M.K. Dorje Sr.

I have been using some Biointensive growing techniques for years, especially to grow root crops in my heavy clay soil. If you're interested, you might want to check out the book by John Jeavons entitled How to Grow More Vegetables. Here's a video that explains the double digging technique:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BTwQyNtpaE

Emily, if you can, please post some photos, especially showing the underside and gills. I would be willing to wager you have something else, but you never know. And it goes without saying, please DO NOT  eat the mushroom! Just about every edible mushroom species has lookalikes, many of which have not even been named or studied for their edibility by mycologists yet. It is NEVER safe for beginners to eat wild mushrooms until they have received advice and confirmation from an expert. We had a mushroom poisoning incident here at permies last year and I don't want to see another person get sick.

We received about four inches of rain here in western Oregon last month and have been blessed with a very productive fall mushroom season.

Thank you so much for posting this!! I really appreciate all the effort you're putting in to save the chestnut grove. I called all four contact numbers. I left a message for the first three and then I talked to Angus (sp.?) at the Chestnut Foundation. He said they were also against the construction of the AI data center and he would be contacting other members of the foundation to see if they find a way to save the trees.

Recent polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the construction of more AI data surveillance centers. It's something that both conservatives and progressives can agree on. I hope that if enough people unite against this, we can save the trees. Keep up the good work!

Please note that I always avoid discussing politics at permies completely, but this one time, I hope we can all agree that the chestnut grove is something worth protecting.

M.K. Dorje Sr. wrote:Kara, I've had excellent luck with Summer White Oyster plug spawn on alder logs.

https://fieldforest.net/summer-white-oyster-pleurotus-ostreatus-plug-spawn/

The Summer White  strain is great for me because it fruits in summer when most other mushrooms are scarce.

I would try to inoculate as soon as possible to take advantage of the mild temperatures and fall rains. You don't want your logs to dry out at all or get contaminated from spores floating around. But normally I do spawn runs for mushroom logs in the late winter inside large plastic bags to keep moisture levels stable and temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees. But it's more important to have clean logs. Also- I always avoid grain spawn because it is like candy for rodents and they will stop at nothing to eat it!

Here's what Summer White Oyster looks like:

I think grain spawn is for starting spawn from cultures or spores. I would just stick with the plugs and sawdust spawn. Plugs are great for the hole-drilling method and sawdust works well for the totem method where you stack the logs up and wedge the sawdust in between.

Kara, I've had excellent luck with Summer White Oyster plug spawn on alder logs.

https://fieldforest.net/summer-white-oyster-pleurotus-ostreatus-plug-spawn/

The Summer White  strain is great for me because it fruits in summer when most other mushrooms are scarce.

I would try to inoculate as soon as possible to take advantage of the mild temperatures and fall rains. You don't want your logs to dry out at all or get contaminated from spores floating around. But normally I do spawn runs for mushroom logs in the late winter inside large plastic bags to keep moisture levels stable and temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees. But it's more important to have clean logs. Also- I always avoid grain spawn because it is like candy for rodents and they will stop at nothing to eat it!

Nancy, that mushroom could be some kind of coral mushroom, such as Ramariopsis kunzei, which is found on islands off the Scottish Coast:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramariopsis_kunzei

We've got something similar here in Oregon, but they appear in late fall or early winter.

Although I've been growing shiitake on logs for many years, I've never tried alder. I usually use oak or chinquapin for shiitake. I always use alder for oyster mushrooms, since in the wild I often see oysters on alder.

However, Field & Forest says that shiitake does great on alder. Check out the chart:

https://fieldforest.net/on-logs/grow-outdoors/tree-species-suitability-chart/

As you can see, red alder is now listed as "superior" for shiitake. They also state that because alder has thin bark- "handle the logs gently".

Judging by the photo, it looks like some of your logs have already had some bark damage. So I would only use the logs that have all the bark intact and are completely free of fungi or ground contact/dirt. Also, logs cut in summer are often not that great for mushroom production, especially if the tree was weakened by a fungal disease or the logs have dried out.  I've had contamination problems from donated logs when the logs were dragged on the ground or had pre-existing fungi on them. So my advice is to check carefully for fungi on the logs and only use clean, fresh  ones with intact bark. The others can be used for firewood or other projects.

The good news is that shiitake, especially WR46, has a fast spawn run on alder. (It's also my favorite variety and the most reliable one.) Good luck Kara and let us know how it goes!

Hugo, thank you for starting this thread, I really appreciate it! And thank you to everyone else who is contributing, too.

I have been experimenting with assisted forest migration for many years. I have observed that the Douglas-firs that have been planted in the western third of Oregon as a monoculture crop are really starting to struggle with the climate crisis, including a massive die off that started several years ago in southwestern Oregon.

I have also observed that madrones, California black oaks and Oregon white oaks are drought tolerant and able to withstand the long droughts and vicious heat waves of the past decade.  They also resprout following forest fires. So I have been collecting seeds from these trees for many years from southernmost Oregon and planting them further north up in the central Coast Range and Calapooya Mountains. I plant some of the seeds directly in the soil, especially in burned areas during the spring morel season. The morels are placed in the same bag as the seeds, so their spores naturally inoculate the oak and madrone seeds before I plant them. I also plant madrone seeds and acorns in trays and transplant them in the following  winter or sell them as part of my permaculture mini nursery.

Just in case anyone is interested, I have a bunch of Oregon white oak seedlings for sale, as well as other seedling trees such as Silverleaf Chestnuts, Howard English walnuts, Yamhill filberts and Indian Freestone peaches. (Seedlings are more drought tolerant than grafted trees.) I can also deliver or you can pick them up here at Permaculture Nursery. Just purple mooseage me for more info.