"Planting" Mushrooms

[tallpines]

A couple of years ago we inoculated some white oak logs with 3 different types of mushroom spawn.
We've been getting a few mushrooms for harvest but not the predicted volume.
This week I moved the logs to a spot where I hope I'll be more faithful about getting them their weekly 1 inch of "rainfall".

Also ----- we ordered 100 plugs of fresh spawn for 3 more logs and have gotten all the holes drilled for their inoculation.

Plus, we got another variety of spawn that has been inoculated into sawdust.
We had to make some soft maple wood chips------and mix it with 1 part soil to 3 parts wood chips. Ended up with about 6-7 bushel of it.

That gets spread under a shade tree----where the underlying vegetation has been removed.
Then the gallon or more of inoculated sawdust is spread over the bed and raked in.


Anyone else done anything like this?
Was it successful?

[Mid Tn Mama]

I'm very interested in this also. Is oak the only hardwood that you could do this on? Anyone use something else? Where do you keep your logs? I was thinking of in the barn. Wish I were brave enough to gather morels.

[jillianjiggs]

I hate mushrooms, but it sounds so cool to grow them. I've heard that people that collect them in the wild use mesh bags, and will sometimes gently wave the bags over logs that they want to sprout mushrooms on.

[tallpines]

The place where we get the spawn made the recommendation for type of tree to use.

www.fieldforest.net

We live in a very well shaded woods so we were able to harvest fresh logs of the recommended species, and our inoculated logs lay out in the woods.

Its almost essential that they be close enough to a water source....we lay a soaker hose across the logs and let it spray a gentle all day mist on them............(when we think of it----It should be once a week----we have not been as faithful as we should have been).

Now thay we've started the soft maple wood chip bed------in a spot that is more visable from the house...I hope we'll be more consistent with the watering.

Our neighbor, lacking natural shade, placed their logs inside a pole building.

They had little success-------'cause when they forgot to water------the logs really dried out---as compared to with our logs in the woods -----when I forget to water, the logs still recieve moisture from natural rainfall-------and they also lay on the natural forest floor with all its dampness, rather than on a sandy dry floor of a pole shed.

It continues to be an adventure of sorts.

Tallpines, how much are you giving for your innoculation plugs? I was reading up on this type of mushroom farming and have been thinking about doing the same thing in the forrest behind my house. A site that I was reading said to use fresh cut hardwood tree trunks about 8 to 12 inches across and about 4 or 5 feet long. Set several trunks in a teepee fashon and plug them with the innoculation. Keep in shaded area and expect harvest in fall and spring during the rainny seasons. Plugs was going to cost something like $55.00 per 1000.

[tallpines]

We paid about $40.00 for our first batch 2 years ago.
750 plugs plus a tub of sealing wax and the drill bit and the depth collar for the bit.

This spring we paid $12 for 100 plugs (received 125). Used the same drill bit from earlier.
Its much cheaper when bought in larger amounts.

Plus, we paid $25 for the inoculated saw dust for the soft maple wood chip beds.

When I ordered they ask alot of questions about the kind of climate I lived in----so they could better figure out which strains would be best for us.

If you do a Google search you will find a couple other places that sell spawn.

[TennOC]

At fungi.com they sell oil for your chainsaw that has the spores in it, so stumps you cut are innoculated as you go. It's a veggie oil. You can also use your saw to make "sawdust" (more like small chips), by cutting the long way on a log, it makes small shreds of wood. If you use the spore oil, the whole pile will be ready to go, just keep moist.

[TrailDog]

tallpines,

I've got about 20 shiitake logs: 4 I did several years ago and 16 I did back in the winter.

Like you, I got spotty results on those first 4 (others haven't had time to fill the logs out). Here's something that was recommended to me. I intend to try this.

Once the logs are "filled" with the inoculant, soak them overnight in a trough or something similar. Put cement blocks on them to make sure they're entirely submersed. Take them out the next day and stack them in a log cabin fashion. Put a huge plastic bag over them -- you can get these from orchard suppliers -- to keep the humidity up, and you should see some shiitakes in a week or two.

I was told that you can expect to force shiitake logs 3 times each year with 1/2 lb. of mushrooms per log each time, assuming you're using a four-foot log with a diameter of 6-8 inches.

[tallpines]

I'm gioing to try it!
Do you leave the plastic over them for the full 1 or 2 weeks?
Or, just for a day or two?

[Canucklehead]

Well, I've grown lots of mushrooms. It really is not that hard once you get the hang of it. There is a great website with loads of information you can go to. Lots of experts in mushrooms ... all kinds of mushrooms. They mostly talk about the magical kind but try not to let that put you off, there is loads of info on gourmet... just ask about it and ignore the information you don't want to know about. It really is the best place on the net to get information on mushrooms.... Go to shroomery.org and you'll be growing in no time.

I hesitated posting this because of the nature of the shroomery so if this post should be removed let me know and I'll edit it. Or maybe mods can delete it....

I see lots of people in here asking about mushrooms and I would never have got going without the help of shroomery.org.

www.shroomery.org

Always put the www on the address so we can all click on the address.