Shiitake

Start shiitake with purchased spawn in freshly cut oak logs, or use a prepared hardwood-sawdust block for a quicker indoor crop. Wood supplies nutrition without fertilizer; logs colonize in moist shade before fruiting in humid, strain-appropriate conditions with fresh air.

Sun

Shade or indirect light; species-specific fruiting conditions

Water

Keep substrate moist, not waterlogged; provide humidity and fresh air

Substrate

Oak or other suitable hardwood logs, or prepared hardwood sawdust blocks; follow supplier log-stacking guidance.

First harvest

Logs: typically 6–18 months

Tips

• Inoculate sound, recently cut logs with the recommended spawn and seal inoculation holes with suitable wax.
• Keep logs shaded and moist but off persistently waterlogged ground.
• Wait for full colonization before any supplier-recommended soaking, and allow recovery between flushes.
• Harvest when caps are mostly expanded but their margins remain slightly curled, discarding contaminated blocks.
• Use labeled edible spawn or a food-grade kit; never eat mushrooms based on this app or where they happen to grow. Have wild specimens confirmed by a qualified local expert and cook thoroughly.

Start with labeled species-specific spawn or a specialist kit only when you can maintain the supplier’s required colonization and fruiting conditions.

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