Manual: Shaggy Mane Spawn
Shaggy Mane - Spawn
(Coprinus comatus)
The shaggy mane is not a wood-loving mushroom. It lives on rich soil and compost, as in a lawn or on a compost heap. So the easiest way to grow it is outdoors, in the garden. It can be done indoors too, in a tray with a casing layer; that is covered further down. Either way, one thing to know: the mushrooms are only good for a very short time. They have to be picked young and eaten the same day.
Use the spawn as soon as possible after it arrives, or keep it in the fridge for a few weeks at most.
Growing outdoors: the easy way
Choose a spot in partial shade that does not dry out quickly. Spring or summer is the best time to set it up. There are three ways, from very simple to a little more work.
1. In the lawn:
Lift a piece of turf in a few places, scatter the spawn underneath and put the turf back. Press it down and water it. A newly laid or fertilised lawn is ideal.
2. In compost:
Mix the spawn into the top layer of a compost heap, or of a bed of mature compost or rotted manure. Cover with a thin layer of peat or soil and water it.
3. With wood chips:
Make a bed of 10 to 15 cm of hardwood chips or sawdust and mix in compost or rotted horse or cow manure. Wood chips alone are too poor for this species: the wood keeps the bed airy and moist, the compost or manure provides the food. Mix the spawn into the top layer, cover with a thin layer of peat or soil and water it.
After that:
Keep the spot moist for the first few weeks and after that only water in dry spells. Do not spread the spawn too thinly: a small patch with plenty of spawn takes better than a large one with little. The mushrooms come when it cools down, usually in autumn and often after rain, sometimes not until a year later. A patch that takes can come back for years. Check every day in season, because harvesting has to be quick (see Harvesting).
Growing indoors in a tray
Indoors you control temperature and moisture yourself, but it is more work.
What you need:
- Shaggy mane spawn
- Substrate: chopped straw and well-rotted horse or cow manure, half and half
- Casing: peat, mixed with vermiculite if you like
- A tray, bucket or grow bag
- A large pot and a thermometer for pasteurising
- Spray bottle
Preparing the substrate:
Mix equal parts of straw and rotted manure, by weight. You can use coco coir instead of straw. Add water until a firm squeeze gives a few drops, but it does not drip. Then pasteurise the mix for 60 to 90 minutes at 60 to 70°C, for example in a sealed bag or pot in hot water, with the thermometer in place. Boiling or sterilising is not needed. Let everything cool down to room temperature.
Inoculation:
Work with clean hands on a clean surface. Mix the spawn evenly through the cooled substrate, about 1 part spawn to 5 to 10 parts substrate. So 80 grams of spawn is enough for half a kilo to almost a kilo of substrate. Put the mix in the tray or bag and press it down lightly. Cover the tray with foil with a few holes in it, or close the bag so that a little air can still get in.
Incubation:
Keep it in the dark at 21 to 27°C. Warmer is not better: above 27°C growth stalls. The mycelium is white and cottony and needs 2 to 4 weeks to grow all the way through the substrate. Green or wet, smelly patches point to contamination.
Adding the casing layer:
Once the substrate is white all over, cover it with 2 to 3 cm of moist casing. Do not press it down. You cannot skip this step: without a casing layer the shaggy mane forms hardly any mushrooms.
Growth and fruiting:
Then move the tray somewhere cooler, 15 to 20°C, in a bright spot out of direct sunlight. The drop in temperature triggers fruiting. Keep the casing moist with the spray bottle, but not wet, and make sure humidity is high (85 to 95 percent) and the air is fresh. After about two weeks the first pins appear. From then on it goes fast: within a week they are ready to pick.
Second harvest:
Keep the casing moist and the conditions the same. After 7 to 10 days of rest a second flush usually follows, smaller than the first. If nothing appears after three weeks, the substrate is spent. You can still bury the tray outdoors then, in a bed or in the compost heap.
Harvesting and using
Harvesting:
Pick them young. The cap is still white, closed and cylindrical, and still sits against the stem. Once the lower edge turns pink or black, you are late. Twist the mushrooms off gently at the base. Check twice a day at this stage, because the difference between too early and too late can be a single day.
Use them straight away:
The shaggy mane digests itself: within a day of ripening the cap dissolves into black ink. That is not spoilage but the way it spreads its spores, and it simply carries on after picking. So cook the harvest the same day, ideally within a few hours. Always eat them cooked. They cannot be kept raw, but fried they keep for 3 to 5 days in the fridge.
Good to know:
The shaggy mane takes up heavy metals from the soil. So grow it in clean soil and clean compost, not beside a busy road. And the well-known advice not to combine ink caps with alcohol applies to the common ink cap (Coprinopsis atramentaria). The shaggy mane does not contain that substance (coprine).