Growing Procedure

Ganoderma lucidum grows on hardwood logs or pasteurized or sterilized hardwood-based substrates. Straw and hemp as admixtures work well. Coffee, alfalfa, and other rich supplements pay off for noble spores; the active ingredient content has been shown to be higher when the fungus has been well fattened.

A supplement with timothy hay is considered an “insider’s tip” for lacquer porcini of all species, many varieties like a mixed wild bird feed (without coarse fatty fruit content), which is also best used as a substitute for grain for brood production. Incubation is done in darkness with as little movement as possible at 20°C-25°C.

European Reishi generally need shorter maturation periods after colonization, but give the intercropped crop at least 4 weeks to gather enough strength to produce reasonably large fruiting bodies. This variety also thrives at moderate temperatures around 15-18°C, but benefits from warmer climates.

When cultivated at around 25°C, with permanently high humidity and sufficient light and air exchange, the formation of colorful caps with sharp color zoning, strong varnish effect and broad white accretion zone occurs.

Partial deprivation of fresh air and light, on the other hand, leads to so-called “antlers” or “antlers”. A suitable porling substrate can be found here…

Best results are achieved if Ganoderma lucidum is allowed to fructify through the filter of the culture container to obtain only one fruiting body. This also keeps the culture permanently free of contamination. Also, the breaking away of unwanted smaller fruiting bodies results in single large mushrooms. Recent scientific findings show that the content of ganodermic acid can be increased if part of the substrate consists of wheat straw.

Stem cultures of Reishi outdoors should be protected from snails with appropriate measures, they are not deterred by the bitterness of the mushrooms and like to nibble on the fresh white growth.

Attempts to cultivate Ganoderma lucidum have proven quite effective. Three main methods exist today. They include wood log cultivation, which is the most popular to date, pot or bottle cultivation, and tank cultivation. For wood log cultivation, hardwood logs or chips are placed in warm, moist environment that are suitable for growth. The spores are then released onto them where they can start to germinate. This can be done in both lab and relaxed settings. The full growth cycle can take up to one year but it is seen as producing a superior product. Growth can also be done using wood chips and chemicals in vacuum packing. This yields a much faster harvest time, around two months, but is seen as producing a lower quality product.Cultivated G. lucidum

Growing

Agar Culture Media: MEA
Cropping Cycle: 1-2 crops 90-120 days apart
Containers for fruiting: Wood logs, indoor mycelium bags for cultivation in a greenhouse, mushroom bed / patch
Biological efficiencies: –
Substrates: Hardwood (most suitable: beech, oak, alder, birch)

Growing Characteristics

Ganoderma lucidum’s surface is damp and shiny, the thin, soft, light yellow resin layer melts with fire
mostly a subsequent decomposer but occasionally also a dangerous parasite of weakness in living trees, white rot trigger

Natural Habitat

Reishi is a wood-inhabiting saprobiont or weak parasite, which mainly colonizes hardwoods. The substrate is mainly oak, but also other deciduous woods, more rarely conifers (spruce and pine). The fungus lives mainly in oak or oak-mixed forests, which are favorable for warmth, and also in red beech forests and hardwood meadows. Outside of these biotopes, the glossy paint porling can be found on hedges, in parks and on roadsides, if the appropriate substrate (oaks or copper beech) is available there. The annual fruiting bodies are found on tree stumps, roots or at the base of trunks of living host trees.

Ganoderma lucidum is seen throughout the world in temperate and subtropical locations including North and South America, Europe, and Asia. It is commonly seen to the east of the Rocky Mountains, particularly in the Gulf Coast regions. Its range extends as far north as Canada and south into Argentina.

hardwood, mostly, beech, oak rarely on coniferous wood, annual, regionally rare, easy to cultivate

Gourmet

There are many ways for Ganoderma lucidum to get delivered into the human body. Some are higher quality but a little pricey. On the flip side, there are more affordable but lower quality options. There is even organic G. lucidum products out on the market. A few of these include Reishi tea, spore powder capsule, spore oil soft gel capsule, and coffee with G. lucidum extract.

Smell

not distinctive

Taste

not distinctive

Flesh

young whitish, later brownish, firm, tough

other names

other names

Polyporus Laccatus subsp. laccatus, Polyporus lucidus var. japonicus, Ganoderma Mongolicum, Scindalma Japonicum, Phaeoporus lucidus, Placodes lucidus, Polyporus Laccatus, Polyporus lucidus, Red Reishi, Divine or Spiritual Mushroom, Ling Chi, Ling Chih, Ling Zhi, Tree of Life Mushroom, Mannentake, 10,000-Year Mushroom, Mushroom of Immortality, Sawai-take, Good-Fortune Mushroom, Sarunouchitake, Monkey´s Seat, The Panacea Polypore, Mannentake (Japanese for “10,000 Year Mushroom”), Mushroom of Immortality, Saiwai-take (Japanese for “Good-fortune mushroom”), Sarunouchitake (Japanese for “Monkey’s Seat”), The Panacea Polypore

Kingdom	Fungi

Division Basidiomycota
Class Agaricomycetes
Order Polyporales
Family Ganodermataceae
Genus Ganoderma
Species G. lucidum
Ecology Saprotrophic