Here are my notes on when hens started popping up like mad last year:
10/7/18-nights 50s, warm front with rain
-Maitake
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problem is, I found at least one in september too, there are a few early exceptions, but my best guess is they tend to flush. right now we are getting 50s nights… perhaps that warm front was fter a cold spell?
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Haven’t seen any hens yet, they are about a week late here. There has only been a quarter inch of rain in the past month and the end of September was abnormally warm.
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Here’s the weather history from last year’s big flush of hens. Looks like night temps cooled off then we had a warm front with good rain.
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thanks, very useful. we are getting only sunny weather until first frost, assumed to be around Oct. 14 (cold wave is coming). But I was in the woods Saturday, and they were definitely well hydrated. I will check at least this and the next week end…
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i inoced my mulch 6 yrs. ago and wine caps are still coming up everywhere. i keep adding mulch and they keep flushing. did the same with my compost pile w/ blewits spawn. they usually flush mid oct. here. i get wild king boletes that usually flush late august under my big spruces. i pick them just starting to open and make stuffed mushrooms with them. same with wine caps. nice thing about late summer/ early fall shrooms. no slugs or bugs in them.
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That’s encouraging, Steve; you really make me want to try wine caps again. I attempted a wood chip bed of them a couple of seasons ago, but they never took. Think my oak chips may have been a little too old (6+ months)—and they also had a lot of wisteria wood mixed in with them, which may have been disagreeable to the fungus. Did you use wheat straw?
i used fresh rough cut hardwood sawdust from a firewood business. the 1st time i tried i didn’t ensure the mixed sawdust/ spawn had contact with the soil so it didn’t take. the 2nd bed i mixed the bottom layer into about the top inch of soil and it took. i also covered the sawdust with a 4in layer of oat straw and watered the patch when i watered the garden. by late summer all the sawdust was white. i then spread it into all my mulch under my trees and bushes. the next spring i top dressed with another 4in of wood chips. by july i had huge flushes all over the yard and have been for 6 yrs. now. they say the mycelium gets weak after a few years and you have to start a new batch but so far they’re still producing strong.
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Thanks, Steve! Definitely going to try again. I think you’re onto something with soil contact. My first bed had a layer of cardboard at bottom; so maybe that was my problem?
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could be. i was told by the vendor thats why my mycelium didn’t take the 1st time. i only mixed it into the top 2-3in. of the sawdust. good luck!
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My shiitake logs are really cranking out fruit right now! ‘Wide range 46’ and ‘west wind’ strains. These pics are a week after a 24 hour soak.
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i tried them on sugar maple logs. they never took. i kept them watered well under my big spruces. i even doubled the amount of dowels. think its too cold for them here but they were buried in snow for 5 months.
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Moose, IME shiitake takes well on oak and hickory. Takes OK on black cherry. Takes poorly on softwoods (poplar and willow), and not at all on maple. As you can see it is my favorite mushroom.
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These are on white oak. Cut green and innoculated within a week of cutting using Field & Forest plugs. These logs were cut spring of 2018 and did flush just a little last fall.
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so your best flushes are still ahead. 2nd and 3rd year are usually best.
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the vendor i ordered from said sugar maple was good. we don’t have oak, hickory or black cherry here.
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Maple is really great for oyster mushrooms. I have a bunch of those I expect will flush any day now.
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A over looked Mushroom I found on a forging site Steve Brill (recipe section)
He wrote a book is thta okay to post
Is dryard’s saddle (or hawk Wing)
found throughout the year
Tastes bad just frying
What I do is different them Him now , but will explain both
They are similar just different cooking methods
Soak Mushroom In
Vinegar Soy sauce , and some olive oil (highest Vinegar to lowest Oil)
(he used Tamari soy Sauce Didn’t have any)
After a short time I fried (hour or so)
tasted like fried Chicken skin
That that to A omelet (with tomatoes )
If too salty by using to much soy sauce add 1 more more egg.
One thing to keep in mind IF you cannot poke your finger nail through
it can be to tough younger mushrooms are better frying
also look at the pores if they are big , and not close together
it will be too tough
save those for soup.
The thing He did different (although It looks like He changed his recipe)
He soaked for a day , and baked in a oven for a hour.
Important to drain for a while first (or maybe pat dry.)
It was long since I’ve done that ,but that is good also
adding to other foods that tend to dry out sometimes like baking chicken wouldn’t be bad either
as it can be moist.
By the way I never had a Puffball As good as the one in Colorado
Tasted like Steak (wasn’t pure white had ridges on it.)
I live in Northern IL. I like to wrap in Aluminum foil (that is camping )
with butter salt,and pepper ,and throw in a fire.
I use less aluminum foil now (for Healthy eating )
I use a cassarole dish with foil.
or wrap in leaves under the foil grape works,
but what Ever I find in the wild like burdock if I have to, but leaves a potent flavor.
There is a bunch of Mushrooms groups throughout the USA
Usually $20 bucks to join in a lot of area’s
you could get into identifying more with spore prints
I’ve done some ,but haven’t tried a lot of stuff (no time)
Also using chemicals to see what color reactions happen
like Ammonia , or Iodine (of coarse do not eat those samples.)
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