Adam Pickatti

Those logs are infected with something already bud. Tree may have been sick with a disease or standing dead but yeah you shouldn't try to inoculate those, it might work if you try oysters but they will be fighting off this competitor the whole time. Much better to cut some new logs in fall or winter from a healthy living tree, 3-6 inch diameter is ideal if you want to see fruit sooner rather than later, smaller and they dry to easy bigger and it takes a few years to fruit mushrooms.

And you do want to wait a few weeks after cutting to plug so the natural antifungal defenses of the tree wear off, but not to long or they will grow competitors.

Here is a cheaper option,Airport lids drill 5/16" hole in a regular lid and stuff as tight as pissible with polyfil (from the craft store for making pillows and stuffed animals, I also drill a 5/8" hole that I plug with high temp rtv silicone(survives the pressure cooker[PC]) that makes a self sealing port I can inject liquid culture(LC) or liquid inoculants (LI) through. I use them for grain masters, LC's, invitro jars, anything you need Gas exchange on and want to inoculate with liquid.


Also


While sterile/agar work may be daunting it really is versatile and fun. Wedges cut from petri dishes of agar stored in centrifuge tubes will last close to a year in the fridge, also pictured is a "Slant": a centrifuge tube with agar dried at an angle with a toothpick popsicle stick or other piece of wood will store in a fridge indefinitely but at least 3-5 years. You dont need a flow hood just a still air box (SAB)and a PC to get started.

If you are plugging willow logs you should do so a week or two after cut while still wet, avoid ground conduct while colonization is happening and you should be fine( never grown on willow logs before). I usually get chips that have willow mixed in from the dept of transportation. I spread them out for about a week before I innoculate to let the anti fungal properties dissipate, during this time most of the the willow dries out enough to not root. After the pile is innoculated I keep an eye out for fresh willow growth and put those pieces that didnt dry out in direct sun where they can be dried the rest of the way.

Alder logs are great for oysters or turkey tails, chipped is great for stropharia. Never had willow big enough to grow out as logs but the stropharia love them as well and I've heard oysters do to. Make sure the willow is fully dry though because it will regrow from pieces that come out of big chippers. And I've never tried hazel but Corylus is listed as a suitable species in GGAMM-Paul Stamets

Bonus pic of my stropharia patch included(we covered over the alder chips w/fir bark{viable substrate for oysters too} for vanity.)

If you can import straw(or anything lignin and cellulose rich; the book "Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms" has a great list of wood alternatives ) then you can grow oysters, if you can find a source for clean sawdust you can grow just about anything, short of that you still have a couple options
The Almond Agaricus grows very well co-cropped with tomatoes or cucumbers in hoophouses(or anywhere your temperatures are 50-95f) it grows on compost and can yield a pound a square foot.
For colder areas you can grow blewits, they like nitrogen rich compost and only fruit after frosts. The easiest natural way(assuming they grow in your area) to propagate blewits is to throw a bunch of mushroom stem butts in a blender with a little water, macerate then freeze, take frozen block and place inside the top third of your compost pile, check the pile in 3-4 weeks and look for fuzzy purplish mycelium, usually works. Anywhere you spread the compost you'll be inoculating with blewits.


Fieldforest.net has both
Happy spawning