Candidates For Cultivating The Lion’s Mane Mushroom
I wouldn’t want to choose which mushroom is the greatest because I believe they are all amazing, but if I really had to choose, I’d choose to grow Lion’s Mane mushroom. I chose Lion’s Mane because of the fantastic characteristics the species has; it’s much easier to cultivate, and its fruits can be very awesome when added to any meal. Another good thing about Lion’s Mane is that it offers special health benefits. With all these, it’s disappointing to say that Lion’s Mane isn’t available at the regular grocery stores, so you’ll have to grow your own.
This site will provide you with everything you need to get started. Before further looking into that, let’s talk about some of the features that make this species excellent.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
Scientific Name: Hericium erinaceus
Lion’s Mane Mushroom appears white and sometimes brown, and exhibits snowball-like formations when growing. A single mushroom can weigh more than 1 Ib. Spongy and semi-hollow in texture.
Natural Habitat: Found commonly on dead and rotten hardwood, commonly seen in North America.
The difficulty of Cultivation: Easy-Medium
Agar: It’s very unique when grown on agar. Lion’s Mane does not always grow out to the plate edge, but it develops long teeth which come from several directions. It has mycelium which can be slow in taking off.
Spawn Types: Its spawn types include the Rye grains. Lion's Mane grain has the propensity to begin fruiting even before the spawn is fully colonized. Watch the Lion's Mane grains closely to be able to monitor the fruiting process, and also to be able to shake the grain spawn well for proper and dull colonization.
Substrate Types: Options are supplemented hardwood sawdust and master's mix, but it should be noted that Lion’s Mane will do better on supplemented hardwood sawdust that has been enriched with wheat bran of about 10-20% quantity.
Fruiting Containers: The best container to use in planting Lion’s Mane is autoclavable filter patch grow bags. When full colonization is evident, then slice little “x’s” into the bag when they're still at their primordial stage. Do not make Many holes in the bag, with fewer holes, your product will be larger fruits.
Yield: 2 lbs of Lions Mane are possible to be harvested from a single 5 lb fruiting block.
Harvest: Harvesting is done by cutting the snowball very close to the bag. Take care not to damage the spines when cutting, and store them up in the fridge.
Weakness: Sometimes, Lion’s Mane doesn’t reach full colonization. The mycelium itself finds it difficult to grow successfully on agar let alone a natural circular pattern. Another thing is that bruising is very much possible so you should handle Lion’s Mane with great care when growing or during harvest. More durability is ensured when stored in the fridge.
Cooking: Lion’s Mane plays around well in the kitchen, maybe this is because of its great ability to be used as supplements in quite a good number of dishes. Its texture is spongy-like which makes it soak up the flavor (especially chicken)it's being cooked in. Cut it lengthwise, fry, and dip it in an already melted butter. It’s said that Lion’s Mane is a wonderful replica of a lobster. Another plus to Lion’s Mane is that it possesses great herbal properties and is thought to help develop cognitive skills.
THE SPECIFICS
Spawn Run:
Incubate for 10-14 days. Monitor closely for colonization, and initial primordia formation. Shake Often.
Initiate Pinning:
Usually, pinning begins on its own. 15°C. Make holes in the growing bags and place them at room temperature.
Fruit Development:
Temperatures between 15-20°C. Humidity should be at 90%. Avoid direct fruit spraying when misting. Relatively low fresh air is required.
HOW TO GROW LION’S MANE MUSHROOM
A similar growing process for any other mushroom, but there are slight differences to watch out for. Note that suitable growing is done at home. If you’re much new at it, start with a kit. If a more authentic experience is what you want, then you’d need a commercially made spawn. Well, this latter decision of yours would require that you get more experience.
LION’S MANE GROW KIT
A mushroom grows a kit is a wonderful option if you’re a beginner. It’s a fully colonized fruiting block for mushrooms, the job is half done if you possess one already. A grow kit is available both online and even at the grocery stores. After you have one in possession, place it in a humid place and put some x's” inside the bag. Lion’s Mane naturally begins to grow out of the holes in the bag. Spraying the bottle a few times in a day is important as fanning fresh air is also important. After you must have purchased a kit, you’re likely to get about 3 flushes, this means that you might not need to go through the rigor of making arrangements for the special environment in which your mushroom will grow. Lion’s Mane especially will thrive well in moderate conditions, but if expansive growth is what you want, you might need to put in much effort in making the environment up to the standard.
The point I’m trying to pass across to you is that Lion’s Mane is easy to cultivate, and will not pose any difficulties. When it comes to Lion’s Mane, then you can be sure that all you'll have is a stress-free planting.
STARTING FROM SPAWN
Having a piece of prior knowledge about mushroom cultivation will help you a great deal in cultivating Lion’s Mane. The experience you have in planting mushrooms will guide you when you want to add Lion’s Mane spawn to an appropriate substrate. I can recommend to you that hardwood sawdust that has been amended with bran is a very top-notch substrate that you can use in growing your Lion’s Mane. The regular fruiting block recipe has also proven to be very effective in the job of growing Lion’s Mane. It can even offer you many flushes.
Research also has it that great success can be accomplished when Lion’s Mane is cultivated on the Master’s Mix when hardwood sawdust and soy hulls get to 60% hydration level. The yield got after this planting process was immense, and longer shelf life was also recorded using this substrate. Nevertheless, more studies are still advised.
Straw is also a good growing site for Lion’s Mane species. However, this technique hasn’t been personally tried, so its authenticity can not be ascertained yet. There’s that possibility that straw may be excellent for other strains but not Lion’s Mane. So research has to be carried out to find out whether Lion’s Mane is well adapted to straw.
GROWING LION’S MANE FROM SCRATCH
Starting from scratch when you’re about growing your Lion’s Mane should never be daunting, just get agar culture, and you’re good to go. Liquid culture is much more usable too, but if you want to grow a Lion’s Mane that has better longevity, then I’d suggest you put your liquid culture on agar. So since the process of growing Lion’s Mane is the same with other strains of mushrooms, it’s safe to say that for Lion’s Mane, you can grow your culture on agar. Afterward, introduce it to your bulk substrate, and the job is done.
Another interesting thing about Lion’s Mane mycelium is that whenever a culture plate is used in growing it, it can last for years and remain fresh. But be sure to preserve it in the fridge. Another care that must be taken during the period of lion’s mane growth is to ensure you control its long spines so that it doesn’t get contaminated when trying to find its way outside the agar plate. You can avoid this by storing the culture in the fridge.
Finally, Lion’s Mane grain spawn starts to fruit the moment it’s fully colonized, but this should be stress, just ensure you’re always proactive about controlling the entire growing cycle. Lion’s Mane remains a very excellent choice when contemplating on which strain of mushroom to plant.