Production of Hericium sp. (Lion’s Mane) mushrooms on totem logs in a forest farming system

Abstract

Hericium is an edible, highly sought after wood rotting fungus of temperate deciduous forests. There is little or no commercial forest production on wood substrates, unlike shiitake for which there is considerable commercial demand. There are no detailed descriptions of production practices, and very few commercially available strains. This study compared yield of mushrooms from four different strains—one commercial, Hericium erinaceus and three strains of H. americanum isolated locally (upstate NewYork). Each strain was inoculated onto totem stacks of American beech (Fagus grandifolia) and mushroom production was monitored for five years. There were differences among strains in the percentages of totems that fruited over the five year duration of the experiment. Significantly fewer logs fruited of the commercial strain compared to the locally isolated strains. There were no significant difference among the four strains with respect to the yield of mushroom per log, but yield varied significantly depending on the number of years after inoculation, with peak production during the third and fourth years. Peak production levels were similar to the commercial yield of forest cultivated shiitake mushrooms. The successful forest production of Hericium mushrooms on totem stacks, and the yield potential demonstrated here suggest that this non-timber forest crop may be suitable for commercial production.