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Log Inoculation of Shiitake Mushrooms...

 
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I have a neighbor that is taking down trees along the back of his property to put in a garden and was just going to use them as firewood. I have been wanting to purchase the kits to inoculating logs with shiitake mushroom plugs and vertical stack them in my woods. Has anyone every done this with shiitake or any other varieties, with success?
 
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We just today recieved our Field and Forest order of fifteen hundred plugs for shiitaki logs. We will cut trees over the next two weeks and plug early March. We do this every other year and have good sucess. We eat a lot fresh, dry a lot and share some. We usually soak to get a good flush...rarely have we had a spontaneous flush. We have until now just bought wide range strains but this time also ordered a cold weather strain. I am sure you'll get more advice from the fungi folks here.
Inspired by this site I m burying our oldest spent logs at the edges of our kitchen garden.
 
steward
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the species of tree is important. shiitake is a pretty adaptable mushroom, but it has its limits. do you know what the trees are?

if they aren't compatible with shiitake, some other mushroom might work.
 
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In general, oyster mushrooms of most varieties do well with softer deciduous trees, like poplar, alder, willow, etc.

Shiitake and most other mushrooms do better on true hardwoods like oak, maple, chestnut, etc.
John S
PDX OR
 
Jamie Walters
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What I could identify easily were oak, ash & few walnut. Just depends how much he will clear out. What is the best way to store the logs after inoculation... Verticle leaning twards a center support - harvest style or stacked lincon log style?
 
John Suavecito
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The Stamets books are the best source for these. Especially Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms. It depends more on mushroom than on log, but the combination is key. Shiitake is best on a pallet so it doesn't touch the ground. Lion's mane is good on walnut, but I wouldn't grow the others on it . Others besides shiitake can be grown half buried vertically after inoculation.
John S
PDX OR
 
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I'm starting a bunch of shiitake and oyster logs right now myself, as well as some oysters on woodchips in boxes. I'm doing an indoor spawn run again this year with the inoculated logs and boxes, using huge plastic bags to keep humidity and moisture in, and to keep contaminants out. I have great success with the indoor spawn run technique, as the mycelium from the fresh spawn races through the logs and chips with great speed at room temperature- typically 60 - 70 degrees in my house. Then when the logs and chips are completely covered with mycelium, I place them outside in the garden for fruiting.
I agree with John, it's best to keep shiitake logs off the ground, because this species has problems with contaminants from the soil. But oyster logs seem to do fine when placed in raised beds of chips (the "raft" method).
When it's dry outside, I stack the shiitake logs in a real tight stack and cover them with plastic sheeeting, keeping a real close eye out for green/blue mold. When the weather turns rainy, I remove the sheeting and open up the log stacks to a more "Lincoln Log" style, to let in more air. I hope this helps... Good luck!
 
pollinator
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The state just cleared a bunch of brush and small trees along an on ramp to a local highway. While they chipped up and took away the brush and small branches/trees, they left lay a bunch of reasonable sized "logs" and I have been considering confiscating some of them to use as mushroom logs. I am new to all of this, though. What if I don't know the species of the wood? Where is the bes place to get innoculant? Any tips, tidbits for a complete mushroom growing virgin?
 
John Suavecito
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If the logs are fresh/within 2 months that's good. You might be concerned about pollution from highway. You need to ask someone, look for leaves underneath, or find out what kind of wood. Turkey tails and tree oyster and the only kinds that grow on most wood. Read Stamets books. Drilling dowel plugs is probably easiest. Stamets lists sources, including himself in book.
John S
PDX OR
 
M.K. Dorje
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Matching the right species of fresh wood to the right species of mushroom is of critical importance. Just grabbing some dirty logs of an unknown species and inoculating them with any species of mushroom probably won't work. The folks at Field and Forest (fieldforest.net) have a great selection of high quality spawn. Start with something easy- like king stropharia/winecap mushrooms on fresh hardwood chips. This species is perfect for myco-permaculture. Rent or borrow a chipper, or get free fresh hardwood or Doug-fir chips from a local arborist/tree service dumped on your property- but be sure to ask them about what kind of trees the chips are from. Above all, read the classic books by Paul Stamets on mushroom cultivation: "The Mushroom Cultivator", "Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms" and "Mycelium Running". These books are often available at your local library. If you live in North America or Europe, this is the best time of year to get started on a mushroom growing project.
 
John Suavecito
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I know with logs, you should wait at least 2 weeks after cutting so the natural anti-fungal tree juices will have expired. What sort of time should I wait to use them after getting fresh wood chips? I'm about to start another ground patch of mushrooms.
Thansk
John S
PDX OR
 
Judith Browning
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John Saltveit wrote:I know with logs, you should wait at least 2 weeks after cutting so the natural anti-fungal tree juices will have expired. What sort of time should I wait to use them after getting fresh wood chips? I'm about to start another ground patch of mushrooms.
Thansk
John S
PDX OR



We had always understood we should not plug fresh cut logs for shiitake but Field and Forest says it's OK to plug immediately. I wish I had kept track but now they are all mixed up...but we did plug some fresh cut and up to as old as three weeks.
 
tel jetson
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I would think that chops could be inoculated immediately. the antifungal substances shoul originate in the cambium, which will have been separated from the rest of the wood rather violently by the chipper.

when I've gotten loads of chips, they're always already hot. that includes the load that came from a tree chipped up across the street earlier in the day. that tells me things are able to start breaking down pretty quickly.

what mushroom species are you planning to use, John?
 
author
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I might recommend the following resource:

http://mushrooms.cals.cornell.edu

If you click on "factsheets" you'll find a nice guide on shiitake growing.

We will be adding updated factsheets to this resource soon - as in May or so.

Thanks!
Steve
 
John Suavecito
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Hi Tel,
Sorry, I didn't see your question.

I am growing Oysters: king, golden, Italian/pulmonarius, and tree oysters.
Shiitake, turkey tails, reishi, pioppino, blewit, King stropharia/garden giant, maitake, and lion's mane.

Since this is really my first year, I'm going to see what works to determine which I keep growing.

I'm also interested in capturing shaggy manes and a few others growing in the wild to grow at home.
John S
PDX OR
 
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