Calvatia gigantea

Giant puffball

The giant puffball forms a white ball up to tens of centimetres across in grassland, field margins and open deciduous woods in late summer and autumn. It is a soil saprotroph that matures within a few weeks. It is rarely cultivated; the realistic home method is transplanting spore mass or mycelium into a rich, undisturbed grassy patch.

Calvatia gigantea — Photo: The original uploader was Sulfur at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At home, aim for

Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Humid airBand in Plantistry

Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

No rest period

Where it grows wild

Meadows, pastures, field margins, nettle beds and open deciduous woods, often on rich, nitrogen-enriched soil.

Mostly lowland. Recorded elevations span -1–656 m, median 305 m (11 records).

EuropeNorth AmericaTemperate Asia

🔒 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

Grow Calvatia gigantea? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Start free Sign in

More Calvatia

Calvatia craniiformis Calvatia sculpta Calvatia cyathiformis Calvatia booniana Calvatia sporocristata Calvatia arctica Calvatia oblongispora Calvatia pachydermica Calvatia agaricoides Calvatia ahmadii Calvatia aniodina Calvatia argentea All 69 →

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.