Species library › Agaricus › Agaricus bisporus
Fungi Well documented

Agaricus bisporus

Button / portobello

The button mushroom. The same species is sold as white button, cremini (brown, young) and portobello (brown, mature), and it is the most widely grown mushroom in the world. It is a secondary decomposer of rich, composted, manure-based organic matter, not wood. At home it grows from spawn in pasteurised compost under a casing layer, followed by a cool, humid, well-ventilated fruiting stage.

Agaricus bisporus
Photo: chris_73, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Very humid airBand in Plantistry
Light Deep shadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest period

Where it grows wild

It lives in the soil and litter of grasslands, pastures, gardens, manure heaps and compost, and under hedges and conifers. It fruits where rich, partly decomposed organic matter lies under a mineral or humus layer. It is a saprotroph that relies on other microbes to break down the material first.

Mostly lowland. The 62 records with an elevation span 0–2306 m, median 250 m.

EuropeTemperate AsiaNorth AfricaNorth America

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.