Skill Level: Intermediate Cultivation Environment: Indoor Growing Time: 2 to 3 weeks Storage Life: 6 months (when refrigerated) Kit Dimensions: 6 inches H x 9 inches W x 6 inches D Kit Weight: 5 lbs Fruiting Temperature: 60-70°F
Our chestnut (Pholiota adiposa) fruiting block showcases a popular strain extensively cultivated in Japan. The mushrooms exhibit a velvety texture, featuring small-to-medium caps adorned with delightful speckles reminiscent of the chestnut's color. Upon cooking, they emanate a woodsy fragrance, boast a crisp texture, and deliver a rich, nutty, mildly sweet flavor.
Chestnuts thrive in cooler temperatures but are susceptible to drying out or halting growth if humidity isn't maintained during their early stages. Achieving subsequent fruitings can be challenging, requiring additional effort and attention, making them a bit more intricate for cultivation.
Chestnut Mushroom Grow Kit
For the majority of mushroom species, inducing fruiting, or initiating the growth cycle, requires a shift in environmental conditions, specifically changes in humidity, light, temperature, and adjustments to oxygen and CO2 levels.
For optimal outcomes:
We suggest cultivating your chestnut block in a designated fruiting chamber, such as a monotub or martha tent, as a controlled environment reduces contamination risks and enhances the likelihood of success.
Establishing ideal conditions:
Refer to the environmental parameters for chestnut mushrooms in the "Temp, Humidity & CO2 guide" on this page and on page 12 of our fruiting block instruction booklet.
Preparing your block:
Wait until the block starts turning orange within its bag before initiating fruiting. When ready to fruit, fold back excess plastic tightly and position the block face up.
How to initiate fruiting:
Place the bagged chestnut block in the refrigerator for approximately eight hours. Remove from the refrigerator and make a single diagonal or X-shaped cut in the bag. Chestnut mushrooms can be fruited from the top or side. Keep in the fruiting chamber until ready for harvest.
Special considerations:
Chestnut mushrooms exhibit slow pinning. Color can transfer to lighter-colored mushrooms when grown or packaged together. Harvesting your mushrooms:
Harvest chestnut mushrooms before the veil breaks to extend shelf life; caps should still be cupped. Chestnuts have a limited shelf life if harvested after the caps have flattened out.
Growing different blocks together:
With some compromise, various mushroom species can be cultivated together in a fruiting chamber. Consider the temperature range and CO2 sensitivity of desired mushrooms. Humidity ranges often overlap for most species. We encourage experimenting with diverse groupings!
