Hericium erinaceus
Fruits best between 60-75°F.
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This product may take up to 3 weeks to ship but most of the time will ship immediately or in 1-2 weeks. Please be aware of the lag before ordering. You will get an email with tracking 1 day before shipping, if you need to delay the order contact MMM ASAP to reschedule the order ship date.
Please see below the instructions for considerations about home grown food products and mushroom spores.
Instructions for use:
This information is specific to Lion’s Mane.
- Check your block upon arrival to make sure there are no tears or signs of mold from shipping. If the block has broken into pieces during shipping, gently press the block together and let sit 3-5 days undisturbed before moving to step 2.
Lion’s mane has notoriously thin and wispy mycelium, if the block appears uncolonized let it sit 2-4 days and it should begin to whiten. - Slice a 1-2″ slit into the bag or a 1″ “X” into the side of the block. Be careful not to cut into the block itself and just cut the plastic. If there are mushroom pins, consider creating the opening around a group of pins (see below image).
- Fold down the top of the bag and deflate the block, tape the top down so that there is minimal room between the block and plastic except where the cut was made.
- Place the Ready-to-Fruit block in the most humid part of your home (not in direct sunlight) or in a grow chamber or grow tent. The kitchen is a good household place in lieu of a dedicated fruiting chamber. Lion’s Mane fruits best between 60-75°F.
Search online for easy to make fruiting chambers: monotubs, shot gun fruiting chambers (SGFCs) and tents with foggers/humidifiers are all great options and will likely increase success in fruiting and producing healthy fruits. Even a trash bag with plenty of holes can be used to increase humidity! If the Lion’s Mane produced in a fruiting chamber have large stems and long thin teeth, more air exchange is needed. - 2X daily (or more if your environment is dry) spritz the plastic with distilled/filtered water where the cut was made and look for mushroom “pins”. These are the start of mushrooms! Pins should take ~1-2 weeks to develop from the time of opening the bag.
- Continue to mist the fruits and plastic while they grow. Lion’s Mane are usually ready to harvest ~7-14 days after pins form and should be harvested before the teeth elongate too much and produce spores for tastiest results (see below image).
- Cut the mushroom cluster from the block and enjoy for your next meal!
- Soak the block in fresh distilled/filtered water for 1-6 hours while inside the bag (pour into the opening) and then drain from the bag.
- Put block back into fruiting conditions, you should get at least 1 more “flush” of mushrooms from the block. If pins do not form at the cut site, consider opening the plastic at the site of the largest set of pins for subsequent flushes and sealing the original site with tape.
Lion’s Mane pin formation:
Lion’s Mane fruits at good time to pick. Might have been best to go 1 day more for slightly more growth.
*CAUTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS:
IF YOU PLAN ON CONSUMING YOUR HOME-GROWN MUSHROOMS MAKE SURE TO COOK THEM THOROUGHLY. IF IT IS YOUR FIRST TIME EATING THIS SPECIES, IT IS BEST TO START WITH A SMALL AMOUNT TO SEE HOW YOUR BODY RESPONDS!
MUSHROOMS PRODUCE SPORES AS THEY DEVELOP. THIS IS A NATURAL MEANS OF REPRODUCTION FOR THE FUNGUS. THEY USUALLY APPEAR AS A DUSTY SURFACE ON YOUR GROW KIT BENEATH THE MUSHROOM CAPS. PEOPLE WITH ALLERGIES OR COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEMS MAY WANT TO CONSIDER PUTTING FRUITING MUSHROOM KITS OUTDOORS OR IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA AS AIRBORNE SPORES SOMETIMES CAUSE RESPIRATORY IRRITATION. SPORES MAY ALSO CAUSE IRRITATION FOR SOME NON-ALLERGIC OR IMMUNE COMPROMISED MUSHROOM GROWERS, THOUGH THIS IS RARE. HARVESTING MUSHROOMS WHILE STILL IN THEIR YOUNGER GROWTH STAGES WILL REDUCE THE OVERALL SPORE LOAD.
