fungkifriends
We are proud to offer a co-operative system in which old and new mushroom cultivators can gain exposure for their fresh exotic mushrooms. This service is FREE if you have done a workshop or course with Mushroom Guru (this does not apply to eBook learning at this time). From April 2021 you can showcase your profile/listing along with other cultivators on our fungkifriend directory. The intention of this system is to create awareness for the ever expanding number of mushroom cultivators in South Africa. Cultivators can start smaller home-based businesses and use this platform to share with the public what species and volume of mushroom they are producing.
Why should you become a fungkifriend?
There are some "BIG hitters" in the mushroom industry and it is a daunting task and technical challenge for you, as a mushroom cultivator, to create exposure for your growing activities and provide a service to your community. It is difficult and nearly impossible to have your own website rank high in a Google search, so we are here to help you. Mushroom Guru currently ranks higher than 98% of all mushroom companies in South Africa. So if customers are looking for "mushrooms in South Africa", they will find you because you have your own profile/listing on the Mushroom Guru website. Try it, search: "mushrooms in South Africa".
You may already know that having a website is not enough. The aim of a website is to get traffic and the more traffic you have through your website, the more likely you are able to sell any product you have, provided that the product you sell is relevant to the search terms used in Google Search. We have optimised our website for Google to position Mushroom Guru on Google's page 1. Most people don't care to look on Google's page 2, do you?
Mushroom Guru has taught cultivators throughout South Africa. We started in the Western Cape and are now a national business. The idea is to provide a safety net for mushroom cultivators. For example, if you have a contract with your local deli or Spar for five kilograms of mushrooms per week and you have to shut down your grow room to clean out a contamination, you won't have that contract for long. Mushroom companies have closed doors due to issues like this. You may therefore need someone to lean on. Becoming a "fungkifriend" means that you will be able to help your fellow cultivator when he/she gets into this type of situation. As a cultivator, you know that your mushrooms don't have a long shelf life, so they need to get into the consumers hands as fast as possible. Other fungkifriends may help you out if you have too much stock or too little stock.
We will help you to sell your mushrooms!
Thanks to some great friends and like-minded collaborators, Mushroom Guru has contact with buyers and each week we get calls from buyers looking for fresh mushrooms. Our interactive map will also be listing buyers from April 2021 onward.
What do I need to do to become a fungkifriend?
Firstly, you would need to be a mushroom cultivator and to do so, you will need training. Mushroom Guru offers FREE eBooks, affordable workshops and for the serious enthusiast, the Advanced Fungi Culturing Course. Upon completion of your on-site training with Mushroom Guru you can sign up to become a fungkifriend. Please note the fungkifriend collaboration does not apply to eBook learning at this time.
Why should you become a fungkifriend?
There are some "BIG hitters" in the mushroom industry and it is a daunting task and technical challenge for you, as a mushroom cultivator, to create exposure for your growing activities and provide a service to your community. It is difficult and nearly impossible to have your own website rank high in a Google search, so we are here to help you. Mushroom Guru currently ranks higher than 98% of all mushroom companies in South Africa. So if customers are looking for "mushrooms in South Africa", they will find you because you have your own profile/listing on the Mushroom Guru website. Try it, search: "mushrooms in South Africa".
You may already know that having a website is not enough. The aim of a website is to get traffic and the more traffic you have through your website, the more likely you are able to sell any product you have, provided that the product you sell is relevant to the search terms used in Google Search. We have optimised our website for Google to position Mushroom Guru on Google's page 1. Most people don't care to look on Google's page 2, do you?
Mushroom Guru has taught cultivators throughout South Africa. We started in the Western Cape and are now a national business. The idea is to provide a safety net for mushroom cultivators. For example, if you have a contract with your local deli or Spar for five kilograms of mushrooms per week and you have to shut down your grow room to clean out a contamination, you won't have that contract for long. Mushroom companies have closed doors due to issues like this. You may therefore need someone to lean on. Becoming a "fungkifriend" means that you will be able to help your fellow cultivator when he/she gets into this type of situation. As a cultivator, you know that your mushrooms don't have a long shelf life, so they need to get into the consumers hands as fast as possible. Other fungkifriends may help you out if you have too much stock or too little stock.
We will help you to sell your mushrooms!
Thanks to some great friends and like-minded collaborators, Mushroom Guru has contact with buyers and each week we get calls from buyers looking for fresh mushrooms. Our interactive map will also be listing buyers from April 2021 onward.
What do I need to do to become a fungkifriend?
Firstly, you would need to be a mushroom cultivator and to do so, you will need training. Mushroom Guru offers FREE eBooks, affordable workshops and for the serious enthusiast, the Advanced Fungi Culturing Course. Upon completion of your on-site training with Mushroom Guru you can sign up to become a fungkifriend. Please note the fungkifriend collaboration does not apply to eBook learning at this time.
We want to empower you!
It is easy to purchase an already made mycelium block or bag to grow mushrooms, but we have found that if you make up your own bags, not only do you become self sufficient but also save yourself a lot of money on courier costs!
To grow mushrooms requires either a simple setup that will produce enough mushrooms for your dinner table or a grow room that is fitted with the correct lighting, extractor fans and humidity control to grow for your community. Obviously, the more space you have, the more mushrooms you can grow.
Making and filling your own substrates into bags is a very simple task and does not warrant the cost of buying ready made substrate bags. Once you have learnt how to make your own substrate bags, you can make them at anytime and need not depend on anyone else. Being self sufficient in the mushroom industry is the way to go. The only thing you need to consider if you are growing mushrooms and want to make your own spawn, is that these operations need to be sufficiently far away from one another. If you make spawn and cultures you need to be vigilant so as not to experience cross-contamination and loss. It is necessary to divide these two operations, so you will find that generally, mushroom cultivators purchase spawn from an outside source and inoculate their own substrate bags.
In all of our workshops, we teach you how to make up your own substrate bags, therefore empowering you to explore the freedom of growing mushrooms. Take a look at our Training page which offers different ways to learn how to grow mushrooms.
