When is a good time of year to start shiitaki mushrooms?

When is a good time of year to start shiitake mushrooms?

we cut logs around valentines day and plug around the first of March. We usually get a nice fall flush and then a really good one in the spring and periodically for several years. We have been plugging with wide range strains. some folks here plug in the fall/winter. Are trees ever dormant where you are?

The white oaks go dormant where I live. The live oak doesn't. My native trees are Oaks, pines, bay laurel, elderberry, buckthorn, buckeye, and ceanothus.

There is a lot of information at Field and Forest Products (www.fieldforest.net) . I know there are other suppliers but this is where we order our plugs. There are alot of shiitake growers in our area so when we started we had a lot of local advice...which was to cut when dormant and plug soon after. We are using some red, white and black oak, whatever is the right size and needs thinning, I don't know about any others but have found this company helpful on the phone. (our "computer" is an amazonkindle with browser capabilities but not much else...like the ability to link).