mushroom log plugs eaten/removed by wildlife

I got an oak log last winter that was inoculated with shitake spores and the holes were plugged with wax. Upon inspection this spring, the wax plugs seem to have been removed/eaten, likely by birds or mice. Anyone experienced this? Should I re-plug the holes or just leave it alone?

Hi, Donna, Do you know when your log was innoculated? We plug ours in early March so a year later they are ready to bear shiitakes. Are you seeing any white at the places where the plugs are missing? Was it sawdust spawn or wooden dowels? We have never had anything eat the wax that we coat the innoculated plug with but something chewed on our tags over the winter. Sometimes I notice some wax missing later but I guess I haven't noticed when it disappears...sometimes some is still there when the shiitakes are producing. I think its purpose is to prevent contamination and hold in moisture immediately after plugging ...I am not sure how long term it needs to be.
I hope someone with more information can answer your question.

I have had the wax be gone quickly but not the dowel or the spawn source. I am going to rewax mine.
John S
PDX OR

I inoculated a couple of logs with oyster mushroom dowels last year. Almost strait away I noticed that birds were pecking out the wax, I assume looking for insects underneath since it was paraffin wax and not edible.. I ended up having to cover them in netting. Only some of the holes were pecked out so I just left it and sprayed with water a bit more often. They still haven't fruited but there seems to be plenty of mycelium covering the bottoms when I have looked.

Along the lines of the thread title, some lil' bastard critter has chewed some of the bark off my mushroom logs over the winter, even leaving little teeth marks gouged in the wood. The picture below is from February but they remain unchanged, and I am just now getting to writing this post. I also have wax over some of the plugs missing, but from what I can tell all the plugs are still in the logs. I see snow white spots on some of the log ends, like from the shiitake spawn, but I wonder if wild fungal infection or other decaying microorganisms in the wood will affect things. I hope that my plug spawn will be the dominant fungi and my logs will fruit ok. There is spots of black on the mushroom log end also. One of the mushroom spawn plugs I purchased is Ciopinni and they are black, so on those logs it's difficult for me to tell what's what that I see growing.

mice will eat wax

Thank you.  This is what I was thinking - a mouse, rat or squirrel.   Most of my spawn plugs are missing.  

Look into the totem method for growing mushrooms on logs.

I had the same problem in upstate NY, and watched birds eating my soy wax over my dowel plugs on my inoculated logs. As such, I am going to mix spicy red chile powder into the wax when I melt it...maybe that will be unpleasant for them, and they wont want to eat it. Updates soon. AJ  

I don't find waxing the holes to be essential, maybe just consider skipping it completely. I've had logs inoculated at the same time, some with wax, others with none: the logs all performed the same.

Christopher,

It sounds like you are a successful mushroom grower. Could you tell me if the logs should be always wet? I inoculated poplar and oak logs in November, I got record 40" of rain and not a single mushroom. I'm watering logs daily now, but they dry within 10 minutes.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:Christopher,

It sounds like you are a successful mushroom grower. Could you tell me if the logs should be always wet? I inoculated poplar and oak logs in November, I got record 40" of rain and not a single mushroom. I'm watering logs daily now, but they dry within 10 minutes.

That is mostly true in the past tense, but I have a pretty good memory.

Actually your logs should almost never be wet :-) I'm of the opinion that one should pretty much never water a log, or soak it, or otherwise try to 'force' fruiting. You will get better flushes and your logs will last longer if you just find a good spot to stack them, and leave them well alone. You may only get one flush per year this way, but it will be a strong one. They will come when the local conditions are perfect for them; here in Northern Lower Michigan that means a couple weeks ago, but it will be different depending on where you are and the specific strain you are growing.

Consider the possibility that you have much longer to wait for you first fruiting. I'm not saying this is the case for sure, since how much spawn you used/climate conditions can effect it, but here in USDA zone 4.5~5, oak logs can take 2.5 years to start producing. Poplar is an interesting case: I don't find our local Big Tooth Aspen, Quaking Aspen, or Cottonwood to be suitable for shiitake, though yours could be different.

I have used plugs with Chicken of the Woods, Lion Mane, Shitake, and Italian Oyster.
The problem here for the mushrooms, that we know and want to grow, is that they all come from different climatic zones that the climate I have.
It is wet when it's cold - so these mushrooms are not interested in growing, and when it's warm it's dry and then it is hot and bone dry. That's why I'm watering the logs every morning. They are located in full shade.

Cristobal Cristo wrote:I have used plugs with Chicken of the Woods, Lion Mane, Shitake, and Italian Oyster.
The problem here for the mushrooms, that we know and want to grow, is that they all come from different climatic zones that the climate I have.
It is wet when it's cold - so these mushrooms are not interested in growing, and when it's warm it's dry and then it is hot and bone dry. That's why I'm watering the logs every morning. They are located in full shade.

It seems like my experience won't translate as well to such a different climate. I wonder how cold it is there in your wet season? I ask because I consider shiitake a cold weather mushroom; they start fruiting here when we have average daytime temps in the upper 40s and can even withstand a very light frost(in some circumstances).

When its raining in winter the day/night is around 55/40. After the rain, when it clears out it is 50/28.