Beech mushrooms, (Hypsizygus tessulatus) also known as Shimeji, have ornate nickel-sized mushroom caps and long graceful white stems. A brief sauté in butter and garlic or simmered in ramen broth or miso soup is a wonderful way to enjoy them. So why don't you see a lot of people growing them? Let's jump in!
Growing Beech Mushrooms at Home
Beech mushrooms take a lot of patience to grow both in the spawn run phase and the fruiting phase. If you make you're own grain spawn with Beech Mushroom Liquid Culture, and then expand the grain into a sawdust substrate, it takes 45-60 DAYS for that grow block to reach a stage where it's mature enough to fruit. That's a long time. For many commercial growers, storage space becomes an issue for those almost 2 months. For hobbyist, patience becomes an issue.
But say you're able to skip that step and just grow from a ready-to-fruit block? That certainly cuts down the timeline, but once you have your grow block in hand there are a few things you should arm yourself with for success.
Beech Mushroom Growing Conditions
First thing you'll need is - more patience. Once you open your block you have another 2 to 3 weeks before you start to see mushrooms. Several crops may be gathered but time from second to subsequent 3rd (and possibly 4th) fruitings are usually 2 weeks between harvests. If you have a cool and humid area, growing them can be relatively easy, but you must have the relatively narrow fruiting conditions and the patience to be successful. Yields are very respectable compared to other block-grown mushrooms, so we find this mushroom well worth the effort.
Here are some guidelines to abide by for a successful Beech Mushroom crop:
1. Temperatures MUST be cool during the entire productive life of the block. Temperatures between 50-60° are ideal. Temperatures kept closer to 50 will produce the most beautiful coloring of caps, but fruiting time is slower overall.
2. Humidity MUST be kept high around the developing pins. This can be achieved with modifying your opening method, but ultimately adding extra humidity in the fruiting area is usually necessary. Keep the filter patch bag largely intact, cutting just a 2-inch slit above the filter to introduce extra airflow. Keep a humidity in the fruiting area of 70 RH or above.
3. Time: allow 2-3 weeks for pins to emerge (usually in 2 weeks depending on temperature) and another week or so for the mushrooms to fully develop.
4. Light requirements for Beech Mushrooms: Keep about 12 hours of room-reading light or more a day during pin and mushroom development.
When to Harvest Beech Mushrooms
Harvest before caps start to lift their edges away from the stem for best texture. To do this, widen the original cut enough so you can reach in and harvest. To harvest, gently (but firmly!) pull mushrooms clusters from the base of the stem.
Place the block back in the fruiting area. Attempt to reclose the bag as best as possible (trying to recapture the humidity to allow a second pin set). The second crop should be ready to harvest within 14 days. A third and possibly 4th crop should follow the same pattern, but definitely crops 1-2 are the best.