Need help from you Mushroom growers.

Oldcountryboy · #1 10/05/09, 01:18 PM

Well, this last weekend I found out I'm losing some more hunting grounds again. Seems my 91 year old Uncle let a logging company talk him into selling the trees off of his place. They probably pressured him into signing an agreement. The part they are going to be logging off is willed to his grandkids of his deceased son. His daughter says she won't get involved cause she's not on the will. So anywho, the logging company has been unloading big equipment all weekend and they are probably getting after it today.

So with that in mind, might as well make lemonade out of lemons, right?

I'm gonna get my Uncles permission to go in and cut a bunch of limbs to use for growing mushrooms. I've seen pictures of where they make tipi's out of hardwood tree limbs and there will be Mushrooms growing out of them. So nows my opportunity to try my luck at growing Mushrooms. So any info you growers can give me will be a lot of help. Where do you all order your spores from?

indianheadranch · #2 10/05/09, 01:23 PM

Don't know about the mushrooms but when that logging co. goes thru it could make some better hunting grounds if taking care of in the right way good luck.

Freya · #3 10/05/09, 01:59 PM

I am sorry to hear of all this.

But that is awesome of you to try to figure out a positive way to spin it!

If you do make those tipi's would you post some pics? I have not seen one of those.

beaglady · #4 10/05/09, 02:11 PM

Field and Forest Enterprises. www.fieldforest.net They're really helpful at recommending which strains are right for the end results you want. I suggest getting a print catalog, which has more info that the website. Then call if you have questions.

tyusclan · #5 10/05/09, 06:04 PM

I haven't grown any in quite a while, and can't remember or find the company I used to buy the spores from.

Have everything bought and ready before you cut your logs. The greener the logs when you inoculate them the better. Keep them in a very shady area, and keep them moist. Also keep the logs from touching the ground. Otherwise the log can get contaminated with a mushroom you didn't grow.

Sprouting time depends on the variety. Once they start to sprout, harvest those and give the log a few weeks to rest, then wet it again and you should have another sprouting. Keep this up until the log is eaten up and the mushrooms stop producing.

Get all the info you can from websites and catalogs.

Oldcountryboy · #6 10/05/09, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freya

I am sorry to hear of all this.

But that is awesome of you to try to figure out a positive way to spin it!

If you do make those tipi's would you post some pics? I have not seen one of those.

Sure if I get something going. From the pictures I remember seeing, all they done was took about five or six innoculated logs about 6" to 8" in diameter and about 4' to 5' long and stood them up in a tipi fashion and let the mushrooms grow.

Randy Rooster · #7 10/06/09, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

Sure if I get something going. From the pictures I remember seeing, all they done was took about five or six innoculated logs about 6" to 8" in diameter and about 4' to 5' long and stood them up in a tipi fashion and let the mushrooms grow.

theres a bit more to it than that. Youll have some reading to do and some work beyond inoculation to make it happen.

beaglady · #8 10/06/09, 08:35 AM

While you're ordering spawn, get a book on mushroom growing. If you have mostly oak, shiitake will do well. The owners of the site I recommended have written a book, Growing Shiitake Mushrooms in a Continental Climate, that is helpful. The Shiitake Growers handbook is also good.

fishhead · #9 10/06/09, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaglady

Field and Forest Enterprises. www.fieldforest.net They're really helpful at recommending which strains are right for the end results you want. I suggest getting a print catalog, which has more info that the website. Then call if you have questions.

I'm moving to PA this fall/winter and was wondering what kind of mushrooms you've grown there?

Mike in Ohio · #10 10/06/09, 11:11 AM

Oldcountryboy,

Sounds like you are looking to do this on some scale. It's not as simple as you (and others) make it out to be. We are going into our 3rd year of growing mushrooms and this fall we plan on innoculating several hundred logs if all goes well (10 the first year and 50 last year).

We buy our spawn (plugs) from http://www.fungiperfecti.com/.

It's a fair amount of work drilling holes, plugging and sealing when you start scaling up.

You will want to be able to soak your logs for inducing fruiting so consider length/size. So far we have been using garbage cans for soaking the logs but we are looking at alternatives for doing larger quantities.

The basic process is to cut your logs from hardwood (we have only used oak) branches that are 3-5 inches in diameter. We do them about 4 feet long. You want to avoid damaging the bark.

you do not want to innoculate the logs right after the trees have been cut. You should wait 3 weeks but not more than 6 months to innoculate. The trees have natural antifungal capabilities and it takes a few weeks after cutting for that to deteriorate.

Once you have drilled and plugged you will want to seal the plugs for moisture control - we use beeswax from our beekeeping operation. Some people (I hear) use parafin.

Stack the logs in ricks to allow the fungus mycelium time to colonize the log. It will take 9-12 months for this to happen. At this point you soak the logs for 24 hours to raise the moisture level. soon after that you will start to see mushrooms fruiting. You don't want to soak all your logs at once. Do it in a rotation so that you get consistent production of mushrooms rather than large quantities all at once and then nothing.

If you are producing more mushrooms than your fresh market can support you can dry them. Sun drying is preferred as it ups the vitamin D content.

Hope this helps.

Mike

beaglady · #11 10/06/09, 12:28 PM

I've been using thimble spawn, which is a 'thimble' shaped chunk of spawn impregnated sawdust, that already has a styrofoam cap. Drill the hole - stuff the thimble in the hole. Done. No wax to fiddle with.

They cost more than the dowels, but are worth it to me because of the time savings. I did about 6000 thimbles this spring, and around the same last year. I've been using a 100 gallon stock tank for soaking, and have finally gotten the 'forcing' process figured out so that I can get mushrooms when I need them.

There are many different strains of spawn that you can order. Some do better in warmer or cooler weather than others, and some have shorter spawn run times than others. Spawn run is the time from innoculation to first mushroom. Depending on the strain you choose, you can have mushrooms in anywhere from 4-18 months. Last April, I innoculated a bunch of logs, and a friend ended up with mushrooms on one of them a few weeks ago, in late September.

VERN in IL · #12 10/06/09, 06:38 PM

but if that woods has morels, yeah, logging with hurt the patch!

Oldcountryboy · #13 10/07/09, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike in Ohio

Oldcountryboy,

Sounds like you are looking to do this on some scale. It's not as simple as you (and others) make it out to be.

Mike

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy Rooster

theres a bit more to it than that. Youll have some reading to do and some work beyond inoculation to make it happen.

Oh I agree it wouldn't be that simple. I was just making a quick comment without going into major details.(Details I don't know yet)

I happen to live right next to a small spring fed creek so soaking the logs wouldn't be a problem. I would just have to keep an eye on floodings so my logs don't get washed away.

And yep, they are cutting trees down left and right this week. It's unbelievable how fast they are cutting them down. Tree tops are lying everywhere. So I might be very busy in the next few weeks collecting mushroom logs and firewood.

Thanks everyone for the websites. I'll check them out and see who I want to order from. If they've been trustworthy outfits for you to order from then that will help me out on who to order from.

mike692 · #14 10/08/09, 12:15 AM

I've tried shiitakes in the past, but failed. I used red oak logs and ordered my spawn from Fungi Perfecti. I'm sure the plug spawn they sent was fine, and that my failure was due to my inexperience.

This spring I had the power company drop a hybrid poplar that was starting to shade my garden. I read that oysters grow well in the softer hardwoods, so that's what I ordered. This time from Field and Forest. (Two falls ago I had ordered one of their 'tp kits' and had great success with it.) So I ordered the thimble spawn like beaglelady spoke of and inocculated my logs at the end of May. I stacked them in the shade and only watered them during extended dry spells. At the beginning of September they started to fruit. They produced a lot of mushrooms with no intervention on my part. They have slowed down, but they're still producing some mushrooms. In my limited experience I think that for the beginner, oysters are a little easier than shiitake. I think for a winter project, I'll by ordering another of their TP kits. Fresh mushrooms are nice in the winter, especially when you have some fresh venison to go with them.

beaglady · #15 10/08/09, 08:08 AM

Old Country Boy, the kind of wood you have will determine what kind of mushrooms you can grow. Shiitake prefers oak, oysters prefer softer hardwoods, like poplar.

As far as which kind of mushrooms are easier, I suspect it's a toss up. When I first started to play with shiitake, they seemed hard, but I think it was mostly because I had varieties that took a long time to first fruit.

Oldcountryboy · #16 10/08/09, 09:10 AM

Shiitake's for hardwood and Oysters for softer wood. Makes sense, since around here you can often find wild Oysters growing on dead Sycamore trees up and down the creek. Too bad the timber company isn't cutting down a lot of soft woods as I love to eat Oyster mushrooms, but it's mostly hard Oak trees that is being harvested off my Uncle's land. So I guess I'll go with the Shiitake's. Thanks for the info everyone.