Shitake log fruiting!!! Now what?

Last year I took a workshop that facilitated creating one's own shitake log. For the past year I have been dutifully soaking my log in a bucket of water each week or so per the instructions I received, and today I saw my first signs of fruiting!

I have questions about next steps. Does my routine need to change at all? This about the time I would give it a weekly soak in the bucket. Should I continue doing that while it is fruiting?

My log is resting horizontally on two smaller logs to keep it off the ground, but most of the one's I've seen online are stacked more vertically/diagonally. Does this matter?

Is there an art to harvesting? How will I know when a mushroom is ready to harvest? Does harvesting frequently encourage more fruiting similar to flowers?

Any other tips?

Congrats!

You soak the log to 'shock' the fungus inside to encourage fruiting bodies to occur like you are getting now. You do not need to soak for this flush as you harvest. Harvest the mushrooms when they are to your liking (size wise).

I would give the log around two months off and then do another soak to try and get another flush. You might find that the rain will cause this reaction.

Congrats on your first Shiitake, Angel!  I still remember the first one I ever found and harvested from my own experimental logs.  It was a little hard to believe, and I wasn't even sure if it was Shiitake, but it definitely was, although I waited a bit too long to harvest.  It was huge!  

To answer your questions:  

Last year I took a workshop that facilitated creating one's own shitake log. For the past year I have been dutifully soaking my log in a bucket of water each week or so per the instructions I received, and today I saw my first signs of fruiting!

The timing seems about right.  It can take 6 months - about a year, depending on the strain and the wood species it is partnered with.  It is not necessary to soak the logs that frequently from my experience.  The main thing is to not let them dry out too much.  Placing the logs in a shady spot that gets enough rainfall occasionally is usually enough. Protection from desiccating winds is helpful as well.  After the incubation period of about 1 year is when the "force fruiting" cycles can begin, which can be done every few months or so. My method was to soak the logs under water for about 20 hours, then stack them on blocks sticking out of a mote as a way to prevent slugs and snails from accessing them.   Again, this depends on the strain you are playing with.  Some strains are better suited to natural fruiting cycles, and don't respond to force fruiting.  My guess is that you are playing with a strain that responds to force fruiting.  

I have questions about next steps. Does my routine need to change at all? This about the time I would give it a weekly soak in the bucket. Should I continue doing that while it is fruiting?

There is no need to soak the log while it is fruiting, although a misting spray to keep the mushrooms moist while they are growing can be beneficial, especially if it is hot and dry out. Try to keep them out of too much direct sun in the beginning.  The mushrooms usually take about 10 days or more to fully develop.  For the best quality I usually harvested before the caps fully opened to the point of flattening, but after they detached themselves from the stem.  After harvesting is when they can be placed in the sun with gills facing up in order to sky-rocket the vit D levels.  Anything over 8 hours can be overkill, unless you are looking to have dried shiitake to store for later use.  

My log is resting horizontally on two smaller logs to keep it off the ground, but most of the one's I've seen online are stacked more vertically/diagonally. Does this matter?

Nope.  Doesn't really matter so much.  You can even hang them up with ropes to get them off of the ground and away from the snails/slugs if those can be problematic for you.  This, of course, is easy to do if you only have a few logs.

Here is the off-grid mote protected stack method I was using. I would often force fruit and stack about 10-20 logs at a time:

Is there an art to harvesting? How will I know when a mushroom is ready to harvest? Does harvesting frequently encourage more fruiting similar to flowers?

As mentioned earlier -for best quality you'll want to harvest sometime between when the cap separates itself from the stem, and when it begins to flatten out. If you wait until the cap flattens out it is also totally fine.  The mushroom will be larger, and can be great for pan frying in a little bit of butter and salt.  Umami!

Here is an image of the ideal harvesting stage I would shoot for:



Harvesting more frequently actually Decreases fruiting.  You want to give the log a break to allow the mycelium within to rebuild its energy reserves for the next fruiting.  I would usually wait 2-3 months between each force fruiting cycle.  Some logs can fruit a lot at once, and some only provide a mushroom or two each time.  It can be highly variable.  If a log consistently fruits heavily, then the lifespan of that log will likely be much shorter.  If a log produces only a few mushrooms each time, then the overall lifespan can last much longer.  There is only so much food avialable in the log for the mycelium to consume.  Some get consumed quicker than others.  I had some larger hardwood logs that kept fruiting for me for 7 years!  But others turned into punky light logs that started falling apart after only a few years.  

Wow! Thanks! I feel like I just got a wonderful primer on shitake mushroom logs.

So soaking the log weekly is not a thing, then? Interesting. It was not about forcing production. The workshop instructor said we would need to water the logs about weekly to keep them from drying out and that a spray with the hose would not be sufficient. He said it would be best to place the log under a downspout or to soak it in a bathtub so it could absorb the water. Hence, my weekly or so waterings involved soaking in a bucket. But if that is not necessary, I would not mind crossing something off my to do list!  

So I don't need to do anything to keep the log from drying out in the future? What about in the hot, dry summer months?

Angel Hunt wrote: So I don't need to do anything to keep the log from drying out in the future? What about in the hot, dry summer months?

I'm not an expert by any means, I'm very new to mushroom log fruiting as I'm more of a woodchip mushroom guy but  I do have a few.

My 'technique' for the hot summers is to A. Have the log in a shaded spot and B. give it a little water with the hose if we get really long hot/dry streaks. I did more of a 'gut-check' when to water so it was as I feel like it. I do not maximize the potential of my logs with a strict schedule but I haven't had any just die without getting a few flushes out of it. By the end the wood is light and kind of punky.