New Mushroom Log Project
Well I saw a guy cutting down a lot of beautiful hardwoods on his property, and this sort of thing always “raises my ire” a bit when there is not a good reason for it. When I asked him why he was doing it, he said, “for firewood.” Anyhow, I just sucked it up and proceeded to ask him if I could have a few pieces, and he let me have about 10 logs that were between 2.5′ and 4′. They are mostly red oak with some water oak mixed in. While it is a bad thing that our tree canopies are disappearing, why not put the wood to good use and let some mushrooms grow in them eh? Remember that you want to cut logs for this purpose in the late winter when the most sugars are present. Referring to the picture of the logs, I will use the two short sections that I have sawn in half to inoculate with reishi (adding to my existing 3 reishi logs for a total of 5).
The logs should sit for 2-3 weeks after the tree is felled, and this is so that the natural fungicides present will have time to dissipate. I set the logs in a fairly dry spot during this period, and when a few slight curing cracks are noted in the end of the logs, this is a good sign that they are ready. I watered them for a few hours the day before plugging so as to build up adequate moisture content.
On the last go around, I used shiitake sawdust spawn because it is cheaper. Because I had such good luck with it, I initially decided to use it again. However, Fungi Perfecti assured me that the dowel spawn was every bit as vigorous of an inoculant, and because it is far less trouble to use, I decided to spend a little extra and go for it. As can be seen in the picture, I purchased a 100 dowel bag of reishi and a 1000 count bag of shiitake. This will be more shiitake than I need, but the 500 count bag was not enough (if you live in the area and want a few shiitake dowels, just contact me).
Because I had more than enough dowels, I decided to drill the holes a little closer and over inoculate. This should give me a faster spawn run and also cut down on competing fungus. I ended with an average of about 70 plugs per log. From the photo, you can see that it makes it a little easier if you can stand the log upright on a surface, because in this way it is easier to rotate it as you work. Here I am about to drive in a section of dowels with a hammer.
Make sure you do this process in a shady dry spot, and not in the heat of the day. Referring to the picture on the left, once all the holes are plugged in each log, I then smear a little wax over them in order to seal from the environment etc. There are waxes designed for this purpose that are sold by the spawn supplier, but if you have just a few logs, you can probably use any wax available (I imagine dripping a candle over the holes would work for really small jobs). I put the bar of wax in a little tin foil and warmed on low heat in the oven so that it would be easier to smear.
Having inoculated and waxed all of the logs, I then stored them in a moist shady area, and such a good spot is under trees or other vegetation. What is pictured is known as crib stacking (I have a few older logs mixed in here). Be sure to get them off of the ground so that they will not be get in contact with soil organisms and other fungus. I watered them good after stacking. Shiitake can tolerate lower humidities than many other mushrooms, but you don’t want to let them dry out. A good practice is to water them every week or so in dry weather and then let the outer surfaces dry out (so as not to attrack competing fungus). Sustained temperatures around 100 F can kill the mycelium so you might want to provide extra water during these periods.
I will cover them with burlap cloth once they have dried out a bit. Be sure to sure to visit one of the many sites that get more in depth with this process - like this one in my link section. Stay tuned as I will be updating with progress reports. Hopefully, this new batch will turn out as successfully as the first ones.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Hi! liked your article on mushrooms. experimented with my first shiitake today! got some from a friend’s farm and make a “spore print” and inoculated with this. Do you know where I could get a few reishi to do the same thing? or a SMALL amount of spores to experiment with , without paying an “arm and a leg”? Am in Florida
February 12th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Hi David and thanks for writing. I personally have not ventured into producing my own spawn because my main goal is just to simply produce some mushrooms for food and the satisfaction of growing them. However, if I had more time, I would very much enjoy the hobby of spawn culture. As to the reishi, I currently don’t have any fruiting and it will probably be at the beginning of the warmer weather until they do so. However, if you look at my links page, I think you can find what you are looking for. Hope this helps.