Once the finished compost with the spawn is transferred to the growing rooms the growing phase begins. The spawn threads its' way through the compost, similar to the veins in a person. After the threads are throughout the beds, usually after about 2 weeks, a casing layer is added to the growing beds. The casing layer consists of 11/2 inches of long fiber peat moss, which can hold an enormous amount of water that is needed to grow our minimum of 6 Ibs of mushrooms per square foot. During this phase the temperature, humidity, airflow and CO₂ are closely monitored with computers and adjusted as needed.

The next step in the growing cycle is to change the threadlike material in the beds into "pins", which are baby mushrooms. This is accomplished through a rapid cooling of the rooms, forcing the threadlike material from a vegetative state to a reproductive state, where the "pins" pop-up through the casing layer. A mushroom doubles its' size every 24 hours, therefore in 10 days after the pinning process, the first break of mushrooms are ready to be picked.

Our harvesters are similar to magicians; their hands are quicker than the eye! All our yearly production of 10 million pounds is picked by hand, so the harvesters undergo intensive training. They must to be able to differentiate when a mushroom is ready to be picked or can stay until the next day. They also must grade the mushrooms and be very gentle in their handling of them, as they bruise very easily.

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