How to grow wine cap mushrooms
Stropharia rugosoannulata
Wine cap fruits on outdoor beds of hardwood chips or straw, forming pins at 50–68°F (10–20°C) about 2–6 months after inoculation. It's one of the easiest mushrooms to start in a garden.
By Derick · October 24, 2026
- Fruiting temperature
- Pins at 50–68°F (10–20°C)
- Humidity
- 85–95% RH; bed damp, not soggy
- Inoculation to first harvest
- About 2–6 months
- Grows on
- Hardwood chips or straw, outdoors
Difficulty: Easy. Cornell counts wine cap among the easiest mushrooms to start (Cornell Small Farms), and it needs no grow bags or sterilizing (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology).
Wine cap growing conditions at a glance
| Stage | Temperature | Humidity | Fresh air / CO2 | Light | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planting the bed | Any time from last frost to a few weeks before first frost | Water the bed thoroughly, not to sogginess | Open air | Partial shade | Day 0 |
| Bed colonization | Grows at 41–95°F (5–35°C), best near 79°F (26°C) | Bed damp, like a wrung-out sponge | Open air | Partial shade | About 2–6 months to first mushrooms |
| Pinning | A drop to 50–68°F (10–20°C) | Bed kept damp | Open air | Partial shade | Not stated |
| Fruiting | About 61°F (16°C) gives stout caps; 75°F (24°C) gives fast, thin ones | 85–95%; stems crack more often below 60% | Open air | Partial shade | Pick within the first few days |
Where these numbers come from
- Planting, moisture, light: Brooklyn Botanic Garden plants from the last frost to a few weeks before the first (early April to mid-October in New York City), keeps the bed in partial shade and damp "like a wrung-out sponge", and picks within the first few days (Brooklyn Botanic Garden).
- Colonization temperature: A 2025 review in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology gives mycelial growth at 41–95°F (5–35°C), best at 79°F (26°C) (review).
- Time to first mushrooms: Cornell gives 2–6 months after inoculation, "given that the temperatures are still warm enough" (Cornell Small Farms). NC State Extension also gives 2–6 months (NC State Extension). Johnny's Selected Seeds, which sells spawn, says spring beds may fruit in 1–3 months (Johnny's); GroCycle allows 2 to 11 months (GroCycle).
- Pinning and fruiting: The same review says pins are triggered by a drop to 50–68°F (10–20°C). Around 61°F (16°C) mushrooms grow slowly and stay stout; around 75°F (24°C) they grow fast and slender and open early. It gives 85–95% RH for fruiting, with more stem cracking below 60% (review).
What does wine cap grow on?
Hardwood wood chips
The classic bed (Cornell Small Farms). Johnny's says wine cap can handle up to 50% softwood and that fresher chips carry less risk of other fungi (Johnny's); NC State finds six-month-old chips "perfectly fine" (NC State Extension).
Straw
Cornell lists straw alongside chips (Cornell Small Farms). In one farm's trial, straw beds out-yielded chip beds (SARE).
Existing mulched beds
Cornell tucks wine cap into mulch around vegetables, berries or fruit trees (Cornell Small Farms), provided the soil is free of contaminants (Cornell Small Farms).
Containers
Johnny's uses ½–1 bag of spawn per 5 gallons of substrate; mushrooms come only from the top (Johnny's).
How to grow wine cap, step by step
Choose a shady spot
Pick a spot in partial shade with a water source nearby (Johnny's), and clear it to bare soil (Brooklyn Botanic Garden). Keep the spawn in the fridge until planting day (Johnny's).
Layer chips and spawn
Spread 1–2 inches of chips, sprinkle spawn over them, and repeat about three times, ending with chips, about 6 inches deep in all. Water it thoroughly (Brooklyn Botanic Garden). One bag of sawdust spawn covers roughly 4 x 4 ft (Johnny's). Done when no spawn shows on top.
Keep it damp while it colonizes
Push a finger a few inches in: it should feel damp, not soggy (Brooklyn Botanic Garden). GroCycle gives a bed about an inch of water a week (GroCycle). Colonization is done when you dig in a few spots and find white mycelium all through (Johnny's).
Let cool weather set pins
Pins form when temperatures drop to 50–68°F (10–20°C) (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology). If you covered the bed with straw or a tarp, take it off once pins appear (Johnny's). Done when small buttons push up through the chips.
Pick daily
Check the bed at least once a day and pick before the caps flatten (Johnny's).
What's different about growing wine cap?
A garden bed, not a grow bag
Wine cap needs no bagging, sterilizing or sterile inoculation gear: growers spread raw material as a bed, add spawn and cover it with a simple casing layer of soil or leaf litter (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology).
Straw beds, planted in fall
In a SARE-funded trial by Field & Forest Products, a Wisconsin spawn seller, 6–10 inch straw beds out-yielded thinner 3–4 inch chip beds and needed no watering. The farm planted its straw beds in fall, because straw does less well planted in late spring or summer (SARE). That rests on one farm's trial.
It feeds the garden too
In the same farm's later SARE trial, straw beds with wine cap broke down faster than straw alone (11.6 cm deep against 15.2 cm after three months) and ran 2.1°F warmer. Tomato plots with wine cap yielded 6.85 lb, against 4.59 lb with straw alone and 2.38 lb with no mulch (SARE).
When and how do you harvest wine cap?
Wine cap is ready any time before its cap flattens and starts to curl up, which signals spore release. Twist or cut mushrooms off at the base (Johnny's). Dark spore dust on the stem means you're late (Brooklyn Botanic Garden). Warm spells open caps faster (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology), so check more often then.
A bed keeps fruiting for about three years if you add a fresh layer of chips every year (Brooklyn Botanic Garden); after a year, GroCycle also adds spawn (GroCycle). For a yield benchmark, Field & Forest picked 40.2 lb in 2018 from three straw beds built with six straw bales and three bags of spawn (SARE).
Common wine cap problems
Nothing after months
Wait the full 2–6 months (Cornell Small Farms), then dig in a few spots for white mycelium. If the bed is colonized, it may be too warm to pin; pins need a drop to 50–68°F (10–20°C) (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology). Our pinning guide covers the other causes.
Mushrooms stall or stems crack
A dry bed is the usual cause: if the substrate dries out, mushrooms may not mature (Johnny's), and stems crack more below 60% RH (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology). Water the bed and cover it with straw in dry spells.
Slugs and animals
Johnny's spreads diatomaceous earth for slugs, uses row cover against mammals and picks young, when mushrooms have less damage (Johnny's).
Other mushrooms in the bed
An outdoor bed is easily colonized by other fungi, so identify every mushroom before you eat it, and cook wine cap thoroughly (Johnny's). Fresh chips lower the risk. See contamination.
Tracking a wine cap grow in Hypha
Hypha can track each bed as a block from inoculation to harvest, with a photo journal and notes for watering, weather and first pins. Hypha sets each block's reminders from typical timings, and you can adjust them for each block, which a months-long outdoor run will need. Our grow log guide lists what to record. Download Hypha to start.
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Wine cap growing FAQ
How long does wine cap take to grow?
Wine cap takes about 2–6 months from inoculation to its first mushrooms (Cornell Small Farms; NC State Extension). Spring beds can fruit in 1–3 months (Johnny's), and GroCycle allows up to 11 (GroCycle).
Can you grow wine cap indoors?
Wine cap can grow indoors or out (Cornell Small Farms), and in trays or pots (Cornell Small Farms), fruiting only from the top of the container (Johnny's). It's still grown mostly outdoors, and no one has reported year-round factory production (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology).
What temperature does wine cap need?
Wine cap mycelium grows best near 79°F (26°C) and stops below 41°F (5°C). Pins form after a drop to 50–68°F (10–20°C) (Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology).
Is wine cap hard to grow?
Wine cap is one of the easiest mushrooms to grow: Cornell lists it with oyster and shiitake as the easiest for home or sale (Cornell Small Farms). The work is keeping the bed damp.
Terms on this page
Sources
- Cornell Small Farms (smallfarms.cornell.edu/resources/outdoor-production)
- Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology (link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-025-13576-1)
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden (bbg.org/article/how_to_grow_winecap_mushrooms)
- NC State Extension (richmond.ces.ncsu.edu/news/outdoor-mushroom-cultivation)
- Johnny's (johnnyseeds.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-JSSShared…)
- GroCycle (grocycle.com/wine-cap-mushroom)
- SARE (projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc17-1070)
- Cornell Small Farms (smallfarms.cornell.edu/resources/guide-to-urban-farming/mushrooms)
- SARE (projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc20-1208)
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