Shiitake var. for blocks

Lentinula edodes

Available as

Mother cultures (Petri dish)
Grain spawn

About this strain

A productive shiitake strain for intensive cultivation on sawdust blocks. Fruitbody appearance is easy to steer with temperature: below about 16°C they are dark, scaly and fleshy, while above 20°C they come in numbers, paler, thinner and medium-sized. Even the first flush is uniform, with few deformed mushrooms.

Blocks colonise in about two weeks and, after 60–80 days of maturation and surface browning, are ready to fruit. The first flush is exceptionally heavy; the strain gives 2–3 flushes in total.

How to grow it

Preparation

Substrate: 78% hardwood sawdust (oak is best) + 20% wheat bran + 2% gypsum; moisture 62–63%
Spawn rate: 1–2% of substrate weight

Growing stages

Spawn run (incubation)
Temperature
23–25°C
Duration
10–15 days
Maturation and browning
Temperature
17–20°C, substrate no warmer than 22°C
Duration
60–80 days
Do not move the blocks — even a slight knock sets off early, poor-quality pinning.
Primordia formation
When the brown crust starts to split with white cracks, unwrap the blocks and move them to the fruiting room; pinning is triggered by the day–night temperature difference.
Fruiting
Temperature
15–20°C (optimum approx. 16–18°C)
Humidity
85–95%
CO₂
ideally 400–1,000 ppm, tolerates up to approx. 3,000 ppm
Light
500–1,000 lx

Harvest

Flushes: 2–3
Between flushes: 10–14 days

Between flushes raise the temperature to approx. 20–23°C; before the next flush soak or irrigate the blocks for about 12 h. Yield: approx. 25–30% of the fresh substrate weight.

Please note: these growing parameters bring together the experience of practising growers — a starting point, not a guarantee of results. Every grow has its own substrate, climate and equipment, and even small differences can noticeably change the yield. Adjust these values to your own conditions.