Mushroom Spawn Bag 1.7kg – Shiitake China High Yield (Lentinula edodes)

Description

🤎 NEWSHI Shiitake Mushroom Spawn Guide (Lentinula edodes)

Ready to step up your mushroom growing game? Meet our NEWSHI Shiitake! This “China High Yield” strain of Lentinula edodes is an absolute powerhouse. Shiitake is one of the most popular and recognizable cultivated mushrooms in the world, renowned for its rich, savory, umami flavor and fantastic meaty texture. Beyond the kitchen, it is also highly valued for its functional medicinal properties.

Please note: Shiitake requires a very specific growing cycle and an incredibly long incubation period where the block completely changes color. They must be grown on sterilized or super-pasteurized supplemented sawdust blocks!

🌾 Recommended Substrates To get those famous, heavy flushes, this wood-loving strain requires a nutrient diet! We highly recommend:

• Sterilized Hardwood Sawdust supplemented with nutrients (like oat bran, wheat bran, or soybean meal) at a strength of 10% to 15%. (Note: Shiitake generally prefers a slightly lower supplementation rate compared to aggressive Oysters).

🛠️ How to Prepare Your Substrate & Inoculate Because Shiitake thrives on nutritious supplemented substrates, standard hot-water pasteurization is not enough. You will need to treat this like an advanced grow!

• Hydration: Before processing, ensure your bulk substrate mixture is thoroughly wetted to a 60% moisture level.

• Sterilization is Key: Your supplemented substrate blocks should be fully sterilized in a pressure cooker at 15 PSI for 2.5 hours, or “super pasteurized” by steaming them at atmospheric pressure for 10 to 12 hours.

• Clean Inoculation: Because you are mixing your spawn into fully sterilized material, you must be extremely clean! Always inoculate your cooled blocks in front of a laminar flow hood or inside a Still Air Box (SAB) wiped down with 70% isopropyl alcohol.

🧫 Incubation (Colonizing Your Block) Once you have cleanly mixed your spawn into your prepared, sterile substrate and sealed your bags, it is time to let the mycelium take over!

• Temperature: Store your inoculated bags in a clean, dark space with stable temperatures between 16-20°C.

• Fresh Air: The growing mycelium needs to breathe! Ensure your incubation room has good ventilation, aiming for ideally one room air change per hour.

• The Golden Rule—The Browning Phase!: Shiitake has a unique and long incubation time of 10 to 12 weeks. The block will first turn white, then it will form lumpy blisters (called “popcorning”), and finally, the outside of the block will turn a rich, dark chocolate brown! This brown “bark” means the block has stored its energy and is finally ready to fruit.

🌤️ Best Fruiting Environment Shiitake is unique! Once the block has fully browned after 10-12 weeks, you do not just cut holes in the bag. You must take the block completely out of the plastic bag and place the bare block in your fruiting area!

• Temperature: This high-yield strain thrives in a cool, stable fruiting temperature range of 16-18°C.

• Light: Place your bare block somewhere with enough natural, indirect light to read a book by.

• Humidity: Keep it extremely high (85%+). Because the entire block is exposed without plastic, it can dry out very quickly if the humidity drops.

• Fresh Air: Aim for high fresh air exchange (6-8+ room air changes per hour) to encourage beautiful, thick caps.

🍄 Tips & Harvesting

• Inoculation Rate: Use a mixing ratio between 2% to 5% depending on your skill level and how clean your sterile practices are. (A higher spawn rate colonizes faster and reduces contamination risk for intermediate growers; a 2% rate allows advanced growers to stretch their spawn much further!).

• Slapping the Block: Sometimes, Shiitake blocks need a physical shock to trigger a massive pinset. Many commercial growers give the bare block a firm “smack” before putting it in the fruiting room!

• When to pick: Harvest the mushrooms when the protective veil underneath the cap has broken, but the outer edge of the cap is still slightly curled downwards. Cut them flush with the block using a sharp knife or scissors.

Please note this culture is sold with our Mushroom Spawn and Cultures sale agreement. By purchasing you agree to this agreement