Season & space planner

Which mushrooms can you fruit in your space, this season? Pick where you'll fruit and the time of year, and this matches the typical temperature of that space against each species' fruiting window — then flags the humidity issue that trips up most Canadian winter grows.

How this works

Every cultivated mushroom has a fruiting temperature window — the air temperature that gives good pinning and cap development. This tool takes the typical temperature of your chosen space and season and checks it against each species' window, drawn from our own growing conditions chart. A ✅ means the space sits inside the window; ⚠️ means it overlaps the edge (workable, not ideal); ❌ means it's outside.

The space temperatures are typical Canadian ranges, not a measurement of your home. Basements run cooler than living space; an unheated garage tracks the outdoors. If you've measured your own space, enter it above and the tool will use your number instead.

The Canadian winter humidity problem

Temperature is only half the battle. Canada's heating season dries indoor air out — heated homes commonly sit near 30% relative humidity in winter, versus the 85–95% that fruiting mushrooms need. That gap, not the cold, is what ends most winter grows: pins abort, caps crack, and clusters dry before they size up.

You don't beat it by misting a shelf in open air — the moisture is gone in minutes. You beat it by fruiting inside an enclosed chamber (a monotub, a humidity tent, or a shotgun fruiting chamber) where you can hold humidity high in a small volume, and by keeping fresh-air exchange going so it doesn't turn into a contamination box. In summer the ambient air is more humid and forgiving — the trade-off then is watching for contamination in the warmth.

Estimates only. Measure your actual space — a $15 min/max thermometer-hygrometer tells you more than any table. Plan around the overnight low and afternoon high, not the moment you happen to check.