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    How to grow maitake mushrooms

    Grifola frondosa

    Maitake fruits on supplemented oak sawdust or buried oak logs at 50–70°F, depending on the source, about 2–4 months after a bag is inoculated. It's slow, and timing when to open the bag is the hard part.

    By Derick · October 24, 2026

    A freshly harvested maitake cluster of grey-brown, ruffled overlapping fronds on a cutting board
    Fruiting temperature
    50–70°F (10–21°C); sources disagree
    Humidity
    85–97% RH
    Inoculation to first harvest
    About 2–4 months in bags; 1–3 years on logs
    Grows on
    Supplemented oak or hardwood sawdust; buried oak logs

    Difficulty: Hard. GroCycle calls maitake one of the most challenging species to grow consistently well (GroCycle): it colonizes slowly, contaminates easily and fruits in two stages.

    Maitake growing conditions at a glance

    StageTemperatureHumidityFresh air / CO2LightDays
    Spawn run (sealed bag)68–73°F (20–23°C); 73–79°F (23–26°C) in a Chinese trialnot statedNone, sealed bag; CO2 under 3,000 ppm in the trialNot needed; dark in the trialAbout 3 weeks to turn white; spawn run 30–60 days
    Primordia (still in the bag)68–73°F (20–23°C)95%CO2 2,000–5,000 ppm100–500 lux3–5 more weeks after dark bumps appear
    Fruiting (bag opened)60–64°F (16–18°C); 66–70°F (19–21°C) in the trial; 50–65°F (10–18°C) per Mushroom Mountain85–95%; 93–97% in the trialCO2 1,000 ppm or less; 400–700 ppm in the trial500–1,000 lux, 12 hours on; 200 lux, 12 hours in the trial1–2 weeks from fingers to harvest
    Logs (bagged, then buried)55–70°F (13–21°C) while colonizingnot statedSealed filter bag, then buriedShade2–3 months to colonize; fruits about a year after burial
    Where these numbers come from
    • Bags. Penn State gives the 30–60-day spawn run (Penn State). The other bag figures rest on GroCycle, a company that sells growing courses and kits (GroCycle).
    • Mushroom Mountain. The 50–65°F fruiting range is from Mushroom Mountain, a spawn seller (Mushroom Mountain).
    • The trial. Figures marked "in the trial" are from a 2018 substrate study in China (AMB Express, via PMC).
    • Logs. GroCycle colonizes sterilized, bagged oak logs at 55–70°F for 2–3 months, buries them in shade and expects mushrooms about a year later (GroCycle).

    What does maitake grow on?

    • Supplemented oak sawdust

      Penn State's best formula was 70% oak sawdust with 10% each of wheat bran, millet and rye, which gave the highest yields and a 12-week crop cycle (Penn State).

    • Hardwood sawdust with soy hulls or bran

      GroCycle uses 65% sawdust with 35% soybean hulls, or 80% sawdust with 20% bran, wetted to 57.5–60% and sterilized at 250°F (121°C) for at least 2 hours (GroCycle).

    • Buried oak logs

      Short oak logs about 8 inches across, pressure-cooked, steamed or boiled, colonized in a filter bag, then buried with an inch of soil on top. They can fruit for seven years or more (GroCycle).

    How to grow maitake, step by step

    1. Sterilize and inoculate

      Check moisture with a squeeze: a drop or two of water should come out. Sterilize, cool, and add grain spawn at 5–6% of the wet weight (GroCycle). Done when the spawn is shaken through.

    2. Incubate

      Keep bags sealed at 68–73°F (20–23°C). After about 3 weeks the block is covered in white mycelium, but it isn't ready to fruit yet (GroCycle).

    3. Wait for primordia in the bag

      The top darkens and forms small bumps, the first primordia. Leave the bag closed another 3–5 weeks, until the grey, brain-like knobs start to branch into fingers (GroCycle).

    4. Open the bag

      Cut the bag near the top, leaving plastic above the mushrooms against drafts, and slit one side. The window is about a week; within 12 hours the fingers should expand and darken at the edges (GroCycle).

    5. Fruit and harvest

      Hold 60–64°F (16–18°C) and 85–95% RH with CO2 at 1,000 ppm or less (GroCycle). Fronds mature in 1–2 weeks. Pick when the caps are open but the edges still curl under.

    What's different about growing maitake?

    Long colonization

    Maitake is slow: incubation and early fruiting can take up to four months (GroCycle). Penn State's best formula had a 12-week crop cycle (Penn State), and a Colombian study on oak sawdust had 12–14 weeks (AGRIS). The fastest substrate in the Chinese trial still took 63 days from inoculation to first harvest (AMB Express, via PMC). On logs, Mushroom Mountain says it can take 2–3 years to fruit (Mushroom Mountain).

    Sources disagree on fruiting temperature

    Published fruiting temperatures for maitake run from 50°F to 70°F:

    Source Fruiting temperature
    Mushroom Mountain, a spawn seller 50–65°F (10–18°C)
    GroCycle 60–64°F (16–18°C) after opening; 68–73°F (20–23°C) to pin
    2018 trial in China 19–21°C (66–70°F)

    GroCycle says maitake prefers warmth, not cool rooms. A Colombian study, run in a tropical climate, found the opposite cue: a cold shock to 10°C (50°F) was needed before mushrooms formed (AGRIS). Our reading, not a sourced rule: pin warm in the bag, fruit in the low 60s, and try a cold spell if a colonized block won't form primordia.

    Outdoors on buried logs

    Maitake logs are buried, unlike shiitake logs: GroCycle sterilizes and colonizes oak logs in bags first, because maitake is easily outcompeted (GroCycle). Mushroom Mountain grows it on buried oak logs or stumps and says it always fruits in fall and winter, forming under a blanket of leaves before it emerges (Mushroom Mountain).

    When and how do you harvest maitake?

    Pick maitake before it drops spores, when the caps are open but their edges are still slightly curled under. Hold the whole cluster at the base and twist it off without tearing the block. Another flush may follow in three to four weeks; on logs, pick when the caps are 1–2 inches long (GroCycle). See our second-flush guide for rest and soaking.

    Yields are modest. UC gives maitake a biological efficiency of 5–35%, against 100–200% for oysters (UC Cooperative Extension). The Colombian study reached 35.3% on oak sawdust and corn bran (AGRIS), and the Chinese trial's best mix 44.9% from the first flush alone (AMB Express, via PMC).

    Common maitake problems

    Primordia abort or come out misshapen after opening

    The bag was opened too early, so they aborted or stalled, or too late, so they didn't develop properly. Open when the knobs start to branch (GroCycle).

    Mold during the long incubation

    Maitake isn't a vigorous grower, so competitors take over a bag that wasn't fully sterilized (GroCycle). See contamination and the contamination ID guide.

    White block, no primordia

    Give it time: the dark bumps follow weeks after the block turns white. If nothing forms, check temperature against the spread above and work through why mushrooms aren't pinning.

    Small, thin caps

    GroCycle blames CO2 above 1,500 ppm, and drafts cost yield, so leave plastic above the cluster (GroCycle). Cornell and Fungi Ally, by contrast, say maitake can fruit in high CO2 and still be high quality (Cornell Small Farms and Fungi Ally). See fresh air exchange.

    Poor fruiting in a shared room

    GroCycle finds maitake doesn't like to fruit alongside other species and uses a dedicated fruiting chamber (GroCycle).

    Tracking a maitake grow in Hypha

    In Hypha, each block gets reminders from typical timings that you can change per block, so set a maitake block's move to fruiting weeks out. Photograph the bag in its photo journal and compare shots side by side to see when the knobs start to branch. Download Hypha to track your next grow.

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    Maitake growing FAQ

    How long does maitake take to grow?

    Maitake takes about 2–4 months from inoculating a bag to the first harvest. Penn State's best formula had a 12-week crop cycle (Penn State), and GroCycle allows up to four months before fruiting, then 1–2 weeks to harvest (GroCycle). Buried logs fruit about a year after burial or later (GroCycle).

    Can you grow maitake indoors?

    Maitake can be grown indoors on sterilized, supplemented sawdust in bags, but Mushroom Mountain calls it difficult indoors (Mushroom Mountain). A dedicated fruiting chamber helps (GroCycle).

    What temperature does maitake need?

    Maitake pins at about 68–73°F (20–23°C) in the bag and fruits at 60–64°F (16–18°C) per GroCycle (GroCycle), but other sources run from 50°F to 70°F; see the temperature card above.

    Is maitake hard to grow?

    Maitake is one of the harder gourmet mushrooms: it colonizes slowly, contaminates easily, and has a window of about a week to open the bag (GroCycle).

    Is maitake the same as hen of the woods?

    Maitake and hen of the woods are the same mushroom, Grifola frondosa, named for clusters that look like a hen's ruffled feathers (GroCycle).

    Sources

    1. GroCycle (grocycle.com/how-to-grow-maitake-mushrooms)
    2. Penn State (plantpath.psu.edu/about/facilities/mushroom/resources/specialty-…)
    3. Mushroom Mountain (mushroommountain.com/maitake-hen-of-the-woods-grifola-frondosa)
    4. AMB Express, via PMC (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5866258)
    5. AGRIS (agris.fao.org/search/en/records/67050a22b1dfe472e144d72a)
    6. UC Cooperative Extension (ucanr.edu/sites/default/files/2012-05/144812.pdf)
    7. Cornell Small Farms and Fungi Ally (projects.sare.org/media/pdf/S/p/e/Specialty_Mushroom_Farm_Book__…)

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