North Spore

northspore.com

North Spore is a Maine mushroom farm that grew into one of the biggest kit shops in the US, with sawdust blocks, grain spawn, plug spawn and sterile substrate under one roof. The kit format is simple: a colonised bag, one cut, daily misting, first flush in roughly two weeks. The species list is wider than most, from blue and pink oyster to lion's mane, chestnut and king trumpet. Everything is sold as USDA organic, and a block that refuses to fruit is covered by the shop guarantee.

A safe first buy, mostly because the instructions are short and support answers by chat and phone on weekdays. It also suits people who plan to move on from kits to logs or bulk grows later, since the same shop sells the next step. Less suitable for a small budget: one kit costs more than a supermarket box, and blocks shipped in summer heat can wake up slowly.