Walk through any Australian forest after rain and the mushrooms you see on fallen timber are wood decomposers: fungi with the enzymes to break down lignin and cellulose. Lion's mane, shiitake, king oyster, reishi, turkey tail and the oysters are all in that group, and the way to grow them indoors is to give them wood. Hardwood pellets are the practical form: compressed sawdust that rehydrates into a fine, even, easily sterilised substrate.

Why pellets and not sawdust

Pellets are made from kiln-dried hardwood sawdust compressed under heat, which means they arrive dry, dense and close to sterile before any cycle. They rehydrate in minutes to a fluffy, uniform sawdust with no bark, no chips and no surprises, and the pressing has already partly broken down the wood structure, so mycelium gets into it faster than into raw sawdust. The result is the most consistent wood substrate a small operation can make.

Supplementation

Plain sawdust grows mushrooms slowly. Add a nitrogen source, classically wheat bran or soy hulls, and both colonisation speed and yield climb sharply. Our wood lovers blend is supplemented with added nutrients for exactly that reason, and because it is supplemented it is fully sterilised, not pasteurised: a rich wood substrate that only got pasteurised is a mould farm. The sterilisation guide explains.

Running a block

1. Spawn into the bag

   Open the wood lovers bag in a still air box or in front of a flow hood and mix colonised grain spawn through at 1:4 to 1:5 by weight: 400 to 500g into a 2kg bag. Wood lovers prefer a leaner ratio than coir tubs.

2. Form the block

   Press the air out, flatten the bag into a brick 8 to 10cm thick, fold the top over twice and clip or tape it. The filter patch must stay uncovered.

3. Colonise

   20 to 24°C in the dark. Oysters and lion's mane: two to three weeks. King oyster: three to four. Shiitake: six to ten weeks, after which the surface browns and firms into a skin; that browning is part of the process, not a problem. Reishi: four to six weeks.

4. Fruit

   Lion's mane and king oyster fruit from a 3 to 5cm X cut in the side of the bag; the restricted opening makes one big, well-formed fruit instead of many small ones. Oysters fruit from the opened top or a cut. Shiitake blocks are taken out of the bag entirely, cold-shocked and soaked, then fruited bare.

Species notes

Lion's mane

16 to 24°C, very high humidity, low light. One cut, one pom-pom. Harvest before the spines yellow. Full guide.

King oyster

13 to 18°C with strong fresh air for thick stems. Too little air gives small caps on long legs.

Shiitake

Patience, then a cold shock: a 12 to 24 hour soak in cold water after the block has browned. 10 to 20°C to fruit. Full guide.

Reishi

24 to 30°C and slow. Keep CO2 high for antlers, give it fresh air for shelves. Full guide.

Oysters

Everything they do on coir, but firmer and bigger. Fruit from the top.

Second flushes

Hardwood blocks hold a lot of energy and usually give two or three flushes. After a harvest, let the block rest for a week in fruiting conditions, then, if it feels light, soak it in cold water for four to twelve hours, drain it for an hour and return it to the chamber. Lion's mane often gives its best fruit on the second flush.

Written by the Aus Myco Kingdom crew. Everything here is general growing information for gourmet and medicinal species; your room, your climate and your culture will have the final say.