Lukas from London, England · CC BY-SA 2.0
Maitake hen-of-woods
Fungi·Grifola frondosa
Shade
Sun
High
Water
Well-drained soil
Drainage
Not recorded
Hardiness
Maitake hen-of-woods (Grifola frondosa) is a fungus. It grows best in shade and has high water needs.
Through the year
DormantLeafing outFruitingDying back
Works well with
from wiki dataNo companions recorded.
WHAT IT NEEDS
Shade tolerant
Needs a lot of water
Needs well-drained soil
Prefers soil pH 5.5–7
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Prefers loam, sandy loam soil
Tolerates some soil compaction
Draws up nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium from deep in the soil
Adds a lot of organic matter to the soil
WHAT IT GIVES
Gives spores (reproductive output)
Provides nitrogen
Provides phosphorus
Provides potassium
HOW IT GROWS
SIZE & SPACING
Fungi
Height10–50 cm
Spacing30 cm (min 20 cm)
Root depthShallow
Width15–60 cm
Width figures are rough estimates, the most variable measurement in our data.
AI estimate · accuracy improves as growers contribute corrections.
HOW TO PROPAGATE
Propagate by spore, mycelial transfer
Difficulty
Establishes in about 1 yr
Self-seeds freely and can spread on its own
Where this comes from
Parsed11 Sept 2026
ConfidenceNot recorded
Photograph Lukas from London, England · CC BY-SA 2.0