Description

Cultivation Difficulty: Moderate
Type: Edible
Substrate: hardwood chips and sawdust, straw and composts
Colonization/Fruiting Temperatures: 70-80F/60-70F
Available In: 10cc liquid culture

A large and adaptive edible species best suited for outdoor culture in the home garden. Indoor fruitings are possible but the king stropharia requires an unsterile casing to stimulate mushroom development and is slow fruit. These difficulties are avoided by simply inoculating a garden compost pile.

We have seen good results from buried sawdust spawn blocks of the king stropharia. In spring, the fully colonized substrate block was removed from the bag and buried along with a mixture of moist straw and fresh hardwood chips. Many mushrooms fruited directly above the buried block throughout the summer. Large strands of mycelium are visibly spreading throughout the rich garden soil. Techniques for integrating the king stropharia, also known as the garden giant or wine cap mushroom, into the garden can be found in the book Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets. The presence of mushroom mycelium in the garden soil acts as a natural fertilizer, conditioning the soil for improved garden paroduction.

The king stropharia’s massive size, attractive appearance and ease of cultivation mark it as desirable for home cultivators. Very young mushrooms that do not have darkened gills from spore production are considered most desirable for eating.

The culture offered here is from a specimen collected in Cape Cod, Mass

Note: Culture supplied as living mycelium in solution in a sterile 10cc syringe with unattached 16 gauge needle. Culture can be stored under refrigeration for several months. Use to directly inoculate Sterilized Substrates and Media.