How Much Does a Mushroom Grow Kit Yield?

The first flush of fresh Chestnut mushrooms from a single RyzaPod.

Bottom Line (Up Front)

At Ryza, we want to make it easy for you, so here’s a summary of the below post:

• Yields in traditional grow kits vary, with some achieving 10-15 dried grams per pound, affected by conditions like side pinning or loss due to contamination.

• Generally speaking, mushroom dry weight yields are about 15% of the dry weight of the nutritious components of the substrate. For example, for 100 grams of dry weight, digestible substrate material will yield about 15 grams of dry weight of mushrooms.

• Commodity mushroom grow bags vary widely in their dry to wet weight ratio, so it’s hard to estimate in advance, but 10-15g per pound of wet substrate is a good estimate.

• Multiple Harvests: Yield considers multiple flushes, increasing the total yield over the entire lifecycle of the mycelium. Single flush yields can vary, but total nutrition in the substrate in terms of grams of digestible nutrition is the biggest factor, because mushrooms will stop growing as the nutrition is depleted.

• RyzaPods yield approximately 30 grams of dried mushrooms per pod and outperform traditional grow bags by weight thanks to their highly enriched substrate.

• See our blog post for more information on mushroom dry weight yields.

Want to grow mushrooms easily? No one can beat our yields pound for pound. Check out our RyzaPods.

Additional Context

Growing your own mushrooms at home has never been easier, thanks to the advent of all-in-one grow bags and mushroom cultivation kits like RyzaPods, the original mushroom grow pod. But when it comes to selecting your kit size, one of the key things you'll want to know is the expected yield and ease of use. Let's explore this crucial aspect, investigating the yields of a traditional all-in-one mushroom grow bag and our unique offering of RyzaPods.

Substrate Dry Weight Substrate Is Key

RyzaPods have a net weight of about 790g (1.75lbs), where about 200g of the substrate is dry weight, and the remainder (about 590g) is water. That means that at 15% of dry substrate weight, RyzaPods produce about 30g of dried mushrooms. This isn’t just a theoretical calculation, this is based on our actual grow yields from years of in-house testing on RyzaPods, and many Ryza growers exceed this mark regularly.

The full yield of Black Reishi grown in a RyzaPod weighs in at 37g (dry).

How much does a mushroom grow kit yield?

So what’s the mushroom yield per bag? An all-in-one mushroom grow bag typically includes the mushroom substrate and spawn, ready for you to add your spores or liquid culture. They are convenient and beginner-friendly, but the yield can vary significantly depending on factors like the quality of the bag, your choice of mushroom species, and how well you manage the growing conditions.

Supplementation of the substrate with grain and other nutrition is critical for yields. For example, 5 pounds (2.5kg) of CVG, a common substrate and casing material for mushrooms, only has about 0.6 pounds (300g) of solid, digestible substrate, the rest is water. This means without any grain supplementation, this 5 pounds of substrate can only theoretically yield about 45g of mushrooms, whereas a 2 pack of RyzaPods (combined weight of 3.5lbs) can yield 60g of dried mushrooms.

While some growers report harvests of 10-15 grams of dried mushrooms per pound of substrate in these bags, others might achieve less, often from significant side pinning, and especially in the case of contamination or suboptimal fruiting conditions.

Maximizing Yield with RyzaPods

RyzaPods take a unique approach to mushroom cultivation that sets them apart from traditional grow bags. Each RyzaPod is a self-contained ecosystem, complete with water, digestible solids, digestible rye, and other essentials, plus supplements to maximize your yield. The result? You can expect to harvest about 30 grams of dried mushrooms per RyzaPod after a successful harvest.

But what makes RyzaPods' yield even more impressive is the design of the pods. Each pod is small enough (around 1.75 pounds of substrate) to colonize quickly and efficiently. They're also individually packed, ensuring that a single contamination (which happens from time to time for all mycologists) doesn't ruin your entire crop.

Fruiting Phase

Fruiting bodies, or what most people refer to as mushrooms are the prized result of a successful cultivation.

RyzaPods also offer a major benefit over traditional all-in-one grow bags - a dedicated humidity dome for the all-important fruiting stage. The cylindrical design of RyzaPods holds your mycelium tight, and along with our removable blackout sleeve, works vastly better than all in one mushroom grow bags to prevent side pins. To the uninitiated, side pins are mushrooms that will try to grow against the inside of the bag, wasting precious yield, or making harvesting difficult.

We started Ryza because we knew we could offer a better mushroom growing experience than “poop in a bag”. RyzaPods are a testament to this improvement, and Ryza growers agree.

Multiple Flushes with RyzaPods

The yield from RyzaPods isn't limited to a single harvest. Once your first growth has occurred, you can rehydrate the substrate for another flush of mushrooms. This means that the total yield over the life of a RyzaPod can be even higher.

Final Thoughts

If you're looking for a high-yielding, convenient, and reliable option for at-home mushroom cultivation, RyzaPods are a compelling choice. With their efficient design and the inclusion of all necessary nutrients, they offer a superior yield compared to traditional all-in-one mushroom grow bags.

With RyzaPods, not only do you get a superior yield per pod, but you also get the added assurance of individual pods, increasing your chances of success and multiple bountiful harvests.