Growing Shiitakes and Oysters on Downed Wood in September in Minnesota

Hi Permies,

I'm a biology teacher on an alternative high school in Iowa City, Iowa with a large campus farm (it's called Scattergood, you should definitely check it out!) and I'm looking to grow some mushrooms as it would be a great product to add to our farm's repertoire and would be great hands on lesson for biology while we inoculate logs. I am currently looking for logs and know that the best ones to inoculate for shiitakes and oysters are oaks and sugar maples that are cut in winter. However, it is obviously hard to find these logs because of them being really nice wood. However, my folks in central Minnesota had a big windstorm come through and knock down a bunch of trees, including maples, in September. Is this too early? Can I use this wood? Does it really need to be cut later in the year? Any thoughts anyone has would be welcome! Thank you!

-Ben

They are probably not ideal, but what can it hurt?  The only problem I see is that they might have already be colonized by another fungus.  But I’d say try them.   You will definitely have to soak them to bring the internal water level back to what it needs to be.

I cut some chestnut oak limbs to use.  They were cut in late November, but I didn’t cut the limbs until early June.   Shiitakes fruited fine on them.

Howdy,

I have standing dead alder trees. When they fall over they almost always give me a harvest of oyster mushrooms. Sometimes the same log/tree will give me mushrooms up to 3 yrs. in a row. Sometimes I am able to collect up to 5lbs. and more. I have also seen the standing deads, in the creek, with mushrooms out of reach. I don't mind not getting every mushroom as this is what keeps them fruiting, spreading spore, etc.

According to Field & Forest mushrooms, fall cut logs are best when there is 30% to full color change on the leaves. So if the storm was in late September in Minnesota, they could be pretty good logs if they were prevented from drying out or getting contaminated:

https://www.fieldforest.net/category/growing-outdoors



If the logs dried out a lot, this might still work if they were soaked before inoculation, but it might not be worth all the trouble, gas and expense to haul them, pay for spawn and inoculate them for a slim chance of a good harvest in a few years. Instead, maybe you could find a local tree service company and see if they have stuff like fresh chips or logs you could grow mushrooms on. Or use organic straw- there is plenty of that in Iowa and it it's great for oysters. Plus, they fruit so fast that the students will get to eat the results of the project instead of having to wait for years. There's lots of good info on how to grow oysters on straw. Just my 2 cents...

If you want to use straw, my advise is take a bucket or multiple buckets, and put a quarter inch bit in your drill.  Drill 3 or 4 drain holes in the bottom of bucket, then holes 3-4” apart all over the bucket, staying 2” away from the top and bottom.

Get some straw.  I like barley straw, followed by oat straw, then wheat straw.  The wheat straw should be chopped.  Put it in a clean garbage can, and use a weed eater on it.  Wear goggles and a mask. Note, a single bale will fill 12-16 buckets.

Soak the straw for several hours, or overnight.  Then remove it and let the excess water drain away.  Now put about 2” of straw in the bucket and press it down. Add oyster spawn (I like the blue oyster, as it’s a good fruiter in all weather).  Repeat this process until the bucket is full.  Put on the lid and wait.

I did six buckets for a friend. They pinned after five weeks and my friend was harvesting after six weeks.

I plan to start six to eight buckets per month this year and hope to have oysters to eat all year.