Mushrooms prefer dark or shade places which is why you will find them on the forest floor. Every mushroom releases thousands of spores into its environment. However, it can be like planting a bunch of apple seeds - it can be unpredictable, and none of them will be identical to its "parent." Our last mushroom location #6, is the forest floor mulch pile and consists of multiple hardwood tree varieties. This area has been spored with shiitake, maitake, oyster, reishi, chestnut, chicken of the woods, and lion mane mushroom spores.