Commercial production planning
How Many Mushroom Blocks Do I Need per Week?
Divide your weekly saleable harvest target by saleable yield per healthy block, then adjust upward for crop loss. A farm targeting 50 kg per week at 0.70 kg per healthy block and 10% loss should start about 80 blocks every week.
By Andrew Langevin · Founder, Nature Lion Inc · Updated August 11, 2026
Weekly block formula
Blocks started = weekly target ÷ yield per healthy block ÷ (1 − crop-loss rate)Example: 50 kg ÷ 0.70 kg ÷ 0.90 = 79.4. Round upward to 80 blocks per week. Do not round down: partial blocks do not exist, and weekly demand still must be filled.
Calculate your exact production planWeekly oyster block starts by harvest target
These scenarios assume 0.70 kg saleable yield from every healthy block. The crop-loss column adds replacement starts while keeping the harvest target fixed.
| Saleable weekly target | Blocks at 10% loss | Blocks at 20% loss |
|---|---|---|
| 25 kg / 55 lb | 40 | 45 |
| 50 kg / 110 lb | 80 | 90 |
| 100 kg / 220 lb | 159 | 179 |
| 250 kg / 551 lb | 397 | 447 |
A larger contamination allowance does not fix a contaminated process; it only shows the extra production required to cover it. Use the crop-loss calculator to quantify the cost.
Why species changes the answer
Yield per block and room occupancy vary by species. The table below uses a 50 kg weekly target, 10% crop loss and the site’s editable planning defaults. It illustrates the pipeline calculation; it is not a yield promise.
| Species | Healthy-block yield | Starts/week | Incubation positions | Fruiting positions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue oyster | 0.70 kg | 80 | 160 | 240 |
| Pink oyster | 0.65 kg | 86 | 172 | 172 |
| Lion's mane | 0.50 kg | 112 | 336 | 336 |
| Shiitake | 0.65 kg | 86 | 860 | 344 |
| King oyster | 0.50 kg | 112 | 336 | 336 |
| Chestnut | 0.55 kg | 102 | 408 | 306 |
Positions equal weekly starts multiplied by weeks occupying that stage. Rack layout, spacing, staggered harvest and sanitation gaps can increase the physical capacity required.
Weekly starts are only one part of the pipeline
A farm starting 80 blue oyster blocks per week with two weeks of incubation and three weeks in fruiting carries roughly 400 blocks across those stages: 160 incubating and 240 fruiting. It also needs space for cooling, staging, harvest, cold storage and cleaning.
Incubation capacity
Weekly starts × incubation weeks. Separate species or strains when temperatures and release dates differ.
Fruiting capacity
Weekly starts × room-occupancy weeks. Count shelf positions, not only floor area.
Buffer capacity
Leave room for delayed batches, cleaning and environmental problems. Designing every shelf at 100% scheduled use makes recovery difficult.
Use saleable yield—not the best block in the room
Planning from a record harvest underestimates required starts. Calculate saleable yield from consistently graded batches: harvested weight minus trim, damage and unsaleable product. Keep crop loss separate so the farm can see whether performance changed because surviving blocks yielded less or because more blocks failed.
- Use a rolling average from several comparable cycles.
- Keep first-flush and total-cycle yield separate.
- Record each culture, substrate recipe and block size.
- Measure unsold product separately from biological crop loss.
- Update commitments only after performance repeats.
Worked 100 kg/week oyster example
- Saleable target
- 100 kg/week
- Yield per healthy block
- 0.70 kg
- Healthy blocks required
- 143
- Starts at 10% loss
- 159/week
- Two-week incubation
- 318 positions
- Three-week fruiting
- 477 positions
This excludes staging, sanitation gaps, block spacing and cold storage. Use measured cycle times instead of calendar assumptions when sizing a real facility.
Build the complete schedule
The production planner adds spawn, substrate, labor, selling price, costs, rolling batch dates and species-specific capacity to the block calculation.