Winecap and softwoods

I read online that hardwood mulch is preferable for inoculating and growing winecap mushrooms. Why is this?

I got a dump of mulch from a local arborist. Turned out that it is primarily pine which is a softwood. How will it affect the mushroom spawn? Will softwood not colonize as well? Will mushroom yield be lesser/none at all? Will I need to add mulch material more frequently?

Thanks in advance!

P Mohan,

The issue with the pine is the sap which impedes the growth of the fungal strands.  Chipped wood *might* work, but pine wood that has dried out works better.  Maybe if you mix some straw or other chips you could get good results?

Eric

Certain fungus prefer certain food.

Some are pickier than others.

Luckily, winecaps are pretty hungry.

I have not had luck with a primarily pine/cedar/conifer chip with winecaps but something that it will devour is a mixture of cardboard and fallen deciduous leaves. You can even utilize hay but be warned that it will be gobbled up quick.

I have found, oddly enough, box elder wood is a favorite of many mushrooms. I do not know what it is but I have had winecaps, elm oyster, golden oyster, and a few other inoculate onto box elder without much issue.

HT Timothy for the tip about box elder. I just cut one down the other day and now I know what to do with it. I saw some native oysters fruiting over the weekend (weird time of year for them but it's a sheltered spot) and that will be a source for spawn.

I don't see any pine sap on the mulch. So fingers crossed. If not winecap, are there other beginner friendly edible mushrooms that I can try to grow in the garden (and get mushroom compost as well in the process)?

You could try wood blewit, it prefers a mixture of pine/hardwood/leaflitter/scraps. I would recommend experimenting. I'd still give winecaps a try if it were me, its all an experiment anyway!

Good Morning Permies.

I wanted to follow up to this post with an update on one of my beds.

I had a 10Lb block left over from inoculating garden beds this past year and it sat in a small fridge of mine for 5 months before I distributed it to my mulched beds.

This is the main bed that I inoculated. Previously, it was grass that required regrading to stop a negative slope towards my basement.

This bed I experimented with utilizing Kraft brown paper in a jumbo roll. This minimizes chemicals utilized in the process of making the paper and skips the bleaching process. I laid it down on top of the grass and secured it with landscaping staples temporarily. I layered compost/topsoil on top and created a sufficient grade by hand due to the presence of my septic pipe being in the area.

The mulch that I used is what is most interesting to me. I had six nasty, oozing, infected, beat-up Siberian elms on my property dropped. They were chipped into a pile of pine and allowed to 'cook' for a few months. This stuff was STEAMING when I dug into it and already had some mycelium running in it. I wasn't convinced that my refrigerated spawn would be able to compete but the proof is in the pictures!

Experiment! Trial stuff! There will be losses but then there will be wins!

I have four more Siberian elms to drop, they will be topping off this bed and with some luck we will see the mushrooms overtake the area!

NICE!  Congratulations on your first crop of Wine Caps.

Eric