Create a Natural Medicine Chest: Starting A Maitake Mushroom Patch

Here is my blog post, Create a Natural Medicine Chest: Starting A Maitake Mushroom Patch, about my process for trying maitake mushrooms. I would love to hear your comments and advice.

For what it's worth, I have a shiitake patch from last year that is doing very well. Would love to hear your comments and advice. Thanks for reading.

I will be interested in your results. I understand that maitake is not only saprophytic on oak trees, but also parasitic. Have you considered infecting living oak trees? My neighbor has a huge oak tree, which has a short life expectancy, given the road widening project that is being planned, and I wonder if we have time to infect it and get a couple of flushes before it has to come down.

John Elliott wrote:I will be interested in your results. I understand that maitake is not only saprophytic on oak trees, but also parasitic. Have you considered infecting living oak trees? My neighbor has a huge oak tree, which has a short life expectancy, given the road widening project that is being planned, and I wonder if we have time to infect it and get a couple of flushes before it has to come down.

I have Paul Stamets book. He didn't say anything about trying it on living oaks. However, there are pictures showing wild fruiting on what appear to be living trees.

I have never seen them on real logs before. kind of wierd because they for sure can fruit on sawdust, though they can be tricky. The mycelium is aggressive but needs a significant consolidation or incubation period like shiitake. Strains that fruit vigorously without induction (like cold shocking) are desirable. That's why a local strain might not be the best. There are only a couple floating around that are supposed to be good fruiters. I would contact the people at mushroom mountain and see if they have ever fruited it on logs, since they did send you dowel spawn. Reishi will totally fruit on logs though. Very aggressive.

Best of luck.

I tried to grow maitake on logs. They haven't fruited. Then local people told me that they grow much better in a summer humid climate like the East, unlike the western US.
John S
PDX OR