Product Description
Our plug spawn is ideal for cultivating mushrooms from a log. Inoculation of a log is a process involving drilling into a log and hammering the spawn dowel into the hole, before sealing with wax. Red Reishi is often referred to as ‘the immortal mushroom’. A log grow can take up to a year to produce its first harvest, but after that it will provide fruit for eight years; not quite immortal, but a step into the future of sustainable urban growing.
When young, the mushroom is bitter. As it matures, the reishi will develop a tough woody shell and an even stronger bitter taste. It’s best made into a tea or powder, as cooking it will leave you chewing leathery lumps of mushroom all evening. The beauty of the red reishi mushroom is that there is so much information out there about it and ways to eat it! We really recommend foraging your way through the internet and finding out about its interesting properties.
All our spawn is stored in specialist breathable Microsac bags. This means that the spawn is always at its freshest, from our fridges to yours.
For larger quantities, check out our wholesale collection.
More Information
Growing your own reishi mushrooms is a straightforward process. We’ve got a further guide on how to inoculate logs on our website, and extensive customer aftercare is always available.
Log Types: Reishi mushrooms grow from dead hardwoods, such as Oak, Ash, Birch or Chestnut, and sometimes fruit trees. Our spawn dowels are a mixture of Ganoderma Lucidum mycelia and birch wood grain.
Log size: Up to 1.25m long and 10-20cm diameter is ideal (the larger the log the longer to colonisation and the greater the production).
How to inoculate: Use roughly 40-50 plugs per 50cm length (you can speed up colonisation by increasing the density). Use an 8mm drill bit to a depth of 5-6cm and spacing of 10-15cm between holes. Seal with a natural food grade wax to help retain moisture and keep out competing organisms.
When to inoculate: Logs can be plugged anytime although not in frosty conditions is best. Best time to cut is when trees are dormant (winter and early spring).
Fruiting Season: Best between Summer and Autumn, with potential to grow all year round.
NOTE: For slower growing species, such a Ganoderma Lucidum, pasteurisation of the log may be necessary if not totally fresh. For advice on pasteurisation, take a look at our website.
Additional Information
| Weight | n/a |
| Package Size | 50, 1000 |
Cultivation Info
| Binomial name | Ganoderma lucidum | |
| Old nomenclature | None | |
| Inoculation rate | mix with ± 1% spawn | |
| Natural substrate | composition: | 80% hardwood, mixed fine + coarse 10% cereals 10% bran |
| Incubation | room temperature: | 23 °C |
| substrate temperature: | 25 °C | |
| duration: | Ca. 18 days | |
| Primordia induction | (night time)* temperature: | 18-24 °C |
| relative humidity | 90- 95 % | |
| Fruiting conditions | room temperature: | 10-25 °C |
| relative humidity: | 80-90 % | |
| CO2-concentration: | less than 2000 ppm | |
| light: | 1000 lux | |
| Flushes | number: | 3-4 |
| interval: | 20-30 days | |
| between flushes: | ||
| Total production cycle | ||
| Average yield | 150 g to 200 g saleable mushrooms per kg fresh substrate | |
*Primordia are induced by a shock. For most mushroom species, this is done with a thermal shock, which is defined by the minimum temperature during the day-night cycle.
Important remark: the cultivation guidelines in our technical data sheets are a compilation of the data given to us by experienced cultivators. Individual differences in the cultivation conditions can seriously affect the results.
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