How Long Does It Take To Grow Mushrooms?
For most common gourmet mushrooms grown indoors, the realistic timeline from inoculation to your first harvest is about 2 to 6 weeks, and the exact number depends mostly on the species and your conditions. Fast growers like oyster mushrooms can go from inoculation to first flush in roughly 2 to 4 weeks, while slower indoor species such as shiitake and reishi often run 8 to 16 weeks, and shiitake grown outdoors on logs can take 6 to 18 months before the first mushrooms appear.
I have been shipping cultures and substrate out of the Out-Grow shop since 2009, and the single most common source of frustration I see is a grower who expected mushrooms in a week and panicked at day ten when the jar was still colonizing. So let me set honest expectations. The visible mushroom is the fast part. The waiting is the colonization underneath, and that is where almost all of your calendar time actually goes.
Out-Grow Quick Answer
- Fast indoor species (oyster) take about 2 to 4 weeks from inoculation to first harvest.
- Slower indoor species (shiitake block, reishi) take about 8 to 16 weeks.
- A standard do it yourself grow, grain spawn into bulk substrate, runs about 4 to 8 weeks total.
- A pre-colonized kit or block often fruits in 7 to 21 days because the slow part is already done.
- Outdoor log grown shiitake is a 6 to 18 month project, sometimes up to two years.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Mushrooms From Start To Finish?
A few winters back I tracked one batch of oyster spawn on a paper calendar taped inside my supply closet, one line for every single day from inoculation to the first harvest, because I wanted to see for myself exactly where the weeks were going instead of guessing at it like most beginners do. That calendar is still the fastest way I know to explain the real math to a new grower.
Start to finish for a fast indoor species is about 2 to 6 weeks, and the reason people quote wildly different numbers is that they are measuring different things. Some count only the days from pinning to harvest, which really is just 3 to 10 days. Others count the whole project including sterilizing grain, colonizing spawn, colonizing bulk substrate, and only then fruiting. That full path is where the 4 to 8 week figure comes from.
Here is the mental model that fixes most confusion. Roughly 80 percent of your calendar time is colonization, the quiet phase where mycelium is eating through grain and substrate. The mushrooms you can actually see form and mature in the last stretch, and they move fast once they start.
This is why a grow kit feels so much faster than starting from a syringe. The kit maker already spent those weeks of colonization for you. When you open the box, you are stepping in right before the fast, visible 15 percent.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Mushrooms At Home, Stage By Stage
Walk through my own grow room on almost any given week and you will find every stage running at once, one shelf of jars still turning white, a tote a few days out from its first pins, and a rack already dropping oysters into a harvest bin. Seeing all three side by side is the fastest way to learn that each stage really does have its own honest window.
A home grow breaks into clear stages, and each one has its own honest window. When people ask why their grow is taking so long, it is almost always because they are sitting inside one of these stages and did not know how long it was supposed to last. These ranges assume good conditions and a healthy culture, using a fast species like oyster as the example.
Here is that whole cycle compressed into five stops before we break each one down in detail.
That is the whole cycle in five stops. The chart below breaks down exactly how many days each one of those stops actually takes, so you can compare stage to stage instead of eyeballing the whole run at once.
Prep is fast in calendar terms, effectively one day of hands on plus machine time to sterilize grain or a substrate bag. Sterilizing grain jars runs about 60 to 90 minutes at 15 pounds per square inch, and larger bulk bags need closer to 90 to 120 minutes. The grain spawn run, where your liquid culture takes over the grain, usually takes 10 to 21 days. Mixing that colonized spawn into bulk substrate and letting it run through adds another 10 to 21 days. Only then do you introduce fruiting conditions, pins appear over 3 to 10 days, and harvest follows 3 to 10 days after that.
Put those stages in order and the whole path looks like this. I use this exact sequence when a first time grower emails me asking where they are in the process.
The Mushroom Growing Timeline, Inoculation to Harvest
Inoculate (day 0)
Inject liquid culture or add grain spawn to your sterilized grain or substrate.
Grain spawn run (10 to 21 days)
Mycelium colonizes the grain fully. Keep it warm and dark and do not open it.
Spawn to bulk (10 to 21 days)
Mix colonized spawn into bulk substrate and let it run through completely.
Introduce fruiting conditions
Once fully colonized, add fresh air exchange, light, and high humidity around 85 to 95 percent.
Pinning (3 to 10 days)
Tiny primordia, the pins, form on the surface. This is the first visible mushroom stage.
Harvest (3 to 10 days after pinning)
Pins swell into full mushrooms, often doubling in a day, and you pick before the caps flatten.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Mushrooms By Species?
Species is the lever customers underestimate most when they ask me why their timeline does not match a friend's grow. I have run oyster, lion's mane, shiitake, and reishi side by side in the same room under the same conditions, and the calendar gap between them is never subtle.
Species is the biggest lever on your timeline, bigger than any piece of equipment you can buy. The honest answer to how long mushrooms take is that it depends far more on what you are growing than on how you grow it. Oysters are quick, tooth fungi like lion's mane are in the middle, and the wood decayers like shiitake and reishi are a longer commitment. Here is how the common gourmet and functional species compare on a full indoor cycle.
| Species and method | Colonization | Pin to harvest | Total to first harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oyster on straw or sawdust | 10 to 21 days | 3 to 5 days | 2 to 4 weeks |
| King oyster on sawdust | 14 to 21 days | 7 to 14 days | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Enoki on supplemented sawdust | 14 to 21 days | 7 to 14 days | 3 to 5 weeks |
| Lion's mane on sawdust block | 4 to 6 weeks | 5 to 7 days | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Shiitake on sawdust block | 8 to 12 weeks | 7 to 10 days | 8 to 12 weeks |
| Reishi on sawdust block | 8 to 12 weeks | varies by form | 8 to 16 weeks |
| Shiitake on hardwood logs | 6 to 18 months | about 10 days after soak | 1 to 2 years |
Reading that as a simple ranking of weeks to first harvest indoors makes the gap obvious. If your goal is to see a mushroom soon, the species column is where you decide it.
Here is that same species data pulled into quick reference cards, if you just want to check one species without scanning the whole table again.
The bar chart below turns those same totals into a quick visual ranking.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Oyster Mushrooms?
The first bag I ever inoculated in my own kitchen, back before Out-Grow existed, was oyster spawn on straw, and it fruited faster than I expected for someone with no equipment and no real technique yet. That early result is exactly why oyster is still the species I hand every brand-new customer at the shop counter.
Oyster mushrooms are the fastest common gourmet species, usually 2 to 4 weeks from inoculation to first harvest indoors. On pasteurized straw or sawdust the substrate colonizes in about 10 to 21 days, pins appear within a few days of introducing fresh air and light, and you harvest 3 to 5 days after pinning. That speed is exactly why I point beginners at oysters first. You learn the whole cycle in under a month, and a fast result keeps people in the hobby. If you want the specifics, our how to grow oyster mushrooms guide walks the full process, and the pearl oyster species guide covers this classic strain.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Lion's Mane Mushrooms?
One of my own lion's mane blocks sat in a cooler back room a few winters ago and needed the full six weeks to colonize before it showed any interest in pinning, a good reminder that this species rewards patience more than oyster does.
Lion's mane usually runs 4 to 8 weeks from inoculation to first harvest on a supplemented sawdust block. The block colonizes in about 4 to 6 weeks, which is slower than oyster, but once it fruits the pins mature quickly, typically 5 to 7 days from pin to harvest. Cooler rooms push the colonization toward the longer end. Our lion's mane species guide has the exact conditions I use.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Shiitake Mushrooms?
One of my own shiitake blocks a few years back sat there looking finished for weeks, turning a deep coffee brown before it ever threw a single pin, and that browning caught me off guard the first time I watched it happen on my own shelf.
Shiitake depends heavily on the method, and this is where a lot of beginner confusion starts. On an indoor supplemented sawdust block, plan on 8 to 12 weeks, because shiitake does not just colonize the block, it also browns and firms before it will fruit, and that browning is part of the wait. Once it pins, harvest follows in about 7 to 10 days. On outdoor hardwood logs the timeline stretches to months, which I cover in the log section below. The how to grow shiitake mushrooms guide breaks down both routes.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Reishi Mushrooms?
I have watched reishi blocks in my own grow room take two very different shapes off the same genetics, a quick antler form pushing out inside eight weeks on one block while a sibling block spent past twelve weeks building toward a single flat conk.
Reishi is a patience species, generally 8 to 16 weeks indoors on supplemented sawdust. The antler and small conk forms show up on the faster end, while a full flat conk can push past 12 weeks. Reishi form is shaped by carbon dioxide, so growers often run it with lower fresh air exchange on purpose, which also affects how it develops over those weeks. See the reishi species guide for the details.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Mushrooms From a Kit?
Plenty of customers walk up to the counter wanting mushrooms fast and honestly do not care how they get there, and a kit is the answer I give every one of them without hesitation.
A ready to fruit kit or a pre-colonized block is the fastest path there is, often 7 to 21 days from opening the box to your first harvest. That is not because the mushroom grows any faster. It is because the producer already did the weeks of colonization for you, so you are stepping in near the end of the timeline. Most kits ask for a short rest or acclimation of a few days to a week, then pins appear within 3 to 10 days of opening or soaking, and harvest comes 3 to 7 days after that.
If your goal is speed and a near guaranteed result, a kit is honestly the right call, and I say that as someone who also sells the harder route. You can browse mushroom grow kits to skip straight to fruiting, or an all in one grow bag if you want to run the colonization yourself but skip mixing substrate.
How Long Does It Take To Grow Mushrooms On Logs?
I have shiitake logs stacked in the shade behind my own building that sat for the better part of a year before anything showed on the bark, which is exactly the kind of patience log culture asks of you that a bag or a tote never will.
Growing mushrooms on logs is a long game measured in seasons, not weeks. For shiitake, the spawn run through a hardwood log takes roughly 6 to 18 months before the first natural fruiting, and university extension guidance puts the outer window at up to two years. You inoculate fresh cut logs in spring with plug or sawdust spawn, seal the holes with wax, and stack the logs in shade while the mycelium slowly runs through the wood. Once the log is colonized you can force a flush by soaking it in cold water for 12 to 24 hours, and mushrooms usually appear about 10 days later.
"A one-time inoculation will produce mushrooms after six months to two years."
The payoff is that a well managed log keeps producing for 3 to 4 growing seasons, so the long wait buys you years of flushes. If that is the project you want, our guide to growing mushrooms on logs covers log selection, hole spacing, and forcing.
How Long From Mushroom Pinning To Harvest?
I check my own fruiting shelves every single morning before I do anything else at the shop, because pins that looked like almost nothing the night before can be halfway to harvest size by the time I get back to them.
Once pins form, most cultivated mushrooms reach harvest size in 3 to 10 days depending on species. Fast species like oyster can go from pin to picked in 3 to 5 days, while shiitake and lion's mane sit closer to 5 to 10 days. This last stretch feels almost unfairly quick after weeks of colonization, and there is a real reason for that.
Pins are already tiny, complete fruiting bodies. Expanding them into full mushrooms is mostly water uptake and cell enlargement, not new tissue being built from scratch. That is why a cap can nearly double in a single day near the end. It also means the harvest window is short, so once caps start to flatten or the edges begin to turn up, pick promptly for the best quality.
Fastest Growing Gourmet Mushrooms To Grow At Home
When someone at the counter tells me they want mushrooms as fast as humanly possible and do not care which species gets them there, I walk them through the same ranking every single time.
If your main question behind how long mushrooms take is really which one gets me there soonest, this comparison sorts it out. I rate the common gourmet species on three things that decide your calendar time, how quickly they colonize, how quickly they finish once pinning, and how forgiving they are overall for a beginner chasing a fast first harvest.
Why Are My Mushrooms Taking So Long To Grow?
A grower emailed me last month convinced his jar had died at day twelve, and walking through his setup with him, the room was sitting at 62 degrees Fahrenheit, a good ten degrees under where his oyster spawn needed to be to colonize on schedule.
If a grow is running slower than these ranges, the cause is almost always one of a few environmental levers, not a dead culture. The mycelium is usually fine and just working against conditions. Before you write off a jar, check these against your setup.
Temperature is off the species optimum
Colonization slows sharply below a species preferred range. Many gourmet species run their spawn run best around 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, about 21 to 24 degrees Celsius. A cold room can easily double your colonization time.
Spawn rate was low
More spawn points colonize faster. A generous spawn rate of 5 to 10 percent of the wet substrate finishes noticeably sooner than a lean 1 to 3 percent, because the mycelium has less distance to travel.
Humidity or fresh air is wrong for the stage
Introducing fruiting conditions too early, before full colonization, stalls the grow. Once you are fruiting, low humidity dries out pins and slows or aborts them. Hold roughly 85 to 95 percent relative humidity during pinning.
You are simply mid stage
The most common answer of all. A jar at day ten is not behind, it is in the middle of a 10 to 21 day spawn run. Match your worry to the timeline before you intervene.
Common Bad Advice About Mushroom Growing Time
I hear the same one to two week promise repeated at nearly every mycology meetup I attend, usually from someone who has never actually run a batch start to finish themselves.
A common rule you will see repeated in beginner content is that mushrooms grow in one to two weeks from start to finish. That is only true for the visible fruiting stage. Counting the colonization underneath, a fast indoor species takes 2 to 6 weeks and log grown species take many months. Confusing pin to harvest with the whole project is the single biggest reason new growers think something has gone wrong when it has not.
Many beginner guides also claim that higher temperature always speeds mushroom growth. It does not. Every species has an optimum range, and pushing past it stresses the culture and gives faster growing contaminants an opening, which can stall your grow instead of speeding it. Stay inside the recommended window for spawn run and fruiting rather than cranking the heat.
One more that costs people time indirectly, the idea that sterilizing longer is always safer. Past the point of full sterilization for that container size, extra time just burns energy and can degrade some substrates. The target is reaching and holding proper sterilization conditions for the load, not endless time at temperature. Getting your prep dialed in keeps the fast part of the timeline fast.
Relevant Out-Grow Supplies
Every shelf in my shop is organized around this exact timeline, fastest option on one end and the slowest project on the other, so here is how I would point you toward each one.
Everything here maps to a specific point on the timeline, so you can match the supply to the speed you want.
- Mushroom grow kits: the fastest path, 7 to 21 days to harvest because the colonization is already done. Best fit if you want a near guaranteed first result.
- Liquid culture: the starting point for a full do it yourself grow. A fast species like pearl oyster liquid culture gets you to harvest soonest, while lion's mane, king oyster, shiitake, and reishi run progressively longer.
- Grain spawn bags: for the 10 to 21 day spawn run stage. A pre-sterilized bag saves you the sterilization step and reduces contamination risk.
- All in one grow bag: grain and substrate in one bag, a middle path that trims a step off the timeline without buying a finished kit.
- Agar plates: if you want to test a culture for clean, vigorous growth in 3 to 5 days before committing weeks to a grow, agar is how I check viability first.
How Long It Takes To Grow Mushrooms, The Short Version
Most gourmet mushrooms take 2 to 6 weeks indoors from inoculation to first harvest, with oyster on the fast end at 2 to 4 weeks and shiitake and reishi at 8 to 16 weeks. A pre-colonized kit fruits in 7 to 21 days, and log grown species are a 6 to 18 month project. Remember that colonization is roughly 80 percent of the wait and the visible mushroom is the quick part, so match your patience to the stage you are in and pick your species to fit the timeline you want.
About the author
Mike Wiberg is the founder of Out-Grow, a mushroom cultivation supply company he has run since 2009. He developed the original all in one mushroom grow bag in 2014, a format now used across the hobby, and over more than 20 years of hands-on mycology he has grown hundreds of species and researched substrate formulations from the lab bench. He maintains one of the largest commercial culture libraries online, including a working collection of more than 300 species under a USDA permit. His cultivation work has been cited in peer reviewed research published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, and he is one of only a handful of growers with a documented successful clone of Matsutake, one of the most difficult species in cultivation. He has helped growers troubleshoot cultivation problems for nearly two decades, and he writes from the lab and the grow room, not from a keyword list.
Frequently Asked Questions
For a beginner starting with a fast species like oyster, plan on about 2 to 4 weeks from inoculation to first harvest, or 7 to 21 days if you start from a pre-colonized kit. A full do it yourself grow with grain spawn into bulk substrate runs closer to 4 to 8 weeks.
Grain spawn usually colonizes in 10 to 21 days, and a bulk substrate takes another 10 to 21 days, both at a good spawn run temperature. Slower species like shiitake and reishi on sawdust blocks can take 8 to 12 weeks to fully colonize and firm up before fruiting.
Most species reach harvest size 3 to 10 days after pins form. Oyster is quickest at 3 to 5 days, while shiitake and lion's mane run about 5 to 10 days. Caps can nearly double in a day near the end, so check daily once pins appear.
Oyster mushrooms are the fastest common gourmet species, going from inoculation to harvest in about 2 to 4 weeks. Enoki and king oyster are next. Shiitake and reishi are slower, and log grown species are the slowest of all.
Log grown shiitake takes roughly 6 to 18 months for the spawn run before the first fruiting, and sometimes up to two years. Once the log is colonized, forcing it with a cold water soak brings mushrooms in about 10 days, and the log keeps producing for 3 to 4 seasons.
Starting from spores adds time versus a liquid culture, because the spores must first germinate and establish before colonization really begins. For most beginners a liquid culture is more predictable, since the mycelium is already active and colonization windows of 10 to 21 days apply from inoculation.
The usual causes are a room below the species optimum temperature, a low spawn rate, or introducing fruiting conditions before colonization is complete. Most of the time the grow is simply mid stage and on track. Compare where you are against the stage timeline before intervening.
You can shorten colonization by holding the species optimum temperature, using a generous spawn rate, and keeping conditions clean so nothing competes with your culture. You cannot rush the fruiting stage much, since that is set by the species biology. Choosing a fast species is the biggest speed lever.