Shiitake var. for blocks

Lentinula edodes

Available as

Mother cultures (Petri dish)
Grain spawn

About this strain

A shiitake strain for block cultivation, valued for an even crop of top quality. The mushrooms are medium-sized, with round, convex caps ranging from brown to light brown. It pins abundantly, with almost all fruitbodies of a similar size, which makes grading and selling easier.

About 90 days pass from inoculation to the end of substrate maturation. The best quality comes from fruiting at 13–15°C. It crops in 3–4 flushes with short breaks in between and tolerates soaking of the substrate after each harvest well.

How to grow it

Preparation

Substrate: 78–80% hardwood sawdust + approx. 20% wheat bran or grain + 2% gypsum; moisture 62–63%
Spawn rate: 1–2% of substrate weight

Growing stages

Spawn run (incubation)
Temperature
20–25°C (substrate approx. 23–25°C)
Duration
12–15 days
Maturation and browning
Temperature
18–20°C, substrate no warmer than 22°C
Duration
approx. 75 days (about 90 days from inoculation in total)
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
13–18°C (best quality at 13–15°C)
Humidity
85–90%
CO₂
ideally 400–1,000 ppm, tolerates up to approx. 3,000 ppm
Light
500–1,000 lx

Harvest

Flushes: 3–4 (up to 5)
Between flushes: 10–12 days

Between flushes raise the temperature to approx. 20–23°C; before the next flush soak or irrigate the blocks for about 12 h — the strain copes with this well. Yield: approx. 25–28% 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.