All mushroom growing techniques require the correct combination of humidity, temperature, substrate (growth medium) and inoculum (spawn or starter culture). Pinning is the trickiest part for a mushroom grower, since a combination of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, temperature, light, and humidity triggers mushrooms towards fruiting.

There are a series of stages in the farming of the most widely used commercial mushroom species Agaricus bisporus. These are composting, fertilizing, spawning, casing, pinning, and cropping.

shiitake mushrooms can be cultivated on a variety of hardwood logs including oak, American beech, sugar maple and hophornbeam. Softwood should not be used to cultivate shiitake mushrooms because the resin of softwoods will oftentimes inhibit the growth of the shiitake mushroom making it impractical as a growing substrate. To produce shiitake mushrooms, 1 metre (3-foot) hardwood logs with a diameter ranging between 10–15 cm (4–6 in) are inoculated with the mycelium of the shiitake fungus. Inoculation is completed by drilling holes in hardwood logs, filling the holes with cultured shiitake mycelium or inoculum, and then sealing the filled holes with hot wax. After inoculation, the logs are placed under the closed canopy of a coniferous stand and are left to incubate for 12 to 15 months. Once incubation is complete, the logs are soaked in water for 24 hours. Seven to ten days after soaking, shiitake mushrooms will begin to fruit and can be harvested once fully ripe.