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Wild harvesting[edit]

Due to its climate, the Pacific Northwest of the USA produces commercially valuable mushrooms. Valued species include:[3][4]

Mushroom gatherers have few requirements to begin business. Gatherers only need to supply funds for possible park fees, knowledge for identifying mushrooms and gathering time.

There are significant disadvantages to relying on natural mushroom production. These sales may be unregulated, placing buyers at risk for buying toxic or inedible mushrooms. By honest error, harvests may include toxic or inedible species. No controls exist to regulate the quality or frequency of harvests, since gatherers rely on favorable natural conditions and weather to produce fruiting. Conflicts may arise between competing gatherers trying to harvest from the same location.

State parks in the Pacific Northwest or elsewhere may charge fees for mushroom gathering permits.[5][6] Appalachia also produces edible wild mushrooms, including chanterelles and morels.[7] Pickers may sell directly to distributors, restaurants, or sell their harvest through roadside stands wherever a natural supply of mushrooms is plentiful.

While there may be concern that harvesting wild mushrooms may exploit or damage a natural environment, harvesting wild mushrooms is different from harvesting wild plants, fishing or hunting animals. In these last three cases, removing individuals decreases the ability of a wild population to reproduce, since fewer adults remain. Removing adults leaves fewer individuals capable of reproducing and reduces genetic diversity.

Harvesting wild mushrooms removes only fruiting bodies and their attached spores. However, the fruiting bodies (mushrooms) have likely dropped spores before harvest time, or will likely drop them en route to the harvester's destination, further expanding the fungi's habitat. Arguably, the practice of mushroom harvesting may actually help the species being harvested. While truffles also represent the fruiting body of a larger underground network, they are an exception, since they rely on animal spore dispersion.

Additionally, reproduction and propagation can still occur by propagation of the parent mycelium. Harvesting removes none of the parent mycelium, which remains intact underground.

Outdoor logs[edit]

Mushrooms can be grown on logs placed outdoors in stacks or piles, as has been done for hundreds of years.[8] Sterilization is not performed in this method. Since production may be unpredictable and seasonal, less than 5% of commercially sold mushrooms are produced this way.[9] Here, tree logs are inoculated with spawn, then allowed to grow as they would in wild conditions. Fruiting, or pinning, is triggered by seasonal changes, or by briefly soaking the logs in cool water.[8] Shiitake and oyster mushrooms have traditionally been produced using the outdoor log technique, although controlled techniques such as indoor tray growing or artificial logs made of compressed substrate have been substituted.[9][10][11]

Shiitake mushrooms grown under a forested canopy are considered non-timber forest products[12] In the Northeast shiitake mushrooms can be cultivated on a variety of hardwood logs including oak, American beech, sugar maple and hophornbeam. Softwood should not be used to cultivate shiitake mushrooms. [13] The resin of softwoods will often times inhibit the growth of the shiitake mushroom making it impractical as a growing substrate.[14]


Indoor trays[edit]

Indoor growing provides the ability to tightly regulate light, temperature and humidity while excluding contaminants and pests. This allows consistent production, regulated by spawning cycles.[16] This is typically accomplished in windowless, purpose-built buildings, for large scale commercial production.



Six phases of mushroom cultivation[edit]

Phase Time span Temperature Key points
1. Phase I composting 6–14 days[17] Regulate water and NH3 content through microbial action.

Add fertilizer / additives

2. Phase II composting or pasteurization 7–18 days via composting method, ~2 hours for pasteurization (heat sterilization)[18] Reduce number of potentially harmful microbes through further composting, or apply heat sterilization.

Remove unwanted NH3.

3. Spawning and growth 14–21 days[18] 75°F; to 80°F; must be above 74°F; for rapid growth.[17]

Must be below 80°F; to 85°F to avoid damaging mycelia[18]

Add starter culture.

Allow mycelium to grow through substrate and form a colony.

Depends on substrate dimensions and composition.

Finished when mycelium has propagated through entire substrate layer

4. Casing 13–20 days Promote the formation of promordia, or mushroom pins.

Add a top covering or dressing to the colonized substrate.

Fertilizing with nitrogen increases yields.

Induces pinning

5. Pinning 18–21 days[17] Earliest formation of recognizable mushrooms from mycelium.


6. Cropping Repeated over 7-10 day cycles[18] Harvest



Pinning is the trickiest part for a mushroom grower, since a combination of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, temperature, light, and humidity triggers mushrooms towards fruiting.[1][2][17] Up until the point when rhizomorphs or mushroom "pins" appear, the mycelium is an amorphous mass spread throughout the growth substrate, unrecognizable as a mushroom.




An ideal substrate will contain enough nitrogen and carbohydrate for rapid mushroom growth. Common bulk substrates include:[16][18]


Pests and diseases[edit]

Parasitic insects, bacteria and other fungi all pose risks to indoor production. The sciarid fly or phorid fly may lay eggs in the growth medium, which hatch into worms and damage developing mushrooms during all growth stages. Bacterial blotch caused by Pseudomonas bacteria or patches of Trichoderma green mold also pose a risks during the fruiting stage. Pesticides and sanitizing agents are available to use against these infestations.[16][22] Biological controls for insect sciarid and phorid flies have also been proposed.[23]

A recent epidemic of Trichoderma green mold has significantly affected mushroom production: "From 1994-96, crop losses in Pennsylvania ranged from 30 to 100%".[24]

Commercially cultivated fungi[edit]

Home cultivated shiitake developing over approximately 24 hours.
9-day old Pleurotus ostreatus mycelium. The structure is a network of millions of interweived threads called hyphae. One can also discern individual spores.
  • Agaricus bisporus, also known as champignon and the button mushroom. This species also includes the portobello and crimini mushrooms.
  • Auricularia polytricha or Auricularia auricula-judae (Tree ear fungus), two closely related species of jelly fungi that are commonly used in Chinese cuisine.
Details of the gill structure of the edible oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus.[25]

Production regions in the United States[edit]


The borough of Kennett Square is a historical and present leader in mushroom production. It currently leads production of Agaricus-type mushrooms,[27] followed by California, Florida and Michigan.[28]

Other mushroom-producing states:[29]

  • East: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Vermont
  • Central: Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin



  1. ^ a b c d e Chang, Shu-Ting; Chang, S., and Miles, P.G. (2004). Mushrooms, Cultivation, Nutritional Value, Medicinal Effect, and Environmental Impact. CRC Press. pp. 15,17,69,73,139. ISBN 0-8493-1043-1. 
  3. ^ David Pilz, Randy Molina, Jane Smith and Mike Amaranthus. "Commercially-Harvested Edible Forest Mushrooms: Productivity and Sustainable Harvest Research in the Pacific Northwest". 
  4. ^ Filip, G. (October 1998). "Harvesting and Marketing Edible Wild Mushrooms". 
  5. ^ "Washington State Personal Use Mushroom Harvesting Rules". 2006-10-02. 
  6. ^ "Mushroom Gathering in the Tripod Fire Area Wenatchee National Forests". 
  7. ^ " commercial website". 
  8. ^ a b "Cultivating mushrooms in natural logs". Global Village Institute. 1998, 2001. 
  9. ^ a b Hill, Deborah B. "Introduction to Shiitake: The "Forest" Mushroom. Kentucky Shiitake Production Workbook." (PDF). 
  10. ^ Davis, Jeanine M. "Producing Shiitake Mushrooms: A Guide For Small-Scale Outdoor Cultivation On Logs.". North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. 
  11. ^ "Shiitake and Oyster Mushrooms." (PDF). University of Kentucky College of Agriculture New Crop Opportunities Center. 
  12. ^ Mudge, Kenneth. "Forest Farming". The Magazine of the Arnold Arboretum 67: 26–35. 
  13. ^ Shiitake Mushroom Cultivation. 
  14. ^ Bruhn, J.N.; Mihail J.D. (2009). "Forest farming of shiitake mushrooms: Aspects of forced fruiting". Bioresource Technology 100 (23): 5973–5978. 
  16. ^ a b c "Crop Profile for Mushrooms in Pennsylvania" (– Scholar search). January 1999 [dead link]
  17. ^ a b c d e f g "Six Steps to Mushroom Farming" 
  19. ^ Baysal, E; Ergün Baysal, Hüseyin Pekerb, Mustafa Kemal Yalinkiliça and Ali Temizb (10 March 2003). "Cultivation of oyster mushroom on waste paper with some added supplementary materials". Bioresource Technology 89 (1): 95–97. doi:10.1016/S0960-8524(03)00028-2. PMID 12676506. 
  20. ^ Salmones, D; Salmones D, Mata G, Waliszewski KN. (March 2005). "Comparative culturing of Pleurotus spp. on coffee pulp and wheat straw: biomass production and substrate biodegradation". Bioresour Technol 96 (5): 537–44. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2004.06.019. PMID 15501659. 
  21. ^ Job D., D. (December 2004). "Use of coffee grounds for production of Pleurotus ostreatus.". Revista iberoamericana de micologia : organo de la Asociacion Espanola de Especialistas en Micologia 21 (4): 195–7. PMID 15709800. 
  23. ^ Jess, S; Jess S, Bingham JF. (April 2004). "Biological control of sciarid and phorid pests of mushroom with predatory mites from the genus Hypoaspis". Bull Entomol Res 94 (2): 159–67. PMID 15153298. 
  26. ^ "September is mushroom month in Pennsylvania". 
  27. ^ Shepphard, Tenopra M. "Mushroom Summary" (PDF). 
  28. ^ "Mushroom Industry Report (94003)". 