Wine caps

I have a five lb bag of SRA in the frig. It is incredibly dry here, so I think I’ll wait a while to start start a bed. Is there a good way to increase the spawn while I’m waiting for wetter weather?

When I do move it outside, I will have to buy some of the substrate. Some of my options are wheat straw, pine shavings sold for dog bedding, and hardwood heating pellets. I was thinking of mixing all three.  What would work the best? I may have cornstalks by the time we get some rain. I am collecting cardboard too. I may also have some half finished compost.

Is full shade best? Will half day shade work?

Wood chips seem to be the generally recommended medium for wine caps. Can you get those from local tree surgeons?

It has been pretty dry here since I set up my wine cap bed with chips. I have watered it twice and while the top cm has dried out the layers beneath have kept their moisture well.

Ken,

I would avoid the pine needles as while wine caps are aggressive on hardwood, pine doesn’t play nice.  Of the other two options, both are great.  As a rule, straw will establish faster but the wood from the pallets will last longer.

Not a bad mix is to cover the pallet wood with straw to avoid drying out.  The straw will get inoculated right alongside the wood and will disappear surprisingly fast.

If really want to speed things along, lay down wood and cover with some straw. Inoculate and water.  Then cover everything with a layer of newspaper (2-4 layers thick) or cardboard, and add more straw (shredded leaves will work as well).  The second layer of straw/leaves will simply hold the newspaper/cardboard in place.  Water again.  The newspaper/cardboard layer will help prevent evaporation from the primary wood layer and will stay more consistently moist but not wet—ideal.  This can really get the wine caps fungus growing in just a couple of weeks, depending on moisture levels.  In time the fungi will eat right through the newspaper/cardboard layer and go on to eating the top layer as well by which time you should have some pretty well colonized wood substrate.

I hope this helps and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Eric