Hardwood sawdust amended with bran is one of the best substrates for growing Lion’s Mane. The typical fruiting block recipe works great, and should give you a a good yield over a number of flushes.
Lion’s Mane can also grow on straw, although I have not personally tried this method. (I try to avoid messy straw as much as possible!) Growing Lion’s Mane on straw might only yield great results for particular strains that have been specifically adapted to straw. For best results, you are better off just using a wood based substrate.
Add the spawn at 10-15% spawn rate to sterilized substrate in a clean environment. A laminar flow hood works best. Although lion’s Mane is reasonably resistant to contamination, all precautions should still be still be taken to protect your grow. Once inoculated, a fruiting block should be fully colonized within 2 weeks.
Lion’s Mane mycelium can be whispy and thin in places, and looks quite a bit different than something more robust like oyster or reishi. Don’t be alarmed if the block doesn’t look fully colonized.
This mushroom fruits easily, so chances are you’ll start to see small fruits forming in the bag before you expose it to fruiting conditions. When this happens, simply bring the block to the fruiting area and cut small “x’s” where the fruits are already forming. The pins will continue to develop, eventually forming large mushrooms outside the bag.
