growing mushrooms?

[O.P. Mater]

Just wondering if there are any mushroom growers? We innoculated oak and sweet gum logs in March of this year with 1000 plugs of ★★★★ake and 100 plugs of Maitake. Just found the first ★★★★ake mushroom growing on a small sweet gum log....:-) We have to put up some wire tomorrow and take them out of the "pig pen" configuration and lean them up against some wire stretched between the pine trees. Not sure how many will produce this fall, but am glad we decided to give it a try!

[O.P. Mater]

oops.............bad language?

[Boutique Tomatoes]

I hope to be next year. I didn't have time to get them started this year as I had too many projects going on at once, but have plans to try several types next year.

One I was interested to try in addition to the ones you've started with was wine caps. Since they grow in hardwood chips in a shaded area, I can try to establish them in the mulch under our crab apple trees. If they take, I've managed to do something with an area where nothing else will grow... ;-)

[Jeannine Anne]

I used to grow regular mushrooms some years ago in a shed . I grew them in large deep boxes, like raised beds but higher and we had huge yields. I had a contact in those days that grew them commercially and got spore from him. I miss that as once they started they went on for ages .

XX Jeannine

[fortyonenorth]

I've wanted to try shi*takes for a few years, but haven't had the time and/or the logs. I had a tree fall on the house this spring, so I hope to start some here in the next few weeks. Glad to hear of your success.

About how many plugs per log are you using?

[O.P. Mater]

Mark, the wine caps sound interesting. I like the idea of starting them outside in hardwood chips. Will have to look in to those. I believe when I was trying to research how to grow mushrooms, there was mention of a mushroom that liked growing in apple orchards. Maybe that is the one.

Jeannine, growing in a shed sounds good too. Do you remember if they were in wood chips? I like the idea of having lots of fresh mushrooms but will dry some for use when there aren't any fresh ones....assuming that this isn't the only mushroom... I may be counting my chickens before they hatch. Had one log knocked off the pile by some wild hogs a couple of nights ago.

As far as plugs per log, we inoculated 25 logs with 1000 shi*take plugs or around 40/log...I had 100 plugs of the maitake and we inoculated 3 logs. The logs were different sizes....but we tried to keep them light enough to be able to move them without help.

Hope no one was hurt when the tree fell on your house......was that caused by a tornado? It happened here about 3 years ago....a microburst. Dropped a huge beech tree right into the bedroom. Only one home was a convalescing dog in a kennel. Luckily, she wasn't in that room, but she really doesn't like stormy weather now. Maybe you can inoculate that stump?

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Originally Posted by O.P. Mater

Mark, the wine caps sound interesting. I like the idea of starting them outside in hardwood chips. Will have to look in to those. I believe when I was trying to research how to grow mushrooms, there was mention of a mushroom that liked growing in apple orchards. Maybe that is the one.

Yes, I hate the chore of hauling and spreading hardwood mulch for all the flower beds every year, but If I turn it into feeding the mushroom beds maybe that will help with my attitude towards it.

[Jeannine Anne]

OP, no it wasn't woodchips, it was a deep layer of manure with a surface layer of potting mix on the top. Chunks of spore were inserted here and there,I did it exactly as my friend who did it commercially.They grew in huge long Nissen huts, they looked like corrugated iron poly tunnells, it was low light inside and they had them in three tiers like large long three high bunk beds. I used am epty small barn/shed about 12 feet long and had the beds just the same as they did.

XX Jeannine

[O.P. Mater]

Jeannine, I am going to see if I can find spores for button mushrooms and try that in the barn. Do you have to water them after they get started? Thanks for sharing how to grow them.

My excitement has dwindled some.....the mushroom I was so excited to find has been the only one so far, unless something is eating them overnight. Have been checking them every morning, but it may be spring before there is a good flush. Have the sprinkler on them now to encourage them.

[O.P. Mater]

Update! Have harvested 3.5 pounds of shi*takes over the past week. I gave all the logs a 24 hour soak in a big tub of water. With in about 4 or 5 days they began fruiting. We have eaten a lot and am dehydrating some tonight. :-)

[Worth1]

Sh!taki mushrooms are one of my favorite and have always wanted to give it a go.

The lack of rain has curtailed any attempt top do so this year.

Worth

[O.P. Mater]

First big flush and I just gathered 8 pounds of shi*takes and there are lots of small ones popping out of the logs that will probably be ready in a few days! I am so excited. We have been getting enough to have them cooked in our eggs for breakfast for about a month.....2 or 3 a day, but this is amazing.

The maitake logs have a few small dried shelf looking fungi on them, but am not sure if it is maitake or some other fungus that has taken over as they have been innoculated a year.

Off to find some mushroom recipes.......:-) 81degrees and sunny here today.....

[livinonfaith]

Wow, how exciting! Nothing like fresh mushrooms.

I had one of those portabello mushroom kits a couple of years ago. Bought one as a Christmas gift for a brother and had to get one for me, "just to make sure it was a decent gift". (No one on this forum is going to buy that, are they? lol)

It was a lot of fun and I planned on spreading the soil from the kit outside when I was done. Unfortunately, I never did the research to determine what I should do to make it most likely to succeed. I still have the thing, sitting in the corner of my back room. I wonder how long the spores remain viable?

My parents had Lion's Mane mushrooms growing wild on a log in their back yard. It was the only wild mushroom (except for Hen of the Woods) that I ever felt comfortable enough in it's identification to pick and eat. There is a reason it is considered a choice mushroom! Quite tasty!

But Dad went back there last year and cleared out the old logs. I almost cried!

[livinonfaith]

Oh! By the way, I got my portabella mushroom kit at a site that sells science stuff to schools. The name is Nasco. Here is the link http://www.enasco.com/c/science/Live...+Growing+Kits/

Everyone else was selling the exact same kit for $38 to $50. Nasco had them for less than $24. They also have kits for white mushrooms and shi*ake.

And while you're there, you can pick up some newts, a couple of tree frogs and some painted butterfly larvae. Fun, Fun, Fun!

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

And while you're there, you can pick up some newts, a couple of tree frogs and some painted butterfly larvae. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Sounds like you can get ready for the witch scene in Macbeth from there.

I have several questions. How long will oak logs produce mushrooms.
Do you think that shi taki mushrooms will grow on oak chips? I know people that do tree work. While anything bigger than 4 inches or so is most likely to be made into fire wood they also chip limbs and brush.

Has anyone grown button mushrooms from spores. I've thought about getting a couple of mushrooms that are over ripe from the grocery store and seeing if I could start mushrooms that way.