How to Grow Shiitake Mushrooms
How to Grow Shiitake Mushrooms
Growing shiitake mushrooms involves inoculating supplemented hardwood mushroom substrate blocks or hardwood logs with shiitake mushroom mycelium and providing the cold shock and humidity required to trigger fruiting.
Shiitake mushrooms are one of the most widely cultivated mushroom species in the world and are well suited to both indoor block cultivation and outdoor log cultivation. Indoor shiitake cultivation uses sterilized supplemented hardwood mushroom substrate in grow bags, with colonization typically taking 60 to 90 days before a cold water soak triggers the first flush. Outdoor shiitake log cultivation follows the same plug spawn and wax sealing process used for other log species, with colonization taking 6 to 12 months before the first fruiting season.
Different shiitake strains have very different temperature requirements. Cold weather shiitake strains fruit best between 40 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, while warm weather strains perform well between 50 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Selecting the right shiitake strain for your growing environment is the most important decision in shiitake cultivation. Use the links below to find step by step guides for growing shiitake mushrooms by strain.