WINE CAP OUTDOOR KIT

STORAGE

For best results, use the garden kit as soon as possible as there is live mycelium within the bag. Ensure the kit is not left to freeze outside - the mycelium may not survive.

If you don’t get around to using the kit right away, place the kit in a standard household refrigerator until ready to use. We recommend storing in the fridge for no longer than 4 weeks upon arrival if absolutely necessary.

WARNING: The bag is impulse sealed - only open the bag when you are ready to use the kit. Prematurely opening the bag will increase the risk of contamination.

SUPPLIES NEEDED

A NEW OR EXISTING GARDEN BED
WOOD CHIPS/SHAVINGS AND STRAW
ACCESS TO PLENTY OF WATER

APPROACH

For best results, we recommend inoculating your wine cap garden bed in the early spring and after the last frost. This will give the mycelium plenty of time to become established over the spring and survive the hot summer months. With enough care and maintenance, it is possible for the first harvest to be as early as the fall.
Prepare your garden bed by removing any weeds, dead foliage, and any non-organic material. The designated garden bed MUST be protected from direct sun. If it is a new, bare garden with no high plant coverage, it should be in a shaded spot out of the sun. Alternatively, the garden bed can be in a sunny location but there must be plenty of high plant coverage to provide shade to the soil and the future mushroom crops. The key to success is providing plenty of shade for the mushrooms as they grow while being able to maintain high levels of humidity.
Wine cap will do best on a combination of wood chips and straw. We recommend using soft hardwood chips such as box elder, cottonwood, or aspen. Aspen shavings can be commonly purchased at pet stores as animal bedding. Straw may also be found at pet stores or more commonly at a farm supply store. Using a combination of both provides wine cap mushrooms with the best of both worlds - dense energy sources from the wood shavings that take longer to colonized and lighter energy sources from the straw which allow the mycelium to colonize faster.
We recommend first placing about 3 inches of straw on top of the soil, then heavily watering the straw with a garden hose or watering can. Then, open the wine cap bag just below the impulse seal using a pair of scissors and evenly sprinkle the contents over the straw using your recently washed hands. Lastly, cover the newly inoculated garden bed with about 2 inches of wood shavings and lightly water the newly-made garden bed.
Depending on outdoor conditions in your area, frequency of watering may vary. At first, we recommend checking the garden bed daily to ensure high levels of humidity are being maintained. Stick your finger approximately 2-4 inches into the garden bed - it should feel damp. Too dry? Provide more water. Too wet? Water less. Within a couple of weeks, keep an eye out for white, ropey threads that may appear to be growing across the garden. This is the mycelium and a sign that it is alive, thriving, and colonizing the garden!

YIELD AND HARVEST

Wine cap mushrooms are typically ready to harvest 3-12 months after inoculation of the garden bed and this estimate depends on many factors. Ensuring the garden stays within the shade and that suitable levels of water and humidity are maintained will help promote a faster first harvest. Patience is key - mushrooms are on their own schedule!

Once the first set of mushrooms have appeared, when to harvest is personal preference. Picking mushrooms when young and the caps haven't opened up may make for a better tasting mushroom and may reduce the chances of insects, slugs, and critters getting to them first. However, waiting to pick once the caps have opened up will result in a much larger, and meatier mushroom. Pluck the mushroom from the base using your hands, or use a very sharp knife to cut the mushroom at the base. If storing for later use, wine cap mushrooms can be stored in brown paper (sandwich) bags and kept in the fridge for about a week. Alternatively, they can be cut in half and dried in a dehydrator or freeze-drier and stored in an air-tight container for many months.

REPLENISH

Inoculated garden beds should yield for several years if using a combination of wood shavings and straw. Overtime, yields are expected to decrease due to diminishing amounts of substrate. The garden bed can be replenished by mixing in more straw and wood shavings to provide the mycelium with more substrate to consume. Replenishing is not guaranteed but improves chances of producing more yields in the future. To increase chances, we recommend adding another garden kit with fresh mycelium to repeat the entire grow cycle.