Failed shiitake on beech

I had a beech tree. I read that it was good for cultivating shiitake, so I cut it down, and made it into logs. Then I drilled in the dowels and waited. And waited. And waited.  Nothing. For 8 years.
This year, I chopped them up and burned them for biochar.  I came to the conclusion that even though they were on the North side of a fence, they were actually in too much sun and they dried out.  I rechecked to make sure that beech is a good substrate for shiitake and it is.  

I would suggest that if you are leaving logs somewhere to fill with mycelium and give you mushrooms, check how sunny it is at different times of day and year.  I am not cultivating mushroom logs in that spot anymore.

I also checked another new location and it gets nailed by sun about 10 am to 11 am, so I put a cover over them.  

Luckily, my other mushroom logs are doing well.  

John S
PDX OR

8 years is rough, sorry to hear that. I've had similar luck with logs that ended up in more sun than I realised, they just dry out before the mycelium gets properly established. Shade and moisture really are everything with shiitake. Did you soak them at all during those years or just leave them to it?

Good question.  I briefly soaked them. I do that about once a month during our dry summers.  I had seen the technique where people pour water on them during the summer.  That seemed very water inefficient to me, especially because you have to make sure that that water isn't full of chlorine and chloramine.  So I get a 5 gallon bucket full of good water and dunk each one about once a month. It seems to help on the other logs.  

I don't soak them for a long time because a 24 hr. soak is what people use to force them to fruit and I don't want to make them fruit before they are ready.

John S
PDX OR