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Organic Wine Cap Mushroom Sawdust Spawn
Skill level | Beginner |
Grow location | Outdoors |
Spawn shelf life | 6 months (refrigerated) |
Bag weight | 5.5 lbs |
Incubation | Beds: 2-8 months |
Fruiting temps | 50-70°F |
Also known as the "Garden Giant," Wine Cap (Stropharia rugoso-annulata) is a delicious mushroom with a mild, earthy flavor reminiscent of artichokes and potatoes. It's an ideal mushroom for beginners as it colonizes quickly and yields reliable flushes.
Wine Cap can fruit in as little as two months and will produce in the same bed for several years. Fresh woody material (like hardwood chips) can be added each year to maintain the health of the bed. Inoculated material from one bed can also be used as spawn to inoculate new beds!
Recommended use:
- Wine cap sawdust spawn is only recommended for use in outdoor beds.
- Wine cap sawdust spawn must be combined with a substrate (like wood chips) in order to fruit.
- Please note: Wine cap does not grow on logs.
Upon receiving your spawn:
Remove it from the shipping box as soon as possible. Then, unfold the top of the bag, making room for air space. It's also important to check and confirm that the filter patch is not obstructed. This will help the organism breathe and continue to thrive!
Scroll down for cultivation, inoculation, and storage guides.
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Click here to download our pamphlet on outdoor bed cultivation using sawdust spawn. Be sure to use clean, untreated products when making outdoor beds.
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Wine Cap is a vigorous mushroom that grows naturally on outdoor beds of woody debris. It grows best on straw (not hay), hardwood chips or sawdust. Hardwood recommendations are soft maple, poplar, box elder, and magnolia. They can tolerate a mixture that includes some softwoods - generally no more than 25%. You can also mix different woody materials.
Wine Cap seems to do better if the beds have a variety of particle sizes, such as a mix of both sawdust and wood chips. Avoid branches or other very large pieces of wood as these take longer to colonize and can create too much air space in the bed. Freshly cut wood is preferred, though Wine Cap can also grow well on more aged materials. Many folks are having success with the chip mixes coming from roadside crews pruning under power lines -- and it's a free resource!
Wine Cap does best in partial shade but can tolerate some direct sun. Ideal locations would be at the edge of fields and woods, around the base of trees, in perennial gardens, or as part of the mulch in vegetable gardens, where annual veggies will provide some shade. Once established, Wine Cap beds require little maintenance. During dry periods, the bed can be watered but do not over-water, as excessive watering can suffocate the mycelium.
- In a suitable location, remove any leaves, etc., down to either bare ground or plain grass. No need to dig a trench, but the bed should be in contact with the soil. One bag of sawdust spawn is enough to inoculate approximately 16 square feet.
- Spread mixed woody material over the soil, about 1'' deep.
- Break up the Wine Cap sawdust spawn and evenly sprinkle the spawn on top of the layer of woody debris.
- Add a second layer of woody debris about 2-3'' thick.
- Thoroughly water the bed.
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If you don't plan to use immediately, refrigerate your Wine Cap sawdust spawn. Use within 6 months of receipt.
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Wine Cap mushrooms are best when braised, grilled, or sauteed. When young, Wine Cap mushrooms can be eaten with the stem and offer a tender yet crunchy texture when lightly cooked in oil. They can also be sliced and mixed into meat sauces or risotto, roasted or braised along with other fall vegetables and served with meat, fowl or fish, added to soups, or stuffed and baked. If using the larger, more mature mushrooms, it is recommended to remove the stems as they become stringy and to slice or chop the cap to ensure even cooking. Wine Cap mushrooms pair well with lemon juice, wine, ramps, nutmeg, fennel, polenta, pasta, quinoa, and rice.
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All our spawn is made using organic cultures from our own culture bank. Our sawdust spawn is handmade from a blend of locally sourced, all-natural, organic, and non-GMO woods and supplements from farms and forests in New England and North America.
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If you’re going to consume home-grown mushrooms, make sure to cook your fresh mushrooms thoroughly with heat. If it is your first time eating this species, it is best to start with a small amount to check for allergies, even if cooked.
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- Reviews
- Questions
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Easy to get started
I got these started almost 2 weeks ago and I'm already seeing some amazing progress. I can't wait to see these grow in the upcoming months! Very excited.
North Spore
Your review made our day, Jon! If you need help with anything, please reach out.
North Spore wear I go for all my fungus needs
Really simple o actually just did my wine cap bed and covered it up good. I'm expecting it will turn out really well . I've had excellent results with all of your products
North Spore
Thanks for the great review, Shawn! Please reach out if you ever need anything.
Awesome results!!!!
I tried growing few varieties of mushrooms in our garden this year (very low tech) and wine caps are definitely a keeper!!! I inoculated woodchips in my raised beds in January, three months later we harvested our first flush of "garden giants" They are so easy to grow and so delicious!!!
North Spore
Thanks for sharing, Kay! Your review made our day. Our team is here to help if you ever need anything.
So easy!
I was blown away by how easy it was to inoculate my garden beds with these mushrooms, and how quickly they came up. I got at least 3 huge flushes of mushrooms in late summer after putting the spawn down in May. I ended up drying whatever we didn’t use in cooking, keeping us in mushrooms for months to come.
North Spore
We really appreciate the kind review, Danielle! (And thanks for sharing the pics, too!)
Bursting with Potential!
Very happy with the Winecap spawn! Didn’t have the bed ready so stored it in the spare fridge. Opened it yesterday and it was perfect. Laid the woodchip bed and sprinkled the spawn then covered. It is placed in a mostly shady corner of my vegetable garden and I have hopes it enjoys its new home and fruits well. I have since told three people about North Spore when they learned about this garden project! Thanks!
North Spore
Thanks for sharing, Colleen! Your review made our day! Please reach out if you ever need anything.
The giants shall rise again...
I've used a handful of other spawn from reputable suppliers. These are the best. Years later and I still find new patches of mycelium in my garden. Excellent product, 100% success, and the mushrooms are massive!
North Spore
Your review made our day, Andrew! Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.
Wow!
I inoculated unknown wood chips I got from a neighbor in the fall of 2023 and the mycelium took off within a few weeks. We watered the chips over the fall and then let the winter rains take over. Fast forward to March 3 of 2024 and we have our first harvest! Whoo!
North Spore
Awesome, Brieanne! We really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. Our team is here if you need anything!
Can I give it 10 STARS!!!
Love love love Wine Caps!! I purchased 5 pound bag of sawdust spawn in June 2022. Found the perfect spot followed instructions as well as I could and practiced patience. I amended the soil where I planted with fine hardwood sawdust as well as hard wood chips and leaves in a lasagna type planting of layers and layers and then covered with plastic after watering. This was during the warmest part of Nebraska summers. In spring of 2023 I was rewarded with little cabs popping up all over my bed and I loved checking on them every day and harvesting almost every day for about a month. I like them in all sizes and I did get a few single mushrooms that were a whole bouquet just with one mushroom. The taste is wonderful experience of going out and harvesting my own mushroom garden next to my other vegetables is wonderful. I will be doing this again this year. My only regret is that I did not take better pictures. Even my neighbors were coming over to take pictures but I just took the pictures for myself not for a review so these are the best I can show you. Totally recommend I'm gonna do a little fancier mushroom bad this year.
North Spore
We love to read reviews like this! It makes what we do all the more worth it. Your winecaps look great!
So far so good!
Crumbled this into 16 sqft of raised planter and it's taking like wildfire to the straw and compost underneath. Hoping to get some good fruiting this season!
North Spore
Thanks for sharing, Alex! We're so glad everything is working out for you.
As described
Excellent
North Spore
Thanks so much, Tyler! We really appreciate your support.