Lion's Mane Grow Kit Test: Pins in 5 Days in an Automated Grow Box

Our first lion's mane block in the Lykyn grow box sat quiet for ten days and took 28 to harvest. For the third run we tried a different grower's block, the Lion's Mane kit from Aussie Mushroom Supplies in Victoria. It had pins at the cut by day 5 and a large cluster pushing out of the bag by day 7. This is the run so far, day by day, with the app readings. We'll add the harvest and the weigh-in when we pick it.

Aussie Mushroom Supplies Lion's Mane grow kit box next to the black block bag and the Lykyn grow box on day 0 Lion's mane cluster growing out of the X cut in the Lykyn grow box on day 8

Left, day 0, straight out of the fridge. Right, day 8.

The setup

The block is the Aussie Mushroom Supplies Lion's Mane Mushroom Grow Kit (Hericium erinaceus). It comes as a fully colonised block in a black bag inside a cardboard box with a pop-out window. The kit is designed to be grown in its own box with a spray bottle. We took the bag out of the box and put it straight into the Lykyn Smart Mushroom Grow Box instead.

The label on our bag was dated 26 August, and it had been in the fridge until we started it on 15 October. So this was not a fresh block, which made the speed of what followed more interesting.

Setup was the same as before. One X cut through the bag with a clean knife, block on the tray with the cut facing the front, Lion's Mane selected in the app, lid closed. The box ran on its Auto setting for the whole grow. We did not mist, fan or adjust anything.

Day by day

Day 0
Thursday 15 October, 1:50pm. Block in, cold from the fridge. The chamber read 78.5% humidity and 15.9°C. Within six minutes the mister had filled the chamber with fog and humidity was up to 84%.
Day 1
91.6% humidity, 15.8°C. Settled and holding. Nothing visible.
Day 2–3
Weekend, office closed. The app's history showed humidity flat at 91–92% and temperature flat at about 16°C the whole time, nights included.
Day 4
A thin white fuzz along the cut. This is the mycelium knitting back across the cut surface, not mushrooms yet, and too faint to photograph through the panel. By then the box had raised its fans from about a third to about two thirds on its own.
Day 5
The fuzz turned into small white knobs along the edges of the cut. These are the pins, the start of the mushroom. A warmer day, and the chamber read 18.7°C.
Day 6
A dense white mass filling the cut and pushing the plastic flaps open on two arms of the X.
Day 7
Roughly doubled overnight. A large, compact, cauliflower-like cluster bursting out along the cut.
Day 8
Spilling out of the cut and down the face of the bag. Still clean white with no yellowing, and no spines yet. The spines are what tell you it is ready to pick.
Lion's mane block with the bag flap lifted, showing white mycelium regrowing across the cut on day 4 X cut in the lion's mane bag on day 5 with the first white pins along the edges

Left, day 4: white mycelium regrowing across the cut. Right, day 5: the first knobbly pins along the edges.

Lion's Mane KA BOOM block label and dense white pin mass in the cut on day 6 Large compact lion's mane cluster bursting out of the X cut on day 7

Left, day 6. Right, day 7, about 24 hours later.

The readings

When Day Humidity Temp
Thu 15 Oct, 1:46pm 0 78.5% 15.9°C
Thu 15 Oct, 1:52pm 0 84.2% 15.1°C
Fri 16 Oct, 9:18am 1 91.6% 15.8°C
Mon 19 Oct, 8:35am 4 88.2% 15.9°C
Tue 20 Oct, 1:42pm 5 91.6% 18.7°C
Thu 22 Oct, 8:36am 7 88.2% 18.9°C
Thu 22 Oct, 4:12pm 7 89.9% 20.9°C
Fri 23 Oct, 11:10am 8 91.4% 20.5°C

Humidity stayed between 88% and 92% from day 1 onwards, which is where lion's mane wants it. The box also changed its own fan speeds several times through the run, from low to high and back to balanced, without us touching anything.

What the temperature told us

The first week was cool and the chamber sat at about 16°C, day and night. The second week was warmer and the chamber rose to 19–21°C in the afternoons. That confirms what we said in our first test: the box does not heat or cool to a set point. It follows the room it is in, running at or just under room temperature.

For lion's mane that is fine in most Australian homes for most of the year. Its range is roughly 16–24°C. If your room drops well below that in winter or climbs well above it in summer, the block will slow down or struggle, and the box will not fix that for you.

How it compares to our first lion's mane run

First run (August) This run (October)
Block Kai Kai Farm, QLD Aussie Mushroom Supplies, VIC
First pins About day 10 Day 5
Large cluster About day 22 Day 7
Harvest Day 28 To come

To be fair to both growers, this is one block each, grown two months apart, so it is not a controlled comparison. The room was likely cooler in August, and we didn't record the temperatures on that run. What we can say is that this block went from cut to a big cluster in a week, after nearly seven weeks in the fridge.

What to expect if you grow one: a few days of nothing, then a fuzz at the cut, then small white knobs, then very fast growth. Leave it alone through all of it. Opening the box to poke at the block does more harm than good, and white is always a good sign. Green, black or pink patches are not.

When to pick it

Lion's mane is ready when short spines, about 3–5mm, have formed across the surface and the cluster is still firm and white. Leave it too long and the spines lengthen and the tips start to yellow. At the rate this one is growing we expect to pick it early next week. We'll weigh it and add the result here.

Update: harvest

Coming soon. We'll post the harvest photos and weight here once it's picked.

So far

A fridge-stored block, loaded straight in and left alone on Auto, went from cut to a large clean cluster in seven days. That's the fastest lion's mane we've grown in this box, and it's why we've added this kit to our range.

Full disclosure: after this run we started selling the Aussie Mushroom Supplies Lion's Mane kit ourselves. We have no other arrangement with them. We were not paid or supplied anything for this test, and we bought the block ourselves.

The kit ships to all states except WA, TAS and NT, where biosecurity rules restrict live mushroom cultures. Because it's a live block, we dispatch it Monday to Thursday by courier only, and we recommend Express. If you're not starting it straight away, keep it in the fridge. Browse all our mushroom grow kits.

Get the Lion's Mane Grow Kit, $34.95 →
See the Lykyn Smart Mushroom Grow Box →
AU stocked and supported by Quick Bloom Lights.

Our earlier tests in the same box: lion's mane in 28 days and Pearl Oyster in 6 days.