Growing Lion’s Mane Mushrooms

Growing Lion’s Mane mushrooms (Hericium erinaceus) at home can be very rewarding providing you know what you’re doing before you start. Lion’s Mane mushrooms are both great to eat and also prized for their potential health benefits. These unique-looking fungi, with their shaggy white appearance resembling a lion’s mane, are relatively easy to cultivate, making them a popular choice for home growers. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of growing Lion’s Mane mushrooms from basic grow bags and other containers.

Growing Lion’s Mane Mushrooms – The Basics

Before reading the guide it helps to understand a few basic terms and details, so we’ll quickly run through those here.

Mycelium

Mycelium can be described as the roots or root network of a mushroom. It’s a network of tiny threads that fungi use to gather food and nutrients from the soil or other materials they grow on. Just as roots help plants get water and nutrients from the soil, mycelium helps fungi absorb nutrients from their surroundings. Similarly, plants and flowers grow from their roots in the same way that mushrooms grow from mycelium.

Grain Spawn

Mushrooms require two components for growth; spawn, which is the material mycelium starts to grow from and feeds on, and substrate, which you can think of as soil. Most home growers will use sterilised grain of some sort for spawn, and this is usually referred to as ‘grain spawn’. The most common types of grain used for this are Rye, Wheat, Brown Rice and Millet, but many others can be used as well as types of spawn other than grain.

Substrates

Substrates can be thought of as the soil that your colonised grain spawn can be mixed with in order to grow mushrooms. Lion’s Mane mushrooms can be cultivated on a variety of substrates, each with its own advantages and considerations. However, regardless of recipe, the substrate MUST be sterilised fully prior to use. The most common substrate recipes for growing Lion’s Mane are:

Hardwood sawdust* supplemented with soya hulls, cottonseed hulls, or wheat bran.
Hardwood sawdust* and straw
Hardwood logs or blocks
Coffee grounds and cardboard
Straw and cardboard

*Hardwood Sawdust – for those not living near a wood mill, the most convenient source of hardwood sawdust is hardwood fuel pellets, sold in most garden and DIY centres. Note that softwood sawdust of softwood pellets will not work – you must use hardwood.

Required Temperatures

When growing Lion’s Mane mushrooms you must maintain firm control of temperatures. Lion’s Mane mushrooms have specific temperature requirements at different stages of cultivation and they are an essential part of the cultivation process.

Incubation Stage: Ideal Temperature: 21-24°C
During the incubation stage, when mycelium is colonising the grain and substrate, a stable temperature slightly above room temperature is ideal.

Fruiting Stage: Ideal Temperature: 13-18°C
Once your substrate is fully colonised and the mushrooms begin to grow, Lion’s Mane mushrooms prefer cooler temperatures of around 13-18°C. Lower temperatures will result in slower but can sometimes provide more robust mushroom development.

Growing Lion’s Mane using grow bags

Firstly, when we talk about ‘grow bags’ we mean bags that are purpose-made for mushroom cultivation. The Unicorn muchroom bags which we sell on this website are a great example. Grow bags for Lion’s Mane mushrooms are commonly sold in any of three different forms:

1: Grow bags containing grain spawn and substrate, with the grain ready-inoculated with Lion’s Mane mycelium.
2: Grow bags containing grain and substrate plus a syringe containing Lion’s Mane Liquid Culture Mycelium to be used to inoculate the grain.
3: Grow bags containing grain and substrate ready to be inoculated with your own Liquid Culture.

*Grow bags with both grain and substrate are generally called ‘all in one’ bags.

If you buy grow bags that are not described as ready-inoculated it means you need to inoculate them yourself by injecting the liquid culture provided with the bag or, if none was provided, with liquid culture bought elsewhere or made yourself. When injecting liquid culture to inoculate your grain, care must be taken to ensure sterility. If injecting in open air, this would mean as a minimum ensuring the syringe needle is sterile (if supplied new and sealed, it will be) and ensuring all other surfaces, hands and injection ports are cleaned with 70% cleaning alcohol to reduce the chances of contamination entering the bag.

After inoculation with liquid culture

Incubation: After inoculation, place your mushroom grow bags in a dark, warm area for incubation. The mycelium will start colonising the substrate within a few weeks and, during this period, maintain a consistent temperature of 21-24°C to support healthy growth. Lion’s Mane mycelium appears quite pale and wispy compared to other more aggressive species, and this is normal. When the bag looks to be 50% colonised, take the bag and gently manipulate it to break the grain up inside and mix the colonised and uncolonised grain together – the mycelium will seem to vanish when you do this but it actually helps accelerate growth.

Fruiting: Lion’s Mane mushrooms thrive in a cool, humid environment. Choose a location with indirect light and good air circulation. A temperature range of 13-18°C is ideal for their growth. After the whole substrate is fully colonised with mycelium, the mushrooms will begin to form. At this stage, expose the grow bags to indirect light and maintain high humidity levels (around 90%). Lightly but regularly mist the bags with water to prevent drying out. Don’t spray the mushrooms themselves if possible.

Harvesting: Lion’s Mane mushrooms typically mature within 3-4 weeks after the appearance of pins (the first signs of mushroom growth). Harvest them when they reach their full size but before they start to turn brown or become overly mature. If the mushroom fruits start to turn an orange/brown shade, try to increase the level of fresh air exchange as this generally means they need more oxygen. To harvest, use a sharp knife to cut the mushrooms off, close to the substrate.

Continued Care: After harvesting, the grow bags can sometimes produce additional flushes of mushrooms. Continue to mist and maintain humidity to encourage further growth.

Other containers

Lion’s Mane mushrooms can also be grown in other suitable containers such as plastic boxes. It’s essential that the containers used are totally clean and sterile (initial cleaning with dilluted bleach followed by cleaning with 70% alcohol should do the job). These containers can have small drainage holes to prevent unwanted puddles of water forming and attracting contamination.

Your grain spawn (typically grain that has been sterilised in bags, inoculated with liquid culture and fully colonised) needs to be fully prepared in advance. Extreme care must be taken to ensure ALL the grain is fully colonised before using it. Once your grain spawn is more or less ready to be used, prepare or buy your chosen substrate.

Inoculation: Once the grain spawn and substrate are both ready and your chosen container is sterile, mix your substrate and spawn in the container. Mix the spawn thoroughly into the substrate to inoculate it. This needs to be done in a room with ‘still air’.  Work quickly and then seal the containers with breathable material such as micropore tape or purpose-made stick-on air filters to prevent contamination.

Incubation: Place the container in a warm, dark location for incubation. Monitor the containers regularly for signs of colonisation, the growth of white mycelium throughout the substrate. Maintain optimal temperature and humidity levels during this stage.

Fruiting Conditions: Once the substrate is fully colonized, transfer the container to a location with indirect light and maintain high humidity levels. Mist the substrate regularly to keep it moist but not waterlogged. Mushrooms should begin to form within a few weeks.

Harvesting: Harvest the Lion’s Mane mushrooms as they reach maturity, using a sharp knife to cut them close to the substrate. Avoid waiting too long, as over-mature mushrooms can develop a bitter taste.

Growing Lion’s Mane on Logs

Lion’s Mane mushrooms can also be grown on logs, a method commonly known as log cultivation. Growing Lion’s Mane mushrooms on logs can be a rewarding and sustainable cultivation method, but it is a far slower process.

Start by selecting suitable logs: Choose hardwood logs from trees such as oak, maple, beech, or birch. Don’t use softwood logs as they are unsuitable. Choose logs that are freshly cut, preferably within a few weeks after being felled. Older logs may already be colonized by competing types of fungi, making them unsuitable.

Preparing the logs: Cut the logs to a manageable length, 3 to 4 feet long, and remove any branches or bark. Drill holes into the logs using a drill fitted with a 5/16-inch drill bit. Space the holes evenly around the log, about 4 to 6 inches apart, and stagger them in rows. The holes should be drilled in a diamond pattern along the length of the log, starting about 2 inches from the ends and spaced vertically every 6 inches.

Inoculation: You will need Lion’s Mane mushroom spawn in the form of wooden dowels or plugs which are already colonised with Lion’s Mane mycelium. Insert the spawn plugs into the drilled holes, tapping them gently with a hammer to ensure a snug fit. Seal the spawn plugs with melted food-grade wax to protect them from drying out and to prevent contamination by other fungi or bacteria.

Incubation: Stack the inoculated logs in a shaded, sheltered location, such as under trees or against a building. Keep the logs moist by watering them regularly, especially during dry periods. You can also cover the logs with a layer of mulch to help retain moisture.

Colonization and Fruiting: Lion’s Mane mycelium will colonize the logs over the course of several months to a year, depending on local enviromental conditions and the quality of the spawn. Once the logs are fully colonized, usually indicated by the presence of white mycelium covering the surface of the logs, they are ready to fruit. Lion’s Mane mushrooms typically fruit in autumn in the UK,  although they may also produce mushrooms in the spring depending on our famous British weather.

Harvesting: Harvest Lion’s Mane mushrooms when they reach maturity, usually indicated by their size and firm texture. Use a sharp knife to cut the mushrooms from the surface of the log, leaving a small portion attached to aid in regrowth. Growing Lion’s Mane mushrooms on logs is a sustainable and low-maintenance method of cultivation that can yield multiple harvests over several years with proper care.

This is a mushroom growing guide specifically for Lion’s Mane mushrooms, but we have growing guides for other mushroom species here on our mushroom growing guides page.