If you’ve ever had the urge to harvest your own Lion’s Mane or Pink Oyster right on your kitchen counter, the new Sproushi might finally be your excuse to ditch those unreliable mushroom kits forever. You know the ones: a cardboard box, a plastic tent, a half-hearted mist bottle, and two weeks of anxious checking for green fuzz or the faintest sign of a sprout. The minute you upgrade, it goes from backyard science project to something so absurdly complicated, you wonder why you need a PhD to grow fungi. Sproushi strikes the perfect balance with its AI-powered, compact design – delivering gourmet mushrooms in as little as 7 days. Lion’s Mane? Check. Oyster? Of course. Reishi? Yep, with a little patience. Your own varieties that you won’t find in stores? They’re in the mix too. Sproushi’s tiny design creates the perfect, foolproof habitat for mushrooms (and even some herbs) to grow without really any extra supervision or upkeep.
Designers: Merlijn Komdeur & Ali Eissa
Click Here to Buy Now: $250 $370 ($120 off). Hurry, only a few a left! Raised over $215,000.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Sproushi looks nothing like a science fair project. It’s this compact, powder-coated metal box – it feels sturdy and modern, not like an air purifier from 2008. At about 18 inches long, 9 wide and 14 high, it fits right on your counter next to your coffee machine and doesn’t beg to be hidden away. The design is streamlined and a little bit show-offy in a good way, with a glassy front and a touchscreen that gives you immediate “I have a lab in my kitchen” vibes. I love that the power connection is magnetic, so you’re not fiddling with weird plugs, and the stackable concept is genius for anyone who wants to run mushroom “batches” like a home bakery.
The selling point most people will care about: speed. Oysters in 6-8 days. Lion’s Mane in 10-14. Even the notoriously slow Reishi can be harvested in under a month and a half. That means you can go from “I want mushrooms” to “check out my haul” in about the time it takes to finish a Netflix series. Each batch gives you up to four portions, so you’re not pulling out just a single cap after two weeks.
Let’s talk about what’s actually inside this little box of magic. There’s an ultrasonic humidifier for moisture, a whisper-quiet fan with HEPA filter for optimized airflow, a timelapse camera for AI, hands-off, growing, a touchscreen for control, and a magnetic power port just to make setup stupidly easy. The kit comes with cleaning gear and spare humidifier wicks, because anyone who’s ever grown mushrooms knows how important hygiene is. All the parts feel like they’ve been designed for people who actually want to use this thing for the long haul – not just for one season.
What makes Sproushi so different from the graveyard of failed mushroom gadgets is the AI. Yes, actual AI – specifically, SproutSense AI, which uses a built-in camera to watch your mushrooms grow and tweak their little environment in real time. It’s like having a personal mushroom butler who actually knows what it’s doing. The AI uses sensor data to keep tabs on growth stages, humidity, airflow, and light, and then just handles it – no more hoping you guessed the right number of spray bottle squirts. The ultrasonic humidifier gets conditions from Sahara to rainforest in seconds, and a HEPA-filtered fan quietly keeps the air fresh so you’re not cultivating more than you bargained for.
The mushroom selection is broad enough to keep things interesting. Oysters are the crowd-pleasers – meaty, nutty, and way more flavorful than the stuff at the store. Lion’s Mane is for the health-obsessed and the food geeks, with its steak-like texture and promises of mental clarity. Reishi, the “immortality mushroom,” is for anyone who wants to dip a toe into the world of teas and supplements. Sproushi lets you use their capsules or your own spores, so you’re not locked into one company’s supply chain – a rare bit of freedom in the world of “smart” gadgets.
But Sproushi isn’t just about mushrooms. One of the sleeper features is the SproutTray, which transforms the box into a hydroponic herb garden. Basil, cilantro, mint – whatever fits in the tray, the AI will grow it for you on autopilot. Having both mushrooms and herbs growing side by side in matching boxes feels like the future of countertop agriculture, and makes the device way more versatile than most of its single-use competitors.
For the control freaks (or the genuinely curious), Sproushi doesn’t lock you out of the process. Create custom grow programs to dial in specific settings if you want to experiment with weird species or just see if you can optimize yields like a mushroom-obsessed mad scientist. It’ll run in full autopilot for the “set it and forget it” crowd by using the touch screen, but also lets you play with humidity and airflow settings using the free mobile app if you’re feeling adventurous. For the Instagram crowd, the timelapse camera is a delight – watching oyster mushrooms burst out of their substrate in fast-forward is genuinely mesmerizing, and Sproushi turns it into shareable video clips automatically.
I can’t help but think Sproushi is landing at the perfect time. Food prices are all over the place, most mushrooms cannot even be found in stores due to ridiculously short shelf-life and there’s a genuine interest in local, sustainable, and DIY food production that’s only growing. A countertop box that spits out gourmet mushrooms and herbs with basically zero effort is a dream for city dwellers and anyone with a black thumb. Plus, watching mushrooms grow is weirdly soothing, and the timelapse videos are the kind of thing you’ll want to show off to your friends (or at least your group chat).
The promise of harvesting your own rare mushrooms in about a week, with minimal effort, is incredibly enticing. Each capsule is designed to yield approximately four portions, which is a significant amount and certainly enough for a few meals or to share with friends. The Sproushi comes in 4 colors – Pearl White, Forest Green, Midnight Blue, Matte Black, and starts at $250 on Kickstarter for just the device, or $275 with two mushroom capsules of your choice included. Additional capsule packs cost $30 for a 2-pack, or $90 for a 6-pack if you’re a meat-craving vegan or one of those “mushrooms are great for the brain” evangelists. An extra $45 will also yield you the SproutTray to turn your fungi-matic into a veritable herb-garden!
Click Here to Buy Now: $250 $370 ($120 off). Hurry, only a few a left! Raised over $215,000.
The post This AI-powered Mushroom Grow Kit gives you gourmet mushrooms in just 7 days first appeared on Yanko Design.