Hydnum Repandum var. Cascadia (Hedgehog or Sweet Tooth mushrooms) that are dried in a carefully controlled environment to preserve the viability of the spawn. Instructions to extract spores are included.
(Kit includes a metal tin of dried spawn, and instructions for creating the appropriate substrate and for growing outdoors.) Cascadia strain.
A late fall to early winter mushroom, the Hedgehog is an easily recognized and well appreciated wild mushroom. It is named for the spiky extrusions beneath the cap, instead of gills.
Hedgehog Mushroom grows in acidic soil (and in other soils). It likes hardwoods or conifers, and seems to enjoy association with rododendrons, and works well within landscaped areas with deep shade and a lot of organic matter on top of the soil. Hedgehogs are a great mushroom for north sides of homes and on the shady side of fences.
Hedgehog mushrooms are a mycorrhizal mushroom, which grows in symbiosis with specific trees. They will grow under hardwoods or conifers.
Hedgehogs may be sown on trees of any age, but do not generally bear on trees that are less than 7-8 years old - they require a group of NOT LESS THAN 2 trees or shrubs, ideally about 5-15 ft apart. They like slightly acidic soil that is well drained, and generally they prefer shade and will thrive where there is seasonal underbrush since they tend to bear when the underbrush has died back for the winter. You MUST be able to provide a suitable environment if you wish to harvest mushrooms from the spawn (mycellium grown will occur even if conditions are not correct, but fruiting will not happen until the conditions are right and the tree root mass and the mycellium mass are both large enough to support Chanterelle fruitings).
Mycorrhizal mushrooms take time to establish. They may take many years. Due to the large mycellium mass required by Chanterelles, and their need for older trees, they may require longer to establish than other mycorrhizal mushroom types.
Dried mycorrhizal mushroom spawn must be sown directly into the natural environment, according to our instructions. NOTE: It is VERY important that you follow ALL of our instructions for cultivating these mushrooms - they do not work if you don't. Sowing these mushrooms is EASY, but does require a blender, and non-chlorinated water.
Each order of dried spawning mushroom contains enough to create two batches of active spores, which may be cultured and expanded, and then sown into the desired substrates.
Dried Spawn is EASY to use! Just reconstitute in water, and either finely chop or use a blender, and pour the resulting spore and mushroom mixture over your substrate or onto the ground where they need to be sown.
Packaged in metal tins for longest storage and viability. We do not use plastic in handling this product (plastic leaches chlorides, which are fungicidal in effect), and our products are not exposed to chlorine or other harmful chemicals during growth, processing, or handling on our property. You may be assured of the highest quality and maximum growth potential.
NOTE: Dried spawning mushrooms must be selected and handled correctly to produce viable spores. They must also be used correctly to extract spores, and then to culture the spores into the receiving medium. Our proprietary methods ensure viable spores, and we give you instructions for culturing them in a non-sterile environment. (If cultured improperly in a non-sterile environment, things go terribly wrong.) You are not only paying for the mushroom spores, you are paying for our expertise in both the processes we carry out before you see the product, and the instructions we give you for using the spawning mushroom.
Cross contaminations DO occur with non-sterile mushroom spawn (they seem to occur with alarming frequency with supposed sterile spawn as well!). In general, these contaminations are harmless, they may produce other non-edible, or other edible mushrooms, but for the most part, the mushroom you paid for will outnumber the contaminations by many times, and will not establish ahead of the desired mushroom.
Additionally, when using non-sterile methods to culture in natural materials, prior colonizations of unwanted fungus may occur, resulting in the fruiting of unexpected, random mushroom types. This is not at all a disaster, and normally does not cause problems. These mushrooms will typically be inedible, and may be ignored - in our experience, the cultured mushroom still establishes well and will produce well in spite of the interlopers! The chance that a poisonous look-alike would grow instead is virtually non-existent - because dangerous look-alikes don't grow in the same environment as visually similar edible species.
We do advise that you KNOW YOUR MUSHROOM - and that you know what it looks like, so you correctly identify anything coming up. This is wise in every instance, because even when you are using "sterile" kits or materials, rogue mushrooms may grow.
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