Question for any Mushroom log growers out there.

[Oldcountryboy]

A website I was reading stated to use less dense hardwoods for Mushrooms. Would redbud, sassafrass, and dogwoods be considered as less dense hardwoods?

I collect wild mushrooms out in the forrest lands when out hunting. Seems I mostly find them on dead Sicamore and Elm trees then any other kind of trees out there. I've cut a few elms and sicamore trees to use for my future mushroom farm. But I have a whole lot redbuds and sassafrass trees on my land. I also got a lot of walnut tree from sapplings and up to 12-15 inch diameter, will mushrooms grow on them? I've never seen any grow on dead walnut out in the wild.

[Randy Rooster]

I would think the diameter of teh red buds would be too small- at least the ones arund here dont get big enough- maybe yours do.

Best thing would be to contact the outfit that sells the plugs and get their input - they have always been helpful to me in the past - I use oak and sweet gum almost exclusively.

[mossywyatt]

different mushrooms need different woods. some mushrooms that grown on different woods are poisonous on certain woods. wyatt

[Oldcountryboy]

Randy, I've got some redbud tree's that are about 10 - 12 inches across and about 25 ft. high.

Wyatt, that's why I mentioned the walnut. Wasn't sure if I could use it or not since a lot of vegetation dies out nearby.

What I got going on is I'm clearing out the back of my place which has a lot of tree sapling of every kind you can think of, and a lot of these saplings are getting big now. So I'm thinking of trying my luck in mushroom farming since I have an abundant source of logs to use.

[Mike in Ohio]

As mossywyatt pointed out, different shrooms need different types of wood. We grow shiitakes and they want oak. Some folks say you need to use red oak but we have had good outcomes with all sorts of oak.

Chicken of the woods needs a conifer to grow. We've tried but haven't had any luck. On the other hand we innoculated some pretty large diameter logs so they still might yield something yet (It's been a couple years).

Mike

[fatrat]

I used to see a lot of mushrooms growing in the white pine forests of michigan. I also collected a lot of morels in the hardwood forests of Minnesota so I wouldn't think the type of wood should matter as long as it is composting well. However I've never owned a mushroom farm. Call one of the large mushroom growers and ask what they think.