Fruiting Reishi Mushroom Blocks

🍄Setting up your Reishi blocks

Use a knife to cut a 3˝ slit horizontally across the top of the bag between the filter patch and bag seal. Place the blocks in a warm location near a light source as the mushrooms will develop towards the light. Avoid 100% direct sunlight. These blocks do not need to be placed in a humid environment at this time, simply select an area with sufficient indirect sun or supplemental lighting (at least 10 hours/day) and temperature between 70-80°F.

🍄Maintaining and monitoring

The top of the block will begin to form bumps on the top surface - these are the Reishi "pins". The filter patch bag typically maintains the proper humidity around the developing mushrooms. Often times, condensation will naturally build up inside the bag and no additional watering is necessary during the pinning and antler stage. If there is still no condensation after 1 week, use a spray bottle to spritz water into the bag or move the blocks to a more humid area. Over the course of the first 1-4 weeks, the pins will elongate as they grow upward into the "antler" stage. These antlers contain all the medicinal benefits of the fully conched mushroom and can be harvested at this stage. If left to grow, the antlers will continue to grow upwards as tall as 10˝ or more until they are restricted by the bag.

🍄Difficulty:

Easy.

🍄Time to fruiting:

4-12 weeks after setup.

🍄Ideal Fruiting Conditions:

Temperature 70-80°F, humidity ~75%, >10 hours light/day

Mushroom appearance:

Beautifully colored stems (antlers) transitioning from creamy white, yellow, orange and burgundy. Often maturing into an orange conch. Spore print: rust colored. Mushrooms hard and woody.

🍄Mushroom Use:

Teas or Tinctures

🍄 Mushroom cap development and conch formation

Getting Reishi antlers to conch, or form a mature mushroom cap, can be challenging. Conching is stimulated by increased air flow and light. To encourage conching, cut off the entire top of the bag just under the seal when the antlers are 3-6˝ tall. Increase overhead lighting and maintain humidity by misting or moving blocks to a more humid location (~75%). Now that the top of the bag is removed, the block is more prone to drying out. If the mushrooms begin to shrivel, look dry, or get woody, increase the humidity. Excessively humid conditions or even grow rooms used for other mushroom varieties can be too wet and green or other molds can grow on the surface of Reishi. Reduce humidity, watering, or move the blocks if this begins to happen.

🍄Mushroom harvest and storage

Reishi can be harvested at any growth stage by cutting them off at the base with a sharp pair of scissors. Conched Reishi mushrooms release a very high spore load - it will look like rust colored dust coming from the top of the cap. Ideally, you should harvest mushrooms before this happens. Reishi blocks fruit only once, so consider adding the block to the compost pile after harvesting.
Fresh Reishi mushrooms can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. A breathable container is ideal for reducing condensation and excessive wetness that will reduce mushroom shelf life. Alternatively, Reishi can be dried and stored for many months.