Cultivating mushrooms on oak stump

I have a very large aged water oak stump in my backyard, took down the rotted tree ~5 yrs ago, and today discovered a number of reishi mushrooms growing on it (!). I’m very excited by this and a complete beginner as far as fungi go but had a friend confirm they are reishi.

I had covered the stump in compost and dirt last year and attempted to grow some veggies and herbs on it to mixed results. I was planning to plant a mix of pollinator friendly flowers and herbs this year and see how that goes.

However with the reishi discovery, I am now wondering if there’s a way to keep the mushrooms growing and harvest them as needed. There’s quite a bit on the stump but more room for them to take over.

Any input is very much appreciated!

One more question - this is the only other fungus growing on the stump that I can see, does anyone by chance know what it is?

Susannah,

Those mushrooms look pretty spectacular!  I wish I could give more specific commentary but they look like they are doing very well!

Eric

Susannah,

So a quick bit of research shows some interesting results.

1). Reishi mushrooms only grow on maple stumps in the wild and even then only affect 1 in 10000 trees!

2). They can be transplanted to oaks fairly easily.

Are you sure the stump is an oak and not a maple?

Eric

Thanks Eric. Positive it’s an oak, water oak to be precise because it was checked by an arborist before getting taken down.

I think what I have must be ganoderma lucidum because the bottom is browner in color and those do grow in Southeastern US where I’m located. From what I’ve read the ganoderma tsugae, another common reishi with a white bottom, grows primarily on hemlock but could show up on a maple.