Growing Shiitake Sawdust Blocks Outdoors??

I'm wanting to grow shiitake mushrooms on a large scale, i have access to land, woodland and pasture. There is a large market for shiitake mushrooms in my area. It is a market that has not been tapped into too heavily. The common method of growing Shiitake is to grow them outdoors on logs in the forest. Using sawdust plugs and wax to seal the wound on hardwood oak cut in the spring. I love this method and hope to move into that general direction, however there is the time constraint issue, inoculating logs takes upto a year before seeing fruit. There is another method thats really only been gaining traction in the past 40 years, sawdust block logs. using amixture of hardwood sawdust and nutritional oats these bags are inoculated and they yield one or two flushes. THe main gain i see in this method is sawdust blocks can take 3 to 6 months to yield fruit if done correctly, that means this coming spring i could make a profit at it however one thing I am just not seeing very often is growing mushroom blocks outdoors in any capacity. I did find this video of growing various mushrooms as an outdoor row crop, using black shade cloths to keep them out of direct sun, however in all of these videos shiitakes are not used. Upon doing more digging i'm seeing growing shiitakes blocks outdoors is not done much, and I'm wondering if there is a reason why, or if there is a good way to do it. Building a grow room is just not financially possible for me right now, furthermore my gut tells me it could be a lot more sustainable of a process if an outdoor block operation is possible.

https://www.mushroom.guide/tutorial/shiitake/2-fruiting-blocks/

https://www.milkwood.net/2012/03/30/making-sawdust-spawn-for-shiitake-mushroom-growing/

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eraFjLDmZI0  


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFp6ITyp-l0

Hi Joshua, I am interested in this topic. Currently I have fruiting shiitake oak logs (2-4 years old) but it would be great to prepare my own spawns and get more mushrooms in homemade blocks. I find this blog post from Freshcap helpful.
https://learn.freshcap.com/growing/growing-shiitake-mushrooms/
What do you plan on doing next? Making your own grain spawns and sawdust block? Temperature indoors at 60F will be ideal for mycelium to colonize the blocks. Then next spring you will be able to set them outdoors for fruiting.

This is an interesting question.  The videos you posted of someone growing oysters, turkey tail and reishi on sawdust blocks outdoors were also very interesting and new to me. Even though I've been growing mushrooms (including all the species mentioned) for over 30 years now, I've never seen a successful large outdoor sawdust block growing operation like the one shown. So it might be possible to grow shiitake like this in the fall and spring, but I would suspect that it would be almost impossible to do this and have year-round production without climate control for the summer and winter. This is because shiitake doesn't fruit at temperatures below 45 degrees or above 80 degrees F. (Where do you live?)

My suggestion would be to consult with the person who made those videos and see how they did it and how much input (money, time, supplies, lab work, water, etc.) they put into it and also what their output was. Also important would be their geographical location and your geographical location. For example, if you live in a mild, rainy maritime climate it would be easier to do this than if you lived in a hot, dry desert region.

My gut feeling is that it would be difficult for a inexperienced person to make a decent profit money growing mushrooms year-round, let alone on blocks outdoors. It would be easier as seasonal income stream in the fall and spring.  Mushroom farming takes a lot of skill, a lot of effort, the right resources (clean hardwood sawdust) and the ability to be able to market your crop.

My advice would be to start small and develop your skills, market and strains. I knew a couple years ago who started out small with shiitake on logs, then they branched out into other species. Then they built their own tiny grow room pole building next to their house with climate control and a humidifier.  It was probably less than 14 feet by 10 feet in size. They developed their market and had a schedule where they would travel to restaurants, natural food stores, farmers markets and a small supermarket once or twice a week. They got sawdust blocks in bulk from a regional supplier at a low price and also made their own blocks. They also foraged for wild species and sold morels in the spring and chanterelles in the fall. I think they did pretty well. It would be harder to do this nowadays though because of insurance bond requirements (a big hassle!)  and corporate competition.

I watched a video recently of someone who spent hundreds (or thousands) of dollars making tons of morel spawn and setting up a massive set of long hoop houses in their backyard. They had BIG plans, but their project was a complete failure and they wasted a LOT of money and labor for nothing. They didn't start small and develop their method to make sure it worked. They didn't have a good business plan. It was sad to watch.

But good luck with your plans! Like I said, be sure to get more info and experience before you spend a lot of money- just my 2 cents...

M.K. Dorje Sr. wrote:This is an interesting question.  The videos you posted of someone growing oysters, turkey tail and reishi on sawdust blocks outdoors were also very interesting and new to me. Even though I've been growing mushrooms (including all the species mentioned) for over 30 years now, I've never seen a successful large outdoor sawdust block growing operation like the one shown. So it might be possible to grow shiitake like this in the fall and spring, but I would suspect that it would be almost impossible to do this and have year-round production without climate control for the summer and winter. This is because shiitake doesn't fruit at temperatures below 45 degrees or above 80 degrees F. (Where do you live?)

My suggestion would be to consult with the person who made those videos and see how they did it and how much input (money, time, supplies, lab work, water, etc.) they put into it and also what their output was. Also important would be their geographical location and your geographical location. For example, if you live in a mild, rainy maritime climate it would be easier to do this than if you lived in a hot, dry desert region.

My gut feeling is that it would be difficult for a inexperienced person to make a decent profit money growing mushrooms year-round, let alone on blocks outdoors. It would be easier as seasonal income stream in the fall and spring.  Mushroom farming takes a lot of skill, a lot of effort, the right resources (clean hardwood sawdust) and the ability to be able to market your crop.

My advice would be to start small and develop your skills, market and strains. I knew a couple years ago who started out small with shiitake on logs, then they branched out into other species. Then they built their own tiny grow room pole building next to their house with climate control and a humidifier.  It was probably less than 14 feet by 10 feet in size. They developed their market and had a schedule where they would travel to restaurants, natural food stores, farmers markets and a small supermarket once or twice a week. They got sawdust blocks in bulk from a regional supplier at a low price and also made their own blocks. They also foraged for wild species and sold morels in the spring and chanterelles in the fall. I think they did pretty well. It would be harder to do this nowadays though because of insurance bond requirements (a big hassle!)  and corporate competition.

I watched a video recently of someone who spent hundreds (or thousands) of dollars making tons of morel spawn and setting up a massive set of long hoop houses in their backyard. They had BIG plans, but their project was a complete failure and they wasted a LOT of money and labor for nothing. They didn't start small and develop their method to make sure it worked. They didn't have a good business plan. It was sad to watch.

But good luck with your plans! Like I said, be sure to get more info and experience before you spend a lot of money- just my 2 cents...

Hey I appreciate it! I certainly don't want to invest time into a fruitless endeavor, thats why i'm here, trying to find anyone else who grows shiitake blocks outdoors. Lionsmane and oysters grow fast, that might be why they thrive under shade cloths on grass, shiitakes are much slower. And Shiitakes I know could soar in sales where I live, but i'm concerned oysters and Lionsmane might seem a bit odd to the locals...

I live in Appalachia, fungus thrives in the rural area where I live.
Certainly growing outdoors would not be possible in winter. I do know that fungus grows well in Appalachia under the trees and near the streams even in the heat of July after big thunder storms. Shiitake might be different as it requires cold shocks.

I do believe growing shiitakes on logs the traditional method is the most sure fire. Not only is it natural, it is sustainable for many years, as the logs keep fruiting periodically. The allure of sawdust blocks is high return with short periods. The draw back is more intensive labor in the onset. However higher return early on could stand to bankroll more fungus endeavors later. I'm just mainly looking for anyone with experience with shiitake blocks outdoors.

just found this article thanks to this permies thread
https://permies.com/t/187194/Sterilizing-mushroom-substrate

Crazy wild stuff seems like this guy is growing shiitake on pine (i thought pine was a no go for shiitake?!) sawdust and from the pictures seemingly outdoors. My main concern with shiitakes is them needing high humidity, however if the oysters seem to be more finicky than shiitakes then that means that the shadecloth/grass method might work swell. Glenn Coville claims that the shade cloth helps with pests especially gnats and beetles, and periodically he moves the whole growing zone if pests become an issue, but that slugs are more of a concern.

https://mycobio.co.nz/how-to-grow-shiitake-from-a-grow-kit/

As far as pests go, oysters are a magnet for fungus gnats, which can be a real problem outdoors. Another problem with marketing oysters is that they are extremely perishable and aren't really viable as a dried mushroom. Which makes shiitake a much better choice for outdoor growing. Shiitake are not attractive at all to fungus gnats, are not extremely perishable and can be easily dried for a saleable product. Slugs can be thwarted with copper stripping around your logs or sawdust blocks, although I have not tried that method.

You might want to check out Field and Forest Products from Wisconsin. They have high quality spawn, a large variety of shiitake and oyster strains, bargains on bulk orders of sawdust blocks, helpful videos and instructions, etc. They are a small family-owned business and Joe will often answer all your questions when you call. They also have the best selection of shiitake strains that fall into cold weather, warm weather and wide range categories. I have about a 95% success rate with their spawn over the past 20 years. They might be able to answer your questions about sawdust block outdoor growing. Their website is:

https://www.fieldforest.net/

Maybe you could test out some of their strains and see which work best in your area. Some of their shiitake strains can be ready for fruiting after 6 months spawn run on logs at 70 degrees.

Another thing is that you should see if you can harvest and sell wild mushrooms in your area. Chanterelles and morels are both popular out here in Oregon. Ling chi/reishi and turkey tail are two medicinal  mushrooms that are found everywhere year-round and are easy to dry.  Plus, little or no investment is required. At farmer's markets here in Oregon there are people who sell fresh log and sawdust block shiitake and other species, fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles, morels, etc.), have bags of dried medicinal mushrooms and also sell tinctures.

Hi M.K. I bought spawns from Field&Forest too and the shiitaki production has been easy and predictable.  I picked a few fresh mushrooms several days ago and placed the damp caps on a piece of paper. White stuff grow readily on the paper from young to mature caps but not from the older one. Are these mycelia? Can I use them to inoculate hardwood sawdust directly?

I've never heard of anyone growing shiitake mushrooms on paper directly from spores, although it looks like some of your spores may have germinated. Also, shiitake mycelium is very picky about substrates and is not very aggressive,  So I doubt you would have any success with that.

However, it is fairly easy to grow spawn of several  other species of mushrooms on cardboard from stem butts or cuttings. I've grown winecap, oyster, black morel, almond agaricus and black pearl oyster spawn with this method. But I doubt it would work with shiitake. Here's a video about how to do it with oysters  (just fast forward to 4:00):



There's also a few other videos on youtube about how to do the cardboard/stem butt method with winecaps/ king stropharia in an outdoor setting. Paul Stamets pioneered this method and also details how to do this in his books Mycelium Running and How to Grow Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms.

And here's a video from field & Forest about this method:

Thanks for the videos. I first noticed a layer of fungal growth on a pan that I put freshly rain-soaked mushrooms on. So I repeated this on colored paper to have more visual contrast. I am not sure if they are germinated spores or mycelia from the stem or gills. Since the growth is so vigorous, I figure it is possible to make my own sawdust spawns in a non sterile environment, and inoculate oak logs with them. Pretty much like in the videos. Instead of foraging, currently producing logs are the stock that can be forced to produce fresh mushrooms for inoculation whenever needed. I tested shiitake stored in the fridge for a period of time, it has lost the vigor, a.k.a, store bought mushrooms probably won't work.

There will be rain after Christmas, I am going to give the cardboard/ sawdust method a try.

Good luck May and please keep us updated. Just out of curiosity, which strain of shiitake are you growing? In my experience, WR 46 seems like the most aggressive strain- fast spawn run and wide temperature range.

Those shown above are WR46. I also have 5-yr old logs of Native Harvest and hope to save the strain to inoculate fresh wood. I usually have small amount of oak branches from limbing up my trees every year or two. It doesn't justify spending $50 each time buying spawns.
I already cut a small branch, sanitized the surface with isopropanol and grind into sawdust.