(Hypholoma lateritium)

Grow Abundant Cool-Weather Mushrooms on Hardwood Logs

Bricktop is a vigorous wood-loving mushroom known for producing dense clusters of warm brick-red, orange, and reddish-brown caps. Once established, it can fruit prolifically during cool weather, sometimes covering logs and nearby mulch with an impressive carpet of mushrooms.

Each package includes approximately 100 colonized hardwood plugs by weight, ready to inoculate freshly cut hardwood logs for long-term outdoor cultivation.

Bricktop is edible when correctly identified, but it belongs to a genus containing similar-looking mushrooms. Growers should become thoroughly familiar with its identifying features before considering any harvest for the table.

🌱 Why You’ll Love It

• 🍄 Produces abundant clusters of brick-red mushrooms
• ❄️ Fruits during cool fall and winter conditions
• 🌳 Grows well on hardwood logs arranged in rafts
• 🌿 May spread into nearby hardwood mulch
• 🥘 Nutty caps are suitable for cooking and pickling

Why Grow Bricktop Mushrooms?

Bricktop is an exciting choice for growers who enjoy vigorous, seasonal mushrooms.

It is valued because it is:

🍄 Extremely Prolific

Established colonies can produce large flushes containing dozens or even hundreds of mushrooms.

❄️ A Cool-Weather Fruiter

Bricktop prefers temperatures between approximately 45–60°F, making it a wonderful fall and winter mushroom in suitable climates.

🌳 Well Suited to Log Rafts

Hardwood logs laid together on the ground create a moist growing environment that encourages colonization and fruiting.

🌿 Vigorous in the Landscape

Bricktop can spread through suitable hardwood material and may occasionally fruit from mulch surrounding established logs.

🍽️ What Does Bricktop Taste Like?

Properly identified Bricktop mushrooms have a:

• Pleasantly nutty flavor
• Firm cap texture
• Mild woodland character

They may be:

• Sautéed
• Added to soups
• Cooked into sauces
• Served with grains or vegetables
• Preserved through pickling

The caps are the preferred culinary portion. The stems can become firm or tough, particularly as the mushrooms mature.

Identification warning: Bricktop belongs to a group containing similar-looking species, including mushrooms that should not be eaten. Never consume a mushroom based only on its color, growing location, product label, or an online photograph.

🌳 Where Can I Grow It?

Bricktop grows outdoors on suitable hardwood logs.

For best results:

• Use healthy, freshly cut hardwood logs
• Arrange the logs together on the ground like a raft
• Select a shaded, humid location
• Allow the logs to remain close to the soil
• Protect the wood from prolonged drying
• Surround the raft with untreated hardwood mulch, if desired

Placing the logs close together helps conserve moisture and creates a larger connected growing area.

Bricktop can also be cultivated indoors on supplemented sterilized sawdust, but plug spawn is intended primarily for outdoor log cultivation.

What Makes It Special?

Bricktop can be remarkably aggressive once established in a suitable habitat.

At Mushroom Mountain, it has produced such heavy winter flushes that sections of a mulched walking trail appeared covered with orange-red mushrooms from edge to edge.

This vigorous growth means Bricktop may:

• Colonize hardwood logs rapidly
• Produce dense seasonal clusters
• Spread into compatible hardwood mulch
• Compete strongly within its established growing area

Its productivity makes it visually impressive, but its identification requires more care than many commonly cultivated gourmet mushrooms.

What to Expect

• Outdoor logs commonly require approximately 8–12 months or longer to colonize.
• Fruiting generally occurs during cool weather.
• Preferred fruiting temperatures are approximately 45–60°F.
• Logs may produce large, tightly packed clusters.
• Established colonies may spread into nearby hardwood mulch.
• Productive logs may fruit for several seasons as the wood decomposes.

Harvest young clusters before the caps become overly mature and the stems become tough.

🍄 How to Grow: Quick Overview

1. Select healthy, freshly cut hardwood logs.
2. Drill holes in a diamond pattern around each log.
3. Insert one colonized plug into each hole.
4. Seal the holes with wax.
5. Arrange the inoculated logs together on the ground like a raft.
6. Place the raft in a shaded, humid outdoor location.
7. Keep the logs from drying out during colonization.
8. Watch for dense clusters during cool fall and winter conditions.

⚠️ Important Identification Notice

Bricktop can be confused with other members of the genus Hypholoma and with additional clustered mushrooms growing on wood.

Before eating any harvest:

• Learn the complete identifying characteristics of Bricktop.
• Examine the cap, gills, stem, spore print, substrate, and other relevant features.
• Do not rely on photographs alone.
• Seek in-person confirmation from a qualified mushroom identifier when uncertain.
• Do not consume any mushroom unless its identity has been established with confidence.

Cultivation from purchased spawn can help establish what was planted, but it does not eliminate the possibility that unrelated wild mushrooms may fruit from the same log or surrounding mulch.

Shipping & Freshness

• Includes approximately 100 colonized plugs by weight
• Available year-round
• Produced fresh for vigorous colonization
• Refrigerate until ready to use
• Do not freeze

📚 Need Help Getting Started?

ARTICLES

• Ultimate Guides: Growing Mushrooms on Logs
  
• Log Mushroom Cultivation Troubleshooting Guide
  
• Zone Fruiting Map

INSTRUCTIONS

• Growing Mushrooms on Logs
• Growing Mushrooms on Stumps
• Growing Mushrooms on Rafts