09/15/2026
🍄🟫 Reishi mushrooms are prized for stress-fighting properties. This in-demand crop grows naturally in Oregon forests, and you can grow them yourself with a fruiting block or inoculated logs. Learn how!
Method 1: Growing reishi with a fruiting block
Fruiting blocks can be purchased from local suppliers and mimic natural logs in structure and function. They start as 5-pound blocks made with hardwood sawdust and bran, which get sterilized and then inoculated with grain spawn. You can grow reishi in a greenhouse, on the forest floor, or in a makeshift shady and humid environment. These can fruit in about 75–90 days.
Method 2: Inoculating logs with sawdust spawn
The traditional methods of growing red reishi mushrooms involve inoculating logs with spores and “immature” or “fresh” sawdust spawn, incubating those logs for the 9 to 12-month spawn run, and then planting those logs in the grounds of a shaded greenhouse in early spring. The main benefit of log culture is that it generally produces higher quality mushrooms than sawdust-based fruiting blocks.
Ganoderma lucidum is the most commonly cultivated variety due to its adaptogenic properties. It means "shining skin" in Latin. G. lucidum is bright red at maturity but ranges from white to yellow as it grows.
Ganoderma applanatum, Ganoderma tsugae and Ganoderma oregonense can be found in the forests of Oregon, standing out in winter due to their corky or woody texture.
No matter the method, reishi is slower to form mature mushrooms than cultivars such as shiitake, oyster and lion's mane.
To learn more, read the full free Reishi Mushroom Growing Guide here: https://beav.es/EM9364
