Introducing Cultivar

Grow bountiful
mushrooms at home.

The first standalone mushroom cultivation appliance designed for meaningful food production. Intelligent enough to guide you, beautiful enough to display proudly, and honest enough to be fully unlocked and easily repairable. Welcome to the world, Cultivar.

Reserve your spot for free See how it works →

No deposit · Early-bird pricing

25+
cultivar species
~15 min
per week
~3 lb
weekly harvest
Grove5 Cultivar — the home mushroom cultivation system
$899
Free US shipping · Early-bird price
25 species
& growing
Lion's ManeHericium erinaceus Pearl OysterPleurotus ostreatus ShiitakeLentinula edodes Golden OysterPleurotus citrinopileatus Chestnut MushroomPholiota adiposa ReishiGanoderma lingzhi White BeechHypsizygus tessellatus Almond AgaricusAgaricus subrufescens King TrumpetPleurotus eryngii Pink OysterPleurotus djamor MaitakeGrifola frondosa Coral ToothHericium coralloides Elm OysterHypsizygus ulmarius Turkey TailTrametes versicolor Bitter Oyster (Bioluminescent)Panellus stipticus Blue OysterPleurotus columbinus Phoenix OysterPleurotus pulmonarius PioppinoCyclocybe aegerita NamekoPholiota microspora BlewitClitocybe nuda Tarragon OysterPleurotus euosmus CordycepsCordyceps militaris Red ReishiGanoderma lucidum Brown BeechHypsizygus tessellatus Abalone MushroomPleurotus cystidiosus Black Pearl King OysterPleurotus eryngii ×
Your new ritual

15 minutes per week.
Fresh mushrooms whenever.

Fresh gourmet mushrooms don't keep. They're meant to be eaten within a day or two of harvest, at peak flavor and nutrition. Growing your own is the only way to get that quality on your schedule. Cultivar was designed from the ground up to make at-home mushroom cultivation more intuitive than you'd ever think possible.

Fresh mushroom harvested from Cultivar
1
Week 1–5
Inject & Load
Pick your species, inject the culture syringe into your pre-sterilized grow bags, and load them into Cultivar.
~5 min
2
Week 5–6
Colonize
Cultivar monitors progress via its camera. When the mycelium is ready for fruiting, you get a notification.
Hands-off
3
Week 6–8
Fruit
Cut an x in the bag, move it to the fruiting chamber. Cultivar handles the rest. First signs of growth appear within days.
~5 min
4
Week 8+
Harvest
Harvest when Cultivar says it's ready. With bags at every stage, expect 2–4 lbs of fresh mushrooms every week.
~5 min
Want to save on supplies, experiment with custom recipes, or go fully hands-on? Mix and sterilize your own substrate bags in Step 1 using our open cultivation recipes and a home pressure cooker.
Download Recipe Book
Design philosophy

Engineered like a lab instrument.
Designed like a centerpiece.

Growing mushrooms at home has long been possible. We have done it in closets and basements for decades. What's been missing is a system that turns the vigilance of cultivation into a beautiful, quiet ritual you won't want to hide.

Cultivar — closed Cultivar — colonization chamber open Cultivar — doors open
Deliberate materials
Glass where it belongs, so you never have to open a door to check grow health. Polypropylene where it counts, because it wipes sterile in seconds. Beauty is the byproduct when every material earns its place.
Designed for life
Cultivar quietly tells you what it needs. The rest of the time, it tends your grow. A great cultivation system should disappear into your routine, not become one.
Built to outlast
Every part published. Every key component repairable or replaceable by anyone, anywhere. We designed Cultivar to work, whether we exist or not. Because that's what honest hardware looks like.
What's inside

Cultivation perfected.

Cultivar's sensors and systems work to keep humidity, carbon dioxide, temperature, lighting, and air exchange in constant balance. The only thing you'll notice inside is what's growing.

12MP Sony sensor camera
Cultivar's vision module provides real-time mycelium colonization estimates, harvest readiness, and timelapses of every grow.
True NDIR CO₂ sensor
Fungi use CO₂ to sense their world. High levels tell them to keep growing. A drop tells them it's time to fruit. Cultivar speaks this language fluently.
Integrated humidification
The built-in ultrasonic cool mist humidifier runs for weeks between refills. Or connect to a water line for even more hands-off operation.
Environmental sensors
Per-chamber humidity, temperature, and volatile organic compound sensors mean the system always knows what your specific grow needs.
Glowing interface
A diffused full-color LED ring translates Cultivar's status, needs, and moods into an intuitive and beautiful language of light.
6500K fruiting light
Efficient 6500K LEDs trigger healthy fruiting without overwhelming your mushrooms or heating your chamber.
WiFi module
Check your grow, adjust settings, or save photos from your phone, tablet, or laptop. No app stores, no accounts, no cloud subscription required.
HEPA filtration
Filtered air in, filtered air out. Every breath through Cultivar passes through two HEPA filters, keeping your grow protected and your home's air clean.
Apartment-safe

Breathe easy.
Cultivar is a tidy roommate.

Cultivar's intake and exhaust pass through H11 HEPA filters rated to capture 95% of particles at 0.3 microns. Grow anything, anywhere while knowing your air stays clean.

Cultivar cleanup is engineered to be simple. Inner chamber surfaces wipe sterile in seconds with isopropyl alcohol and the humidifier reservoir is removable and fully dishwasher safe.

Clean air
Filter grade HEPA H11
Capture rate 95% at 0.3 µm · Virtually 100% of spores (2-10µm)
Replacement interval 3–6 months
Clean everything else
Interior surfaces Wipe with isopropyl alcohol
Humidifier reservoir Removable · dishwasher safe
Grow bags Single use · no cleanup
Spent substrate Compost or discard
Built-in intelligence

Scan the bag.
Skip the logbook.

Every Cultivar grow bag has a printed BagTag code. When you put the bag in Cultivar, it's camera scans it and automatically knows what's inside — species, recipe, timing, everything. From that moment on, every bag is tracked automatically. No labels, no guesswork, no spreadsheets, no logbook.

We released BagTag as an open standard, so you can print your own labels for any 3rd-party grow bags.
BagTag Standard
A Grove5 grow bag with printed BagTag code
Load it
Place the bag in Cultivar. Its camera recognizes each BagTag and tracks bag positions in six degrees of freedom.
Forget about it
From colonization to fruiting to harvest-ready, Cultivar follows the BagTag through every stage.
Cultivar Select

The fifth kingdom.
Your way.

Choose how much substrate work you want to do and whether you want us to handle the genetics this month. Mix and match. Change your mind. Choose the grow that fits your life.

Fresh mushrooms grown in Cultivar
01Choose your bags
Easy Start
Ready to inoculate
$99
per month · shipping included · cancel anytime
  • 9x 3lb BagTag grow bags, pre-mixed and pre-sterilized
  • Ready to inject (no prep, no sterilization)
  • ~15 min/week
  • Grow up to 12 lbs of mushrooms per month
DIY substrate
$29
per month · shipping included · cancel anytime
  • 9x empty BagTag grow bags
  • Mix and sterilize your own substrate using our recipes or your own
  • Requires a home pressure cooker
Bring Your Own
$0
full control · established growers
  • Use any bags or substrates you already have
  • Print your own BagTags
  • BagTags must survive 95% humidity (waterproof labels)
+
02Choose your genetics
Easy Start
3x Liquid Cultures
$29
per month · ships in your monthly box · cancel anytime
  • 3x 10ml syringes — enough to inoculate 9+ bags
  • Rotating selection based on seasonality and what's thriving in our partners' labs
  • Living mycelium in nutrient solution, ready to inject
Bring Your Own
$0
propagate anything
  • Source liquid cultures, agar plates, or grain spawn from any lab, supplier, or even the wild.
  • Any species, any genetics

The first harvest belongs
to the waitlist.

Cultivars ship in waitlist order. Founding growers get first access, early-bird pricing, and free US shipping.

Reserve your spot now
No deposit Unsubscribe anytime
Honest hardware

Every part,
repairable.

Every replaceable part is built around published specs, standard connectors, and no proprietary lock-in. A worn-out component should never mean a trip to the landfill.

Grove5 Cultivar in home environment
Under 2 minutes · no tools
Humidifier transducer
Will ship in 2-packs because hard water is real. Use filtered or distilled water to extend transducer life.
Under 5 minutes · 3x screws
Environmental sensor board
Three screws, one connector. Designed in-house and open-sourced. Order replacements from us, or fab your own.
Under 10 minutes
Glass fruiting panel
Any local glass shop can cut a replacement. We will sell them too, but glass is a great thing to buy locally.
50,000 hours rated · 3x screws
LED lighting rings
Rated for the life of the system at continuous use. If they ever fail, three screws and one connector.
Under 5 minutes · 4x screws
Circulation fans (×2)
Standard size and voltage used in thousands of electronics. Source replacements from us or any supplier.
Under 5 minutes · 1x ribbon cable
Camera
Standard ribbon cable connector. Replace a failed camera in minutes with any compatible module.
Cultivar app interface showcasing the pre-production app styling on a mycology-inspired background
Runs locally

Your grow works
without us.

Cultivar runs on your home WiFi and works with any phone, tablet, or laptop. It doesn't require an app store, user account, internet connection, or software subscription to keep working. The only cloud you need is the humidity in the fruiting chamber.

Grow logs, timelapses, settings, recipes — everything lives on Cultivar locally. Nothing leaves unless you choose to share it. And the full software stack is MIT-licensed open source. If Grove5 disappears tomorrow, Cultivar keeps growing.

  Grove5 Cultivar Most "smart" devices
Software license Open source Proprietary
Cloud dependency Runs locally Required
Software updates Optional · easy rollback Forced
Company shuts down Device keeps working Becomes e-waste
Your data Belongs to you Stored on servers

A serious protein source.

Mushrooms are one of the most resource-efficient foods that we know how to grow. They are also good for you.

Complete protein
All nine essential amino acids. Dry-weight protein content is in the same range as chicken.
Low fat, no cholesterol
No cholesterol, almost no saturated fat. Rich in heart-healthy, bioactive beta-glucans.
Vitamins and minerals
B vitamins, selenium, and ergothioneine, an antioxidant rare in other foods.
Grown on waste
Straw, sawdust, and spent coffee grounds. Food from what would otherwise be thrown out.
Footprint per kg of protein produced
  Beef Chicken Mushrooms
CO₂e emitted ~150 kg ~30 kg ~3 kg
Freshwater used ~112,000 L ~22,000 L ~280 L
Land required ~325 m² ~12 m² ~0.4 m²
Edible yield from input ~3% ~21% ~75%

Join the first
harvest.

The first batch of Cultivars will ship to a select group of founding growers. Join the waitlist and we'll let you know as soon as units are ready.

First access when units ship
Early-bird pricing
Free US shipping at launch
No deposit required
Cultivars ship in waitlist order. Join to secure your spot.

No deposit · Unsubscribe anytime

You're on the list.

We will be in touch when the first units are almost ready. You're among the first on the waitlist, and we're excited you're here.

Grove5 Cultivar Grove5 Cultivar — colonization view
Grow the Grove Together

Waitlist signups signal demand, allowing us to commit engineering resources and prioritize community features.

1,000 signups
LED Personality
Current. Cultivar's LED ring breathes green during colonization, flickers as pins form, sweeps bright at harvest, and flashes red for issues.
Goal. A full library of expressive LED animations, plus an open API so the community can write and share their own. Because Cultivar should have personality, and yours should be yours.
1,000 signups
LED Personality
Unlocked
5,000 signups
Advanced Vision
Current. Cultivar's vision module tracks colonization progress and harvest readiness.
Goal. Early contamination detection and harvest weight forecasting vision models, running locally on Cultivar. Catch problems before they spread and get more accurate harvest timing recommendations.
5,000 signups
Advanced Vision
Unlocked
10,000 signups
Digital Nose
Current. Two Bosch BME690 gas sensors analyze total VOCs and VSCs in Cultivar's air, providing potentially useful anomaly detection.
Goal. Mycology contamination has a smell before it has a color. Trichoderma, bacterial blotch, and cobweb each produce distinct VOC profiles days before they're visible — but no public dataset exists to train models on them. With enough participating users opting to share BME690 data, we hope to change that.
10,000 signups
Digital Nose
Unlocked

From prototype to production.

Hardware moves at the speed of physics, supply chains, and team size. Grove5 is a small, self-funded operation. Dates will shift, but we'll keep you posted along the way.

  1. Design for prototyping
    Schematics, sensor selection, PCB layout, mechanical CAD, firmware bring-up.
  2. 2
    In progress End of Summer 2026
    Prototype V0.1 — integration
    Custom PCBs designed and assembled in-house. End-to-end grows finetune vision and biology models.
  3. 3
    Tentative Late 2026 → Mid 2027
    Prototype V0.2 — optimization
    Sensor stack trimmed, PCB consolidated, mechanical refined, and control loops tuned.
  4. 4
    Tentative Late 2027
    Design for production
    Factory repeatabile design. DFM revisions, suppliers locked, tolerances tightened, service manual drafted.
  5. 5
    Tentative Winter 2027 → Spring 2028
    Tooling & first articles
    Injection molds, sheet-metal dies, and assembly fixtures built; first parts off real tooling inspected. The slow, expensive phase.
  6. 6
    Tentative Spring 2028
    Engineering validation (EVT)
    Small production run verifies the design survives the factory. Pre-compliance testing runs parallel.
  7. 7
    Tentative Late Spring 2028
    Pilot batch & certifications (DVT)
    A larger pilot run validates manufacturing at scale, alongside full safety, wireless, and EMC certification.
  8. 8
    Tentative Summer 2028
    Founding growers ship
    The first production run ships to waitlist members.

Hardware schedules slip. We'll be honest about it when it happens and the waitlist will hear first.

Ships in waitlist order. Reserve your spot

Get in touch

Questions, feedback, collaboration ideas. We actually read these and we'll get back to you within a couple of days.

We respond from a real inbox · no auto-replies

Message received.

Thanks for reaching out. We'll get back to you soon.

About Grove5

What you grow in your home is none of our business.

That's not a privacy policy. It's a design decision we made before we wrote a single line of code.

How can we do this?

We're not a data company. We are a hardware and software company.

The sad truth is that most data collection happens because it's cheap. Collecting user data costs pennies per year but can potentially be monetized for dollars per year. Those are the returns investors like and push for.

Luckily, we tell investors to stuff it early and often.

We don't need your data to build good software. And we don't need to pretend we need your data to build good software.

Because what you grow in your Cultivar is none of our business.

What we actually know

  • Opt-in anonymous sensor signals that improve our grow models
  • Hashed batch IDs for quality claims
  • Customer data required to fulfill e-commerce orders or waitlist signups
  • Contact form data you submit to us

What we will never know

  • What you grow
  • When you grow it
  • How much you harvest
  • What wine pairing goes well with your latest batch

Why this makes us better

We can't be hacked for data we don't have.
We can't be asked for records we never kept.
We can't be pressured by investors to monetize what we never collected.

The honest version of a privacy policy

Most privacy policies are written by lawyers to limit liability. Ours is written by engineers to limit collection.

The difference is: one tells you what we do with your data. The other explains why we don't have it or need it.

We prefer the second kind.

On investors

We're self-funded. That's not an accident. The moment you take money from someone who expects data monetization returns, you've made a promise that conflicts with this philosophy. We made the other promise first.

What you grow in your Cultivar is none of our business.
We mean it. We built it that way. And we're not changing it.
— Grove5
P.S. If we ever do try to change it:
  1. Check to make sure we aren't being held against our will.
  2. Fork the git and call it Hacktivar. Or whatever you want, we shouldn't have a say at that point.
  3. Maintain the practice of telling investors and Silicon Valley salamanders to stuff it.
Privacy policy

The shortest privacy policy we could honestly write.

Last updated: May 2026. Questions? Contact us.

The short version

We collect the minimum information required to ship you hardware, answer your questions, and improve our grow models. Your Cultivar device runs locally on your home WiFi and does not phone home (unless you turn on opt-in sensor signals). We do not sell, rent, swap, or share your information with advertisers or data brokers.

What we collect

  • Order & shipping information — name, email, shipping address, billing address, and payment details. Required to fulfill orders and provide warranty service.
  • Reservation waitlist — name, email, and the species you're most curious about. Used only to contact you about Cultivar availability.
  • Contact form messages — whatever you send us, plus your email so we can reply.
  • Anonymous, opt-in sensor signals — temperature, humidity, CO₂, and gas fingerprints. Tied to a hashed ID, never to you.
  • Hashed batch IDs — used internally for HonestBatch quality claims. Cannot be reversed to identify a person or household.
  • Basic web analytics — aggregate page views and referrers via privacy-respecting, cookieless analytics. No cross-site tracking, no advertising pixels.

What we do not collect

  • What you grow on your Cultivar
  • When, how often, or how much you harvest
  • Your home network details, IP camera feeds, or audio
  • Location data beyond the shipping address you give us
  • Anything from third-party advertising networks

Where your Cultivar data lives

On your Cultivar. That's it. Grow logs, timelapses, settings, recipes, and BagTag scans live on the device and on your local network. Nothing leaves unless you choose to share it, for example by exporting a file, sending a recipe to a friend, a timelapse, or opting in to anonymous sensor signals.

If our servers disappeared tomorrow, your Cultivar would keep growing mushrooms without a hiccup.

Who we share it with

Only the service providers we need to operate the business:

  • Payment processing — Stripe — to charge your card. We never see or store full card numbers.
  • CDN & cookie-based security — Cloudflare — to serve this website, block abuse, and protect forms (Turnstile).
  • Shipping carriers — to deliver your order.
  • Email provider — to send you order confirmations and replies you asked for.

Each one receives only what they need. We do not share your information with advertisers, data brokers, or analytics resellers.

How long we keep it

Order records are retained as long as required by tax and warranty law. Reservation and contact messages are kept until you ask us to delete them or until they're no longer useful — whichever comes first. Anonymous sensor signals have no identifier to delete.

Your rights

You can ask us at any time to:

  • Show you what we have on file for you
  • Correct anything that's wrong
  • Delete your account and personal information (subject to legal retention requirements)
  • Unsubscribe from any email(s) we send
  • Turn anonymous sensor sharing off at any time, from the device

Email [email protected] or use the contact form. We'll respond within 30 days.

Cookies

We use a small number of strictly-necessary cookies for the cart and for Cloudflare's bot-protection and form security (Turnstile). No advertising cookies, no third-party trackers, no consent banner gymnastics required.

Children

Cultivar is sold to adults. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has sent us information, email us and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy in a way that affects what we collect or how we use it, we'll update the date at the top and post a notice. Material changes for existing customers will be sent by email.

Terms of service

The shortest terms we could honestly write.

By using this website or buying a Cultivar, you agree to the terms below. They're written to be readable, not to hide things in fine print.

Using this website

Use the site for its intended purpose: learning about Cultivar, reserving a unit, ordering hardware, and reading our open documentation. Don't try to break it, scrape it at scale, abuse our forms, or impersonate someone else. Automated requests should respect robots.txt and reasonable rate limits.

Reservations & orders

  • Reservations are non-binding, no-deposit signals of interest. Joining the waitlist doesn't guarantee a unit and doesn't charge you anything.
  • Orders are accepted when we send an order confirmation. Prices, availability, and ship dates can change until then. If we make a pricing or stock mistake, we'll let you know and refund any payment in full.
  • Returns — unopened hardware can be returned within 30 days of delivery for a full refund minus return shipping. Opened units in working condition can be returned within 14 days for a refund minus a small restocking fee. Defective units are covered by warranty, not the return window.

Software & open source

The software stack that runs Cultivar is open source under the MIT license. You can read it, modify it, run your own builds, and keep growing even if Grove5 disappears tomorrow. The MIT license governs the software; these terms govern your use of this website and any hardware you buy from us.

Your content

Anything you create on your Cultivar — recipes, grow logs, timelapses — is yours. We don't claim a license to it. If you choose to share something with us (a recipe submission, feedback, an opt-in sensor signal), you give us permission to use it for the purpose you shared it for, and nothing else.

Acceptable use

Cultivar is sold for cultivating culinary and functional mushrooms in jurisdictions where doing so is legal. You're responsible for following the laws that apply to you. Don't use Cultivar (or our website, or our name) to do things that are illegal, harmful, or designed to deceive others.

Disclaimers

This website and the information on it are provided as-is. We try hard to be accurate, but mushroom cultivation involves biology, and biology is messy. Use good judgment, follow safety practices, and don't eat anything you can't positively identify. Hardware comes with the express warranty at time of sale and no other warranties beyond what applicable law requires.

Limitation of liability

To the extent allowed by law, Grove5 isn't liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of this website or your Cultivar. Our total liability for any claim related to a product is capped at what you paid for that product.

Changes to these terms

If we change these terms in a way that materially affects you, we'll update the date at the top of this document and, for existing customers, send a notice by email. Continuing to use the site or your Cultivar after a change means you accept the new terms.

Contact & governing law

Questions, complaints, or legal notices: [email protected] or the contact form. These terms are governed by the laws of the United States and the state where Grove5 is registered, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

What you grow in your home is none of our business.
This policy is just the architecture of that promise written down.
— Grove5
Cultivar in the right hands

Discounts for those
doing beautiful work.

Cultivar's DNA is food as connection, shared knowledge as power, and community as resilience. If one of these is you, or if you know someone it fits, send us a note or pass it along.

Educator
Teaching mycology, biology, sustainability, or food systems? Cultivar belongs in classrooms and mycology labs. Reach out with a quick note about your program.
Community food project
Growing mushrooms for a food bank, mutual aid group, or community garden? We want to help that food reach more plates.
Makerspace or hardware library
Running a community makerspace, tool library, or repair cafe? Cultivar was built for shared hands. Let's put one somewhere members can learn on it.
Resilient spore
Left with a beautiful paperweight from a certain home mushroom cultivation company? Some systems promised the world and delivered disappointment. We'd like to welcome you to honest hardware and open software.
Contact us with a few sentences about your situation.
Honest Batch registry

Quality you can verify.
Privacy you don't have to.

Every Grove5 substrate bag is checked against our open quality registry the moment you scan it. If we learned a batch didn't meet our standards after we shipped it, you'll know before it enters your Cultivar — and we'll replace it. No questions asked.

How it works
1
Your phone caches a public quality registry — a simple list of any substrate batches we've flagged for issues. Problems are rare, but they happen: insufficient sterilization, faulty bag seals, manufacturing defects. The registry is open on Grove5's git repository and anyone can read it or suggest issues.
2
When you scan a BagTag, your phone checks the batch ID against that list. Locally. On your device. Nothing is uploaded to our servers.
3
If your bag's batch ID appears on the list, Cultivar tells you what the issue is and walks you through getting a replacement. No receipts. No customer service queue. No questions asked.
The registry comes to you, not the other way around. Grove5 never sees what you scan, or what you grow.
Demo · available at launch
Refills & Replacements

Every part below will be available from day one. Compatible third-party specs are published openly so you're never locked in.

H11 HEPA filter (4-pack refill)
Pre-cut · twist unlock
0
$8.00
Humidifier transducer (2-pack refill)
Quick connector · no tool replacement
0
$14.00
Colonization sensor board
BME690 · 3 screws · wiring harness
0
$35.00
Fruiting sensor board
SCD43 + BME690 · 3 screws · wiring harness
0
$75.00
Glass fruiting panel
Tempered glass · dims published · hinge included
0
$85.00
LED Ring
5V DC · 3 screws · 1 connector
0
$18.00
Circulation fan (40mm x 10mm)
12V DC · 4 screws · standard form factor
0
$18.00
Camera module
OV5640 (2K) · ribbon cable · per chamber
0
$32.00
Estimated total $0.00
Free shipping at $55+

This is a preview. The parts store opens when the first Cultivars ship.