Resources for Mushroom Growers
Shiitake Cultivation

How to grow shiitake mushrooms on natural logs or on sterilized sawdust substrates. The links below bring you free information, but sometimes technical details are lacking. If these articles don't work for you, we recommend Shiitake Growers Handbook - The Art and Science of Mushroom Cultivation by Paul Przybylowicz and John Donoghue.

USDA's Office for Small-Scale Agriculture: A Small Scale Agricultural Alternative: Shiitake Mushrooms
Michigan State Universty Extension: Shiitake Mushrooms - A New Forest Product? (PDF - 79K)
The University of Kentucky offers a series on shiitake cultivation:
- Shiitake Production On Logs: Step By Step In Pictures (PDF - 698K)
- Introduction to Shiitake: The "Forest" Mushroom (PDF - 408K)
- Shiitake: Spawn Selection (PDF - 223K)
- Shiitake: Monitoring Moisture Content of Logs (PDF - 88K)
- Shiitake: Harvesting and Post Production Management (PDF - 452K)
- Potential Profits from a Small-Scale Shiitake Enterprise (PDF - 241K)
- Resources for Shiitake Growers (PDF - 218K)
- Video: Growing and Marketing Shiitake Mushrooms on Natural Logs
Cornell University offers the following publications:
- Growing Mushrooms on Logs Bolts - Plug Spawn (PDF - 1,200K)
- Japanese Shiitake Log Hillside Stacking (PDF - 1,700K)
- Video: Overview - Shiitake on Natural Logs
- Video: Drilling Shiitake on Natural Logs
- Video: Using a Sawdust Spawn Plunger
Maryland Cooperative Extension offers further information on shiitake cultivation:
- Shiitake Mushrooms Enterprise (PDF - 256K)
- Video: Growing Shiitake Mushrooms (WMV - 4.8MB)
Alice Chen Ph.D.: Cultivation of Lentinula edodes on Synthetic Logs (PDF - 156K)
For even more information about shiitake cultivation see:
- Pennsylvania State University: Cultivation of Shiitake on Natural and Synthetic Logs (PDF - 720K)
- Alabama Cooperative Extension System: Shiitake Mushroom Gardening
- Vermillion County Conservation District: Shiitake Mushrooms
- University of Florida: Shiitake Mushrooms (PDF - 74K)
- Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service: Growing Shiitake Mushrooms (PDF - 476K)
- North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service: Producing Shiitake Mushrooms: A Guide For Small-Scale Outdoor Cultivation On Logs
- Sustainable Communities Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives: Cultivation of Shiitake in Coffee Waste
- University of Missouri: Growing Shiitake Mushrooms in an Agroforestry Practice (PDF - 2800K)
- Clemson University: Producing Shiitake the Fancy Forest Mushroom (PDF - 261K)
- John Donoghue and William Denison: Growing Shiitake on Underutilized Hardwoods (PDF - 24K)