Sawdust block
Reishi on a block
Ganoderma species
- Difficulty
- Some practice
- First harvest
- 8 to 14 weeks
- Keeps producing
- One long fruiting
- Substrate
- Hardwood sawdust with bran, sterilised
Conditions that actually matter
Warm, 24 to 30C. Restricting fresh air produces the antler form; plenty of fresh air produces the flat varnished conk.
The method
- 01Sterilise and inoculate as for any sawdust block.
- 02Colonise warm, in the dark, for four to six weeks.
- 03Open the bag and choose your form. Sealed with high carbon dioxide gives red antlers; open with good air exchange gives the flat kidney-shaped conk.
- 04It grows slowly for two to three months and sheds a great deal of rust-brown spore dust near the end, which will coat the room.
- 05Harvest, slice while still soft enough to cut, and dry.
What decides whether this works
Carbon dioxide decides the shape, which is the most directly visible demonstration of environmental control in cultivation. It is also not food: reishi is corky and used as a bitter decoction.
What you need for this method
What this step needsPressure canner$184.99
What this step needsStill air box and sterile supplies$35.99
What this step needsPlug spawn and grain spawn$21.99
What this step needsFilter patch grow bags$24.99Some links here are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it never changes what we recommend. Prices were read from Amazon when this page was built and will have moved since.
A sterilised block you colonise yourself from spawn. The step where sterile technique starts to matter, and where most first failures happen.
The species, in the wild
Not worth eating
Reishi, lingzhi
A varnished red-brown bracket that looks as though it has been french-polished.
Other methods