Wine Caps, also known as Garden Giant or King Stropharia, are easy to grow.
Early spring is an ideal time to start your outdoor mushroom bed, when the ground has thawed and the days are warming up to around 10C. No need to wait until the danger of last frost has passed as fungal mycelium is very cold hardy and can handle some freezing nights under a “blanket” of straw or woodchips. Early planting gives the longest season for making mushrooms that year, however Wine Cap an also be planted outdoors anytime spring through fall.
Select a location under a fruit tree, between vegetable rows, or anywhere with shelter from the direct hot sun. Lay down cardboard, moistened straw and/or hardwood chips about 10 cm (4″) deep. Our Wine Cap sawdust kit will inoculate an area approximately 1 m x 1 m (3 ft x 3 ft).
Crumble up the wine cap spawn and mix throughout. Keep well watered, particularly in the dry summer months.
After a few weeks white stringy strands of fungal mycelium will be visible, feeding on your wood chips or straw, gradually spreading throughout the entire bed. When kept well watered, giant burgundy mushrooms will sprout throughout the summer and fall.
In most of Canada, Wine Cap mycelium will overwinter and produce year after year. Each fall mulch with a thick layer of fresh straw or hardwood chip to provide shelter from the harsh winter, and food for next year’s crop. Expand your patch by transplanting handfuls of mycelium into new beds at any time.
How to Identify Wine Cap Mushrooms (Stropharia rugoso-annulata)
