Many species of fungi like lion’s mane, reishi and turkey tail are hardwood loving. Although some of these species may slowly colonise straw and sugar cane mulch, they still require a diet of hardwood to produce fruits.
Often the easiest way to purchase hardwood is in the form of hardwood fuel pellets, often used for smoking meats available from barbecue supply stores. These pellets can be weighed and rehydrated with the appropriate amount of water.
Alternatively ekologs compressed hardwood logs or sawdust direct from the timbermill can be used.
Hardwood substrates are frequently heavily supplemented to assist with growth, for this reason they are usually heat sterilised.
However, some growers have reported success with using a lesser amount of supplementation and treating hardwood pellets with hot water lime pasteurisation while increasing the spawn ratio to compensate.