Easily grow your own Shiitake Mushroom mushrooms for years to come. Shiitake Mushroom Plug Spawn is wood dowels inoculated with the Shiitake Mushroom mushroom species mycelium, and used to grow Shiitake Mushroom mushrooms on freshly cut logs or stumps. You will specifically need hardwood logs such as Alder, Ash, Birch, Bitternut, Cherry, Chestnut, Hophornbeam, Ironwood, Maple, Oak, Pecan, Sweet gum, Sycamore, Tulip poplar, Walnut, Willow and others. Shiitake Mushroom mushrooms do not grow on conifers. Simply drill 5/16" holes 1" deep to hammer the Shiitake Mushroom plugs into. The holes should be drilled right before plugging them, and spaced about 4" apart. Logs should be roughly 6 inches in diameter and four feet long. They need to be freshly cut, or at least cut within the past 20 days. Avoid using logs with missing or split bark, try to find unpenetrated logs, except on the sides they were cut. Shiitake Mushroom Plug spawn can also be used to grow mushrooms on live trees, but should only be done strategically down branch where pruning is planned later. Our Shiitake Mushroom plug spawn is made from hardwood fluted or spiral dowels. The shiitake is an edible mushroom native to East Asia. Shiitake grow in groups on the decaying wood of deciduous trees, particularly shii, chestnut, oak, maple, beech, sweetgum, poplar, hornbeam, ironwood, mulberry, and chinquapin. Its natural distribution includes warm and moist climates. Fresh and dried shiitake have many uses in the cuisines of East Asia. In Japan, they are served in miso soup, used as the basis for a kind of vegetarian dashi, and as an ingredient in many steamed and simmered dishes. In Chinese cuisine, they are often sautéed in vegetarian dishes such as Buddha's delight. Incubation Temperature: 70F-80F Incubation Time: 12-14 Days Fruiting Temperature: 55F-65F Fruiting Humidity: 85%-93% Pinning Time: 4-10 Days Total Fruiting Time: 14-18 Days