional)
- 6L perlite for tent humidity
- Hygiene kit: gloves, face mask, hand wipes
- Printed instructions for the whole method
You sterilise the cakes yourself. This kit gives you the measured mix rather than ready-cooked cakes, so you sterilise the filled pots in a pot of water on your own hob. All you need from your kitchen is a large pan with a lid.
The one thing you add
What you'll need
The pots and mix are everything bar the living part: a gourmet liquid culture or spore syringe, which you supply. You want about 16ml in total, roughly 2ml across each of the eight cakes. We make gourmet liquid cultures you can inoculate them with.
Liquid culture has known, predictable genetics and can be incubated a touch warmer, so it tends to colonise faster and more reliably. Spore syringes are cheaper and offer more variety, but are never fully sterile, so incubate them slightly cooler to let the mycelium outrun any stragglers.
Beyond that you only need a kitchen pot for the sterilising step. If you want to lower the contamination risk further when you inject, we stock the sterile gear (a still-air box, wipes and gloves) in sterile and lab equipment.
Risk, reversed
The Sterile Guarantee
The pots, mix and consumables arrive clean and sealed. If anything turns up damaged or compromised, send us photos and we will replace it. What happens once you sterilise, inoculate and grow comes down to your technique and conditions, which no reputable seller can promise for you. So we stand fully behind the kit reaching you in good order, and the troubleshooting below helps with the rest.
At a glance
The spec sheet
- Kit type
- PF-Tek cake method, DIY (you sterilise the cakes)
- Vessels
- 8 x 280ml MycoPots, plus grow tents to fruit in
- Substrate
- Pre-measured PF-Tek mix: brown rice flour, vermiculite, gypsum
- Sterilising
- You do it, in a kitchen pot of water (pot not included)
- Inoculation
- Inject each cooled cake through the lid, then colonise
- Casing
- Dunk and roll: rehydrate the cake, roll in vermiculite
- Culture needed
- About 16ml total, roughly 2ml per cake, not included
- Colonisation temp
- Around 24 degrees, 18 to 24 is fine if kept steady
- Fruiting temp
- A little cooler, around 20 to 22 degrees
- Time to harvest
- About 4 to 6 weeks from inoculation to the first flush
- Yield
- Several flushes per cake, across eight cakes
- Made
- United Kingdom, fresh to order
- Suited to
- Gourmet species: oyster, Lion's Mane, Shiitake and similar
When things look off
Common issues
Because you do every stage yourself, the odd thing can go sideways. Here are the common ones and what they usually mean.
Nothing happening
Usually patience or temperature, or a cake that did not get enough culture. Cold slows colonisation right down. Give it a few more days somewhere steady.
Side pins under the surface
Mushrooms forming on the side of a cake mean it dried at the surface. The vermiculite casing and a good dunk are there to prevent it.
Green, grey or sour
That is contamination. Bin that cake and keep it away from the others. With eight pots, losing one is no disaster.
Thin stems, no pins
Not enough fresh air in the tent. Widen the vents a little or add some gentle airflow in the room.
The full step-by-step lives in the printed instructions, and the grow-kit troubleshooting guide goes deeper on contamination and temperature.
Other kits
Not sure this is the one?
Common questions
Frequently asked
Aim for about 24 degrees while the cakes colonise; anywhere from 18 to 24 is fine as long as it is steady, and watch for condensation. Drop a couple of degrees, to around 20 to 22, for fruiting. Avoid heat mats, they cause condensation.
Yes, that is the DIY part. You pack the pre-measured mix into the pots and sterilise them in a pot of water on your own hob. You just need a large pan with a lid; the pan is not included.
Once a cake is fully colonised you pop it out, submerge it in cool water for a few hours to rehydrate it, then roll it in dry vermiculite. That coat is the casing that holds surface moisture and helps it pin evenly.
No. You add your own gourmet liquid culture or spore syringe, about 16ml in total, roughly 2ml per cake. We stock gourmet liquid cultures separately, and it suits oyster, Lion's Mane, Shiitake and similar.
Send us photos before you use it and we will replace it, that is our Sterile Guarantee. We guarantee the kit reaches you clean and sealed; what happens once you sterilise, inoculate and grow comes down to technique and conditions.
What customers say
Reviews
So incredibly happy with the quality of these
Reply from Cylocybe
Thanks for leaving us a review! We are pretty chuffed with this DIY PF-TEK product and guide, we just know you are going to get a lot out of it (not just the yield!). Can't wait to see you back again trying your hand at more of our products too :)
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For cultivating legal gourmet mushroom species only.Sold as a sterile substrate kit for home cultivation. We trust you to be responsible.