Growing wine cap mushrooms
Wine cap or king stropharia (Stropharia rugosoannulata) is grown outdoors, in a bed of hardwood chips and/or straw in partial shade. The Belgian pack is spawn for such a bed, not for fruiting in the bag. The first mushrooms come 2 to 6 months after inoculation.
Field & Forest Products (VS) · BS-18North Spore (VS) · BS-19Mushroom Mania (BE) · BS-36Cornell Small Farms Program · BS-03It is an outdoor species, not for the cellar. Fruits mainly appear in spring and autumn, at about 10 to 21 °C and after heavy rain.
North Spore (VS) · BS-19Mushroom Mania (BE) · BS-36Setting up the bed
Use at least 50 % hardwood. North Spore builds a bed of 15–20 cm, in layers of 5 cm; Field & Forest starts with 7.5–10 cm of chips and covers with 5–7.5 cm. Choose partial shade, for example on the north side of a building or at the edge of a wood.
North Spore (VS) · BS-19Field & Forest Products (VS) · BS-18When to inoculate?
Inoculate above freezing, up to 4 weeks before the first frost at the latest. Water the bed every other day for the first 4 weeks.
North Spore (VS) · BS-19Waiting and harvesting
Colonisation takes 3 to 6 months according to North Spore. Harvest as a button with a tightly curled cap, or until it is as big as the palm of your hand, before the gills turn dark from the spores or the veil comes away completely. A bed gives several flushes in one season.
North Spore (VS) · BS-19Field & Forest Products (VS) · BS-18Wild mushrooms grow outdoors too
An outdoor bed is not a closed culture: other, wild mushrooms can come up in it as well. This site does not help with identification. Never eat a mushroom from an outdoor bed based on a photo or a website; if in doubt, eat nothing.
What we do not know
We found no yield per square metre, and the temperatures are American producer values.
North Spore (VS) · BS-19Source
- Outdoor Production — Cornell Small Farms Program
- Wine Cap (Stropharia rugoso-annulata) Sawdust Spawn — Field & Forest Products (VS)
- Species Spotlight: Wine Cap — North Spore (VS)
- Blauwplaatstropharia – Kweekpakket — Mushroom Mania (BE)
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This site does not help with picking or identifying wild mushrooms. Never eat a wild mushroom based on a website.
This is general growing information from the sources listed. Always follow the instructions of your kit or supplier. Only eat what demonstrably grows from your own culture of the bought, named species; if in doubt about colour, smell or shape, do not eat it.
Pick your species and your space; the tool shows what fits, with sources. No account needed.