Shiitake Mushroom Plug Spawn
















Skill level | Beginner |
Grow location | Outdoors |
Incubation | 9-12 months |
Spawn shelf life | 6 months (refrigerated) |
Flavor profile | Savory, buttery, umami |
Bag sizes | 100, 500, & 1,000 count |
Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) is a nutritious mushroom that produces medium-to-large, brown, umbrella-shaped caps that tend to fruit throughout the summer to fall growing season. They are a delicious edible fungus from East Asia and their flavor is often described as rich, savory, buttery, and umami. Shiitake tends to produce generous flushes and they are a great mushroom for beginners. They colonize quickly and are the most reliable producers of any species.
Plug spawn is ideal for smaller projects of 1-10 logs, though some log cultivators will use them for larger projects.
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To grow on logs using plug spawn, you will need a Drill Bit, Log Sealing Wax, and Wax Daubers.
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Click here to download our pamphlet on growing mushrooms on logs, stumps, and totems.
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Shiitake works best with the log method. Colonization takes at least 9-12 months, and fruiting tends to occur throughout the summer to fall growing seasons and after rainfalls. Preferred wood species are oak, maple, or beech.
For our complete plug spawn pamphlet, click here.
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If you don't plan to use immediately, you can refrigerate your spawn for up to 6 months.
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Shiitake has a meaty texture when cooked and is good for drying and reconstituting in winter soups. It pairs beautifully with tamari, ginger, and garlic and can bring needed umami to many different dishes. These mushrooms are delicious sauteed and can be used in stir-fries, risottos, ramens, on pizzas, or simply eaten by themselves.
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The spawn used in our mushroom plugs is grown on USDA certified organic grain and made with organic cultures from our own culture bank. Our plugs are handmade from a blend of locally sourced, all-natural, organic, and non-GMO woods 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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Great wide temperature strain
This is my second time buying these because I love the strain. I get good fruiting even when it's a bit warm. They respond well to hitting and soaking to force fruit. Overall these are really nice and well work the money.

very pleased
I've been using this product since 2019 and re-purchased twice. Consistent quality and quick shipping
Yo! Great Christmas Gifts!
With the clear instructions and wide variety of mushrooms available, these will be great gifts for my three children who live in separate states...and should be interesting to see the differences in harvests...

Shittaki Happy
We are very pleased with these Shittaki plugs. We inoculated Oak Logs with the Shittaki plugs on March 23rd 2022 and on October 26th they started producing big time. We have had 3 large harvest and a few small ones since. So many Mushrooms we have started dehydrating some as well. We also bought other Mushrooms log plugs; Blue Oyster, snow White Oyster, Golden Oyster, and Lions Mian. The Blues and the Whits just started producing big clusters. Loving growing my own Mushrooms. Thanks North Spore!

Reliable strain
I purchased these back in 2019 and the logs inoculated with shiitake plugs are still producing well in year 3. North Spore has quality products that I highly recommend.

Reliable Spawn from NSpores
So happy about my Shiitake logs fruiting in just 10 months! Had some today with chicken soup and was so delicious!!!

Huge mushrooms!
We had to have an oak cut down and instead of getting rid of the logs, we decided to eat them by way of these handy plug spawn. A little over a year after we inoculated, we started to see small fruits and after a few very rainy days this fall, these monsters emerged! Delicious and a lovely addition to our edible landscaping projects.
North Spore
Those mushrooms are huge! Great job :-)

delicious & easy
The plug spawn was easy to use as a beginner, and these are fruiting reliably every shoulder-season off my Red Oak logs. Great mushrooms.

Just coming here to brag!
I had a fabulous experience with this product and just harvested 8 pounds of mushrooms this past weekend off 10 oak logs inoculated Spring 2021 in Iowa City, IA. I love Northspore videos--they were very helpful in gaining the confidence needed to dive in!
North Spore
Those shiitakes are beautiful! Great job!

very healthy
very good fast shipping