Lentinula edodes - Shiitake

Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) is a saprotrophic fungus grown on freshly cut hardwood logs, the second most produced mushroom in the world after the common button mushroom.¹

Inputs

• Hardwood logs, 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) in diameter: oak and sugar maple are the best substrates, followed by hophornbeam, hornbeam/musclewood, and beech; soft hardwoods, evergreen species, and fruit wood are unsuitable.¹
• Logs are inoculated with spawn within one day to three weeks of felling, then colonize (spawn run) in a shaded “laying yard” for about a year before fruiting.¹
• Fruiting is triggered (“forced”) by soaking logs in cold water for 12-24 hours, producing a flush within 7-14 days; a log stays productive for 3-4 years, fruiting biannually and yielding upwards of 8 ounces per flush.¹

Outputs

• Human food¹

Type

• Edible fungi

Footnotes

1. Best Management Practices for Log-Based Shiitake Cultivation in the Northeastern United States | Cornell Small Farms Program / University of Vermont Extension ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵