So you may remember my recent Nor’Easter Heartbreak when tree fell from the woods cleaving my multi graph tree in half while it was on its way for its potential best flower show ever and possible harvest to date.
Its enough to send you into depression. Or you could look at the bright side. And buy Mushroom dowels and inoculate all that fresh wood with Shitake, Lions mane, chickens and hen of the woods before nature chooses for you.
PS: Does this post belong in General Fruit Growing or General Gardening. The Mushroom is described as the Fruiting Body.
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Fun to see it wherever it shows, and easy enough to ignore if a person isn’t into such things. So I’m glad you posted it, never mind where.
How long should it take to see results?
Thats a good question. My Aunt just posted on Facebook that her 3 year old Shitake log just fruited for the first time. I dont know if she bought a inoculated log or was DIY with it. Typically you hope logs start producing the year after inoculation but some species, like Oyster, are more precocious then others. Oyster happily grows on cardboard which comes and goes from my house in great quantity so I am going to buy Chicken of the woods, Lions Mane, pioppino and a double order of Maitake. Maitake can grow on old logs which there are also plenty of out back. I am buying from everythingmushrooms.com/
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Yesterday I collected the cut branches I plan to use.
The branches will be stacked under the trampoline in the yard.
The Huge trunk logs will remain in place in the woods.
The forest is also littered with the remains of several well roted tree the previous owner cut down as a precaution. These too will get treated with Maitake which can colonize already degraded wood.
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With wooden dowels it is usually the following summer that you first see shiitakes. If you inoculate with loose spawn you can get them the same year.
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My mushroom spawn plugs arrived on Friday.
100 x Shitake
100 x Chicken of the woods
100 x black Pioppino
100 x Lion’s Mane
200 x Maitake (Hen of the woods)
Maitake aka Hen of the Woods, get there name from there resemblance to chicken feathers not the flavor. But there flavor is good and wild foundlings can be huge and ill make you jump for joy when found which is why in several cultures its name translates to something like dancing mushroom.
I bought double the plugs because I read it can grow on already collinaized downed trees and there plenty back there.
Shitake, Strong meaty flavor can over power dishes if too much is used. The quintessential Asian mushroom.
Black Pioppino, I have never tried it so I cant offer a descriptions. all I know its the quintessential Italian mushroom.
Lion’s Mane, lots of research are being done into mushrooms and there biopharmicutals properties. Lions Mane is by far one of the most interesting. Flavor wise the text will tell you it has a texture and taste seafood, usually lobster. I have only had it once and I agree, I found my where stongly flavored rather then mild as most resources mention. But there are several species cultivated around the world
Chicken Of the woods, ok this one does taste like chicken. Bright orange porous and easy to identify. CotW is the only wild mushroom I have identified and eaten. This was my find a couple of years ago on my drive down i95 to DC.
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Here is a tip on chicken of the woods . They love honey locust . The locust with 4 inch thorns . I have seen them come back for 20 years by then the stump or log is rotted away .
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Looks like you’re going to have lots of mushrooms. I made about twenty logs last year using shitake and oyster. They have lots of mycelium running in them now. I’m hoping for some mushrooms this spring. You can make more plugs with with what you ordered if you want more at a cheap price. I bought a bag of a 1,000 dowels last year, and made a couple hundred more. I can make more whenever I want. I found that I could make them from just store bought mushrooms. You just need to sterilize your dowels and oak sawdust. I hand planed a log and used chips with the dowels then put them in a saucepan and boiled them. I them put them in mason jars with a coffee filter screwed on top with the lid ring. It takes several weeks but it will all turn white. Just make sure it’s only damp. It will die if to wet. I sterilized a cutting board and knife and cut the mycelium out of the mushrooms and scattered it withing the mixture of dowels. You can just throw in a couple of your inoculated dowels. You can do that stump too.
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So I finally was able to get started yesterday. I installed shitake plugs into the lower half of the logs in the picture below. One mistake I made was using a 3/4" drill bit instead of 5/16". plugs just slipped in no resistance and I used a while lot more cheese wax to seal them up. The upper half of logs and a few more not pictured will be inoculated with Pioppino spawn.
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I almost missed the end of this flush and the beginning of the next.
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it is really nice to see when your shiitake logs start to fruit.
It is awesome when you get a half-dozen hand-sized fruits… (people say the smaller ones are favored in Asia and supposedly have a better flavor, that may be but the big ones are incredibly good brushed with olive oil lightly, top and bottom, lightly salted, and tossed on a grill for a few minutes each side–just enough to brown the gills a bit and leave tracks / cook it lightly)
that’s my favorite way to eat shiitakes by far, and they’re a pretty solid side or even main dish.
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The small one just happened to be on the ground. some thing must have knocked it off. The others are just past prime but still good. These are a little past peak but I prefer them fully mature. The last one I cooked had flavor then any of the fresh I get button sized at the market.
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You are doing the great job by teaching your child gardening at an early age.
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This thread ia great! I have never grown mushrooms but I may try… Where did you order the plugs?
I am also glad to see your teaching your little one about gardening! I try to get mine involved whenever possible and the older she gets the more help she has been! Thanks for this thread @lordkiwi
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Thanks for the link @lordkiwi
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