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Wine Cap Mushroom Sawdust Spawn












Skill level | Beginner |
Grow location | Outdoors |
Spawn shelf life | 6 months (refrigerated) |
Flavor profile | Mild, nutty, earthy |
Bag weight | 5.5 lbs |
Wine Cap (Stropharia rugosoannulata) is a delicious mushroom with a mild, earthy flavor. (Some describe it as a cross between artichokes and potatoes!) It's an ideal mushroom for beginners as it colonizes quickly and yields reliable flushes. If inoculated in spring, Wine Cap can fruit in as little as two months and will produce in the same bed for several years. Fresh woody material can be added each year to maintain the health of the bed. Inoculated material from one bed can be used as spawn to inoculate new beds on your property.
Recommended use:
- Wine cap sawdust spawn is only recommended for use in outdoor beds or top-fruiting containers.
- This is not a mushroom grow kit. 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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- 2-4 months (outdoor beds and containers)
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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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Christmas Present
This was a present for my brother and he was very happy.

Surprisingly Easy
I mulched a lot of the back yard with woodchips. Inoculated with spawn 8/3/22. First harvest 10/30/22.

Worked in a cardboard box
I originally had this in my raised bed in August with baby corn but then wanted to move the straw to plant fall crops so I stuck it in a box and watered it twice a week. I'm in zone 9b and it survived the heat wave in September and squirrels trying to bury peanuts. I was surprised to see a mushroom at the end of October.

Wine cap galore!
Placed spawn bag in bed around June 2022 and fruited October 2022. We harvested close to 10lbs. Looking forward to next spring when they come back!

WineCap-First Outdoor's Mushroom Bed
It is my first time doing an outdoors mushroom bed. (I had fruiting blocks indoors). This was easy to do. I inoculated a 4x4 area with Wine Cap Grain spawn in mid August, as soon as it got cool about 60F I got the first flush. I got a second flush a week after and every time it rains about 3 days later got some few more pop up. Is the end of October and I got already 12 pounds of mushroom from that 4x4 bed. The mycelium colonized the straw in a thick mat and still looks great. I might get more flushes if temperature allows. In any case, I will add more straw for the winter and hopefully get more flushes next spring.

surprise flush!
Totally forgot about our mushroom spawn in our raised beds, we just got a flush though as temps have started to cool down! So cool! We inoculated last fall.
North Spore
These are beautiful! Thanks for sharing :-)

Tough summer, trying again
I purchased 2 units of winecap sawdust spawn (and an almond agaricus) in the spring, followed all the instructions, even placed a drip watering system in my garden beds to assure a conducive environment but this summer was so brutally hot here in Southeast Texas that I didn’t get a single mushroom. Gave it until October temperatures dropped hoping for a late bloom but so far nothing. I saw signs of struggle near the almond agaricus but the wine caps never showed any sign of mycelium growth. The mycelium just couldn’t take hold and I see no sign in my beds as I’m prepping for fall gardening/clean up. Super disappointed but trying again over the fall/winter (aka second spring here) and will try mixing more types of wood with varying sizes, we have a good 2nd growing season for colder weather species through February, wish me luck! Gave a 4 star because the product looked amazing and was easy to follow directions once I got it in the ground but a temperature warning for zone 9a would have been nice.
North Spore
Thanks for the feedback! Passing your zone idea along to the team :-)

As advertised and easy to grow. Patience.
I am so happy that these came out great. First harvest today and they just came out of nowhere. Almost missed them but sure enough all over my blueberry beds I see mushrooms. Different stages of growth. Have 7 more beds that will be providing lots of food hopefully this year and next. Have another bag of spawn and a 15ft tall pile of wood chips that may become my new mushroom mountain.
North Spore
Those wine caps look amazing! Thanks for sharing!!

Great until....
I made a 4ft x 4ft x 8in deep bed of mixed free wood chips from my city utility drop area in May. In September I had mushrooms! (After watering regularly and the temps cooled down) And after 2 weeks of bounty my chickens got in and scraped the top layer off

easy to grow; spreads everywhere
Easy to grow, feed and even spread by innoculating other beds with older myciliated material. Such low work load for years of easy harvest.