Wine Cap Mushroom
Stropharia rugosoannulata
Available as
Mother cultures (Petri dish)
Grain spawn
Sawdust spawn
About this strain
The wine cap is one of the easiest mushrooms to grow in a garden. It forms large, meaty mushrooms with smooth, wine-red to chestnut caps — somewhat reminiscent of a porcini; young specimens can weigh 0.2–0.5 kg. The flesh is firm and the flavour mild and slightly nutty; sliced lengthwise, they are excellent on the barbecue and in stir-fries. Cook them well and do not eat them several days in a row — in some people this can cause indigestion.
It does best outdoors, on beds of straw or hardwood chips covered with a layer of soil, in partial shade — for example between vegetables or under shrubs — turning organic matter into rich humus along the way. It can also be grown indoors, in trays or large bags under a soil casing.
How to grow it
Preparation
- Substrate
- outdoors: beds of straw and/or hardwood chips; indoors: pasteurised straw or sterilised sawdust with chips; casing: rich, microbially active soil — do not heat it above 60°C for more than 1 h
- Spawn rate
- at least 10%, ideally 15–20%
Growing stages
Spawn run (incubation)
- Temperature
- 21–27°C
- Humidity
- 95–100%
- Duration
- 25–45 days
- CO₂
- >20,000 ppm
- Fresh air
- 0–1 per hour
Primordia formation
- Temperature
- 10–16°C
- Humidity
- 95–98%
- Duration
- 2–3 weeks after casing
- CO₂
- <1,500 ppm
- Fresh air
- 4–8 per hour
- Light
- 100–500 lx
Once the substrate is colonised, apply a casing of rich soil. After 2–3 weeks silky white mycelial cords appear, soon giving rise to dark red-brown pins.
Fruiting
- Temperature
- 16–21°C
- Humidity
- 90–95%
- Duration
- 7–14 days
- CO₂
- <1,500 ppm
- Fresh air
- 4–8 per hour
- Light
- 100–500 lx
Harvest
- Flushes
- 2
- Between flushes
- 3–4 weeks
Pick before or just as the veil tears at the cap margin — once the gills turn dark grey-purple, quality drops fast. Biological efficiency indoors 50–100%; outdoor beds crop most heavily in summer.
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.
Available products
Prices are set individually — tell us what you need and how much, and we will send a quote including delivery.
Mother cultures (Petri dish)
- 1 pc.
Grain spawn
- 5 l
Sawdust spawn
- 5 l
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