How likely are wild logs to produce flushes of mushrooms again?

I took home a few logs from the woods of various mushrooms that I've seen flush in previous years. They've still got some crusty dried mushroom bits on them, and I suppose I'm worried that they've gone too dry as we had zero snow or rain whatsoever this winter.

I'm going to soak them and see if they produce again. Can they get ""too dry""? Any tips for cultivating wild logs are appreciated as well.

For extra detail, the logs I gathered are Hen of the Woods, Comb Tooth, and Witch's Butter. This is my first time growing mushrooms from logs. Super excited!

I was driving south and a few miles from my house in summer, there was a big tree covered in mushrooms.
They looked like oyster mushrooms.
The next spring I saw the guy in his yard and asked him what he was going to do with that dead tree.
He knew I was after the mushrooms.
He called me when he was ready to take it down,
even helped me load it in the truck.
I split it with my buddy and set mine under the drip edge of a maple tree.
Sure enough I had a good flush of golden oyster mushrooms every time it rained good last summer.
I think the bark needs to be kept on the log.

So I think it's possible to drag a log home and have it continue to produce, not sure what happens if a log gets too dry

Just adding to this that we had an American Elm tree that died 4-5 years ago and after cutting it down, I left the stump in place. That stump has produced oyster mushrooms each year when conditions are right (usually moisture from rain and/or humidity).  So certainly stumps can provide this.

Interesting question and the answer will depend on a lot of factors including:

Is the log standing or laying on the ground?
What type of mushroom?
What is the moisture content of the log?  Is the moisture content consistent?
Does the log appear to have other areas of rot?
Does the log have multiple species of mushrooms?

This list can go on and on but you get the idea.

Generally, a fungi will infect wood (a log) and consume the woody part until the wood has been completely digested.  Then, as the fungi is otherwise starving, the fungi pushes up the actual mushrooms to release spores to spread to new logs and continue the process again.  But sometimes there will be stubborn parts of a log that will not digest quickly (maybe it is dry, etc.).  In this case, the log may indeed push up new flushes of mushrooms, but probably from new areas of the log that the fungi had not previously been able to digest.

Also, sometimes a new mushroom will come along and digest the remains of wood that a previous strain of mushroom had already devoured, so the detritus of the old meal may still be food for a new mushroom.

Hope this helps,

Eric

I have my favorite logs from which I harvest oyster mushrooms year after year. Which explains why my mushroom hunting grounds become a closely guarded secret.

The only reason the log would stop fruiting is it has been "used up"; the mycelium is stuck inside a dried up stick.  If you soak the log with rainwater and then bury it right down in some nice clean, moist hardwood sawdust (along with wood chips, more logs, etc underneath) and then keep the whole thing moist, the spores present should create a nice new mycelium and you will get fruiting, whenever the temps and humidity are right for it.  If you want a perpetual mushroom container garden (ie in a big Rubbermaid Roughneck lug) just keep on pounding new wedges, sticks, etc of hardwood in.  Ideally do this after the fruiting flushes are spent.  The whole idea is to keep the food supply coming!  It gets "eaten"; that is why the log turns into powder and falls apart, totally natural.

You can even skip the log altogether and just use mushrooms, even dried ones!!  Those spores will do it all.  I put some past-their-prime oyster mushrooms in the blender with some water and we poured the mess over some old, stacked wood with straw stuffed around between it.  Out of the sun; and because of the time of year, it stayed damp for log enough on its own.  Now it is a mushroom bed.  It is hard (no, impossible) to keep the varmints out of it when there are any mushrooms; it gets dug up and scattered.  But it "works"...best to use a big container that stands up off ground level if you have lots of hungry diggers.  Make sure it has drainage or better still, just remove the bottom.  And of course fruiting depends on, after the mycelium is formed, temp and humidity so keep an eye on these.

I betcha your mushroom garden container would be really great made from an old wooden boat/Adirondack chair/whiskey barrel planter/crates/other!!  Way better than plastic for breathability and part of the food source (til it gets et)

I have done this with a couple branches/logs.  The mushrooms are turkey tail on a cottonwood log and what I think is pheasant wing on an old apple limb.  I put one under a gutter spout, and one in the shadiest and most moist corner of the yard.  They fruit, but I never pick them or use them, but I enjoy watching them grow.

Jane Marr wrote:I took home a few logs from the woods of various mushrooms that I've seen flush in previous years. They've still got some crusty dried mushroom bits on them, and I suppose I'm worried that they've gone too dry as we had zero snow or rain whatsoever this winter.

I'm going to soak them and see if they produce again. Can they get ""too dry""? Any tips for cultivating wild logs are appreciated as well.

For extra detail, the logs I gathered are Hen of the Woods, Comb Tooth, and Witch's Butter. This is my first time growing mushrooms from logs. Super excited!

Yes, your logs can most certainly get too dry to fruit. Thats exactly what mine did whem I brought some home. So I laid them in a partially filled plastic kid pool in a shady spot in the garden and got a few flushes off of them over the next two years. Eventually they will be used up though, even if you keep them hydrated.