Wine Cap Mushrooms
Wine Cap Mushrooms (Stropharia rugosa annulata) are considered one of the easiest mushrooms to grow. Easy to grow, but highly prized, Wine Caps are noted for both their large size and excellent taste. Wine Caps are not often found in stores because of their fragile nature. This is my first attempt at growing them. As with the shiitake mushrooms I’ve grown for many years, my Wine Cap stropharia spawn came from Field and Forest Products, Inc., Peshtigo, Wisconsin. http://www.fieldforest.net/ If you want to know anything about growing mushrooms and want buy the products you need to grow them, check out Field and Forest. We highly recommend them.
Wine Cap Spawn
Wine Caps are often grown on wood chips. Yields with wood chips are larger and longer lasting, but growing on straw is fast and easy. Field and Forest sells Wine Cap spawn in 5.5 lb. bags, which they recommend for a fifty square foot planting using one small square bale of straw. I doubled that and planted two 5.5 lb. bags.
Shady Spot Prepared for Planting
A shady area with good soil surface contact is recommended for planting beds. The ground should not be covered with sod or other materials that might keep the mushroom spawn from interacting with the soil. We had an excellent spot on the edge of the woods where the grass never gets established and was showing some bare soil, anyway. It was easy to scratch up a 10 foot by ten foot bed.
Soaking Weighted Down Straw Bales
The straw should be of good quality, and relatively weed free. It needs to be soaked under water for three to six days. I had a big stock tank that worked perfectly for this. I soaked three straw bales (just to be safe), although I only ended up using just two bales. I had to weigh down the straw bales with blocks and rocks. Without the weight, the bales would float and not soak up the water in a short time period.
Bagged Spawn
Here’s a picture of the two bags of spawn. Field and Forest has developed a breathable bag that allows the spawn to remain fresh and viable without refrigeration for up to two weeks. If not used immediately, the spawn can be refrigerated for up to six months. The spawn breaks up easily. I just put the contents of the bag into a large bowl and crumbled it by hand. After it’s all broken up, it looks like brown sugar.
First Layer of Straw
I laid down about one inch of wet straw. Working with wet straw is really sloppy, so boots and old clothes are highly recommended. On top of this straw I scattered as evenly as possible the contents of one bag of spawn. Then I added another couple inches of straw and scattered the second bag of spawn on top of that.
Finished Planting
I covered the second layer with a final cover of about three inches of straw, which used up all of two bales. I blocked the whole pile up neatly and were not winter coming soon, the job would be done. In warmer weather I could expect some mushrooms in just a few weeks.
Wine Cap Straw Pile Mulched with Leaves
The cold weather will slow things down and the mushrooms shouldn’t show up until spring. To keep the pile wet but not soaked, I mulched the bed with about six inches of leaves.
Wine Cap Harvest
If all goes well, we can expect a huge harvest soon after warm weather returns. Field and Forest Products, Inc. also kindly provided the three pictures of wine caps, as we won’t have any to show until next spring.
Wine Caps