Grifola frondosa : Hen of the Woods, Maitake Mushroom Culture Slant

Culture supplied as living mycelium in a test tube slant. Culture can be stored under refrigeration for several months. Slants are best suited for long distance travel, or long term culture storage. To ensure freshness of culture, slant requests are made to order, please allow 2-4 weeks for processing and shipment.

Substrate: Hardwood sawdust and chips supplemented with bran
Colonization/Fruiting Temperatures: 70-75F/50-65F

A large polypore with clusters of overlapping brownish-gray fan shaped caps attached to a common base with short tough stems. The undersides of the mushroom caps are white and composed of tiny pores instead of the plate-like gills seen in more typical mushrooms.

We have had good luck fruiting this strain at room temperature from fully colonized spawn bags of hardwood sawdust/bran mixture. Occasional spikes in temperature up to 72F didn't seem to harm the mushrooms. After gray lumps of primordia are visible on the top substrate block, the top of the plastic bag is cut away leaving a two inch rim of the plastic above the top surface of the block. This will help retain humidity. The rest of the plastic bag is left on the block during fruiting. Humidity should be around 80% especially near maturity. Typical of polypores, this species requires a lower relative humidity that most gilled mushrooms.