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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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Great for beginners
We have grown these for the past few years. They spread like crazy quickly filling the beds with mushrooms and if you add more wood chips they often comeback year after year. Definitely easy for anyone.
North Spore
Thanks for sharing, Mariah! We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience.
We have Mushrooms
We ordered this item in the fall, it is currently April here in Ohio. The Shipment arrived timely and well packaged. I followed the instructions. We have a very nice bushy area in our yard that is perfect for mushroom gardens. I mixed 1 bag of Vigoro brown mulch and half a bail of straw together. I added the sawdust spawn and soaked the mixture with water. I had forgotten about the mushroom garden. My children play in the woodsy area we have on out lot and they were the ones to find a huge mushroom growing. We were all very excited to roast them and try them, and they are truly delicious. Thank you for the quality spawn.
North Spore
Hello Alex! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience! Those wine caps look phenomenal, and we hope you enjoy them. You've earned them!
Big Mushrooms
My first Wine Cap Mushrooms are coming up. It is exciting! They are not wine colored, and I wondered what would cause that.
North Spore
Hello Sylvia! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! A team member will reach out to you over email shortly to discuss why your wine caps might be missing that classic burgundy color. Thank you for your business!
It's still in my fridge
Hello, my spawn is still in my fridge as I'm waiting for a no frost moment. I have always been happy with North Spore and I'm sure this garden experiment will go well also.
North Spore
Thanks for sharing, Justin! We really appreciate the kind review.
Fun! Getting more
The wood chips I used were too soft, but luckily I used some logs and sticks to border my bed - it took a few months but one day the mushrooms popped up under the logs! This year I’m using some nice hard wood chips and getting MORE spawn. These are amazing. Thank you
FUN product/Easy to Use
I have only just received the sawdust spawn and have inoculated my "tomato" beds with the spawn. The instructions are self explanatory and the process seemed easy. I'm a beginner so couldn't ask for more. I can't wait to see the results.
North Spore
Thanks for sharing, Brenda! If you need help with anything, please reach out.
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!)