Wood Blewits are autumnal treasures of the forests and fields found throughout North America. This mushroom has a slightly swollen stem at its base, cream, pink, or lavender-to-blue colored gills (lots of variation), a cap whose color ranges from peach tones to blue, and a dusty pink colored spore print. The mushroom is fairly dense and meaty with a pleasant, earthy flavor. The fruiting temperature range is typically 45-70°F, but needs the cooler temperatures to initiate fruiting.
Creating a Wood Blewit bed can be as easy as having a bag of spawn on hand while cleaning up garden waste. Follow the five easy steps below for planting your Wood Blewit bed.
Planting Blewits
1. Gather and prepare your substrate
Blewits grow on a variety of organic materials, including yard waste such leaves, grass clippings, bark, pine needles. You can collect these materials throughout the season until you build up enough substrate to constitute a bed mixed with woodchips. Make sure the final mix is moist prior to building the bed. Beds with at least 50% or more wood chip composition work best.
2. Select a bed location
Shaded areas are best because beds will be less prone to drying out and require less watering. The bed should have a soil floor or mulched surface, free from weeds and sod. Along a tree line, under pines, and other shady locations are ideal.
3. Planting the bed
Lay down the layers of organic material, add egg-sized chunks of Blewit spawn to the bed. Make sure not to break up the spawn too much, as it regrows faster when left more intact. Continue layering until you use up the spawn. The bed should be about 4-8˝ deep with chunks at least 3" below the top surface of the bed. You may wish to additionally mulch over the top of the bed with straw, wood chips, bark, or other materials to maintain moisture.
4. Maintaining and monitoring
Mushrooms require moist conditions to grow and fruit. We recommend checking your bed regularly at first to ensure it is receiving enough natural rainfall. A well-made bed in an ideal location may need little to no maintenance. Dig down into the bed with your fingers — it should be damp, not wet. If it feels dry, then water with a sprinkler.
Time to plant:
Spring through mid-fall. Plant by August 1 for fall fruiting the year of planting.
Time to fruiting:
Plant by August 1 for fall fruiting the year of planting. If planted later, fruiting will occur the following fall, a year after planting.
When they fruit:
Fall, when temperatures are 45-70°F.
Materials to grow on:
Diverse mix of organic material like semi-composted yard waste, twigs, leaves, grass clippings, bark, straw, etc.
Bed size:
Up to 25 sq. ft. per 5 lb. bag of sawdust spawn. Bottle spawn will plant 5-8 sq. ft.
Appearance:
Blue-violet-tan colored cap and stem - stem swollen at base. Gills lavender to buff. Spore Print: Pale pink.
Flavor and texture:
Earthy, dense and meaty.
5. Mushroom harvest
Wood Blewits typically fruit in the fall, 3-12 months after planting. Keep an eye on your bed especially after a rainfall when the temperature dips down in the fall. Pay attention to the mushrooms as they develop and be sure to identify them*. The key characteristics Wood Blewits are listed above. When they are ready to harvest, simply pluck them from the bed using your hands, cut the bottom of the stem off, and store the mushrooms in the refrigerator until you're ready to use them. Cook before eating. Cook as you would any mushroom. The stem is edible, but requires a longer cook time.
*Always be sure to identify your mushrooms before you eat them. Please consult the website and additional resources for more information.
