YouTube videos show Cordyceps Militaris giving huge income from a small room. Is this real, and should I put my savings into it?
3 Answers
Please be very careful and do not put your savings in on the strength of those videos. Cordyceps Militaris is a high value medicinal mushroom, but it is capital heavy, technically demanding, and above all market access heavy, and the sector is full of exaggerated income claims and scam prone buyback offers. The growing itself needs near laboratory conditions, sterilised grain or substrate, controlled temperature, light and humidity, and very strict sterile technique, so contamination failures are common for beginners. The bigger trap is the market. There is no open mandi, the buyers are specialised, and many people are lured by sellers offering costly spawn, lab kits and a buyback promise that often does not pay out fairly. The flashy income figures in videos are usually best case or sales pitches. The honest path is to be sceptical of any guaranteed high income, never pay large upfront sums for kits or spawn on a buyback promise, verify real buyers and real prices independently, and consult DMR Solan and your KVK before spending anything.
I almost paid a big amount for a Cordyceps setup after watching such videos. A friend at the agriculture university warned me the income figures were inflated and the buyback was shaky. I stepped back.
Growing it needs lab level cleanliness. My first attempts contaminated again and again. It is not the easy room business those videos show.