---
title: 'Turning Amazon Boxes into Gourmet Mushrooms'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=gYAY3Bwwu58'
video_id: 'gYAY3Bwwu58'
date: 2026-08-09
duration_sec: 117
---

# Turning Amazon Boxes into Gourmet Mushrooms

> Source: [Turning Amazon Boxes into Gourmet Mushrooms](https://youtube.com/watch?v=gYAY3Bwwu58)

## Summary

This video demonstrates a simple, low-cost method for growing gourmet mushrooms using cardboard as a substrate. The creator shows how to prepare and inoculate cardboard with a mushroom grow block, then details the colonization and fruiting process over several weeks.

### Key Points

- **Cardboard as Substrate** [00:02] — Cardboard is a suitable substrate because mushrooms grow on materials with high carbon content.
- **Cardboard Selection and Preparation** [00:16] — Avoid glossy or heavily printed cardboard; remove tape and labels.
- **Sanitizing and Moistening** [00:28] — Sanitize cardboard to prevent contamination; place in a clean tub and dampen slightly, squeezing out excess moisture.
- **Inoculation with Grow Block** [00:43] — Use a pre-inoculated fruiting block (black king mushroom); break it into pieces and layer with moist cardboard.
- **Efficient Use of Grow Block** [00:58] — One grow block can create four separate mushroom bags.
- **Colonization Process** [01:10] — Seal the bag tightly, leaving the patch exposed; let it colonize for about 4 weeks until fully white.
- **Fruiting Conditions** [01:23] — Slice open the bag and move to a grow tent with consistent humidity; mushrooms appear after about 1 week.
- **Successful Harvest** [01:36] — Beautiful black king oyster mushrooms grew from all sides of the bag.

## Transcript

years, I've experimented with almost every method of growing mushrooms at mushrooms will grow on almost anything with enough carbon in it. So, I had a thought. What about all this leftover cardboard always piling up at my house?
Now, for this experiment, it's important to avoid any glossy or heavily printed cardboard. So, I stuck with the pure brown stuff and removed any tape or my cardboard into smaller pieces and I
sanitize it because when growing mushrooms indoors, contamination is the cardboard into a clean tub and I just want it slightly damp, so I squeezed out any excess moisture. And to grow the mushrooms, I'm using these plastic grow
fruiting block that has already been inoculated with black king mushroom and I broke it up into pieces and layered it with the moist cardboard, And I only used about a quarter of the block with the cardboard, which means
one grow block can actually create four separate mushroom bags. Next, I sealed up the bag tightly with some tape, making sure to keep that patch on the bag exposed. And then, I just let the bag sit and colonize. And after about 1
week, I could start seeing little white patches of mycelium starting to appear mycelium just kept spreading and spreading. And in about 4 weeks, the entire bag was completely white and fully colonized with the mycelium, which
meant it should be time for these mushrooms to fruit. So, I sliced the bag open and moved it into my grow tent to give it consistent humidity levels, And honestly, at this point, I still had absolutely no idea if this was going to
work. But about 1 week later, when I opened that tent, I could see tiny cardboard. And then, just a few days after that, boom! Beautiful black king or king oyster mushrooms growing from all sides of the bag. Now, that's how
you turn trash into food, my friends. I grew these mushrooms on cardboard. Come grew these mushrooms on cardboard. Come on.