Inonotus obliquus

Chaga

A parasitic white-rot fungus of birch in the boreal north. What is harvested is a black, cracked sterile conk (a sclerotium), which takes years to grow on a living tree; the true fruiting body forms hidden under bark after the tree dies. It cannot be produced indoors: home growers either culture its mycelium or inoculate living birch outdoors.

Inonotus obliquus — Photo: Tocekas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At home, aim for

Day —Targets in Plantistry

Night —Targets in Plantistry

Humidity —Band in Plantistry

Light ShadeDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

Expects a seasonal rest

Where it grows wild

Living birch, less often alder, beech and poplar, entering through wounds and poorly healed branch stubs and causing heart rot for 10–80 years.

Mostly lowland. Recorded elevations span 0–1006 m, median 80 m (11 records).

Northern EuropeEastern EuropeSiberiaNorth 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

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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.