Mushrooms anyone?

[ChrisK]

This week I will be taking down a small (maybe 25 ft tall) inappropriately planted maple tree in the neighbors rental property that is leaning precariously over our property and also shades one of my garden spots. Diameter is about 5-6 inches. I am guessing it will make perfect 'shroom logs. Suggestions? Shiitake? Something more unusual? Who has the best plugs at the best price? I'm in zone 7b so in a normal year doesn't get that excessively cold!

I'll do some reading on log prep.

[RootLoops]

southeastmushroom.com for plugs, give them a call and ask for Art he can tell you all you need to know. He'll be able to get you strains that fruit best in your weather. I'd look into lions mane oyster and shiitake. Fungi.com has lions mane on plugs. You use 20-50 plugs per four foot log depending on how soon you want them to get done. If you start now they will probably fruit in the fall. You could inoculate all that in a couple hours, and the quality from logs is way better.

[epsilon]

Speaking of iding mushrooms. I've been seeing these mushrooms in the dirt near the garden boundry. I've been watching this one and normally the dogs get to them before i can. The I'll be printing is a little tore up, but i can still use it as the gills were largely still intact.

Delerium I forgot to mention that a good way to judge a musshies toxicity is by checking to see if anything else likes to comp on the fungus in question. Slugs and snails to be excluded if i remember properly.

When i picked this one up I gave it a good long sniff. And i t did have an almost almond like scent.

Here are some pics. I think the discoloration was from the dirt as the dogs had already gone after it this morning while the ground was still muddy from last night's rain. When i get the print looked at and If this turns out to be bisporida I'll pick another one and take pictures of creating a spore mass broth. After I'll probably inoculate the beds with it.


I'll add pics later.

Gaston

[Randall]

Excited to see this thread. I love Chanterelles. Here's a batch gathered last summer. Earlier this spring, I inoculated 120 ft of Maple with Pearl, Blue and Pink Oysters. Roughly a 40 ft. of each variety. I can't wait to see how it all goes!

[RootLoops]

man those are some nice ones! i can't wait til the chanterelles pop out again, won't be long i hope. this year i'm gonna eat some of the black trumpets if i find any, i still haven't eaten any of those. i'm hopin' your logs do well!!!

[Randall]

Last year was really rainy and they were just popping up all over the place. Thanks. I'm hoping for the best on the logs. Keeping them wet and trying to do it as close to instructions as possible! Oysters are my favorite but they're hard to find in the wild here. I'm hoping if I can grow a bunch it will solve the problem.

[Hermitian]

Thanks Randall, great photo and inspiration!

[RootLoops]

Originally Posted by Randall

Last year was really rainy and they were just popping up all over the place. Thanks. I'm hoping for the best on the logs. Keeping them wet and trying to do it as close to instructions as possible! Oysters are my favorite but they're hard to find in the wild here. I'm hoping if I can grow a bunch it will solve the problem.

aint it excitin' when you see those orange spots on the forest floor? it's like watchin a bass hit your buzzbait! have you found any of the black or bright orange ones up your way? there are a lot of black ones in a park near here everytime it rains in the summer i get all antsy wantin to load up the kids and go for a hike

i can't offer much advice on logs i've only grown them once a few years ago, in fact one of the logs is fruiting now but poorly, it got hot today in front of this stormy weather that's heading in. if you follow the directions though you'll be fine, where did you buy the plugs?

[Randall]

Originally Posted by Hermitian

Thanks Randall, great photo and inspiration!

Thank you. I've gotten plenty of inspiration from you in the gardening dept.

[Randall]

@Rootloops It sure is! It's almost as exciting as a top water strike. I got the plugs from Easygrow Mushrooms and Composting, Inc. They have a website and sell on Ebay as well. I got 250 of each for 19.99 + $5 shipping. They sent closer to 300 plugs twice!

[RootLoops]

that's not a bad price, if you have a pressure cooker and plan on making more logs you can make your own plugs really cheap in a few weeks. sometime this summer i'll have a little extra cash for culturing supplies and i plan on sending out cultures for shipping cost/sase to anyone here that wants one. i started some blue oysters on agar yesterday hopefully soon i'll have some of those to eat and spawn to my high fibre compost pile.

maybe soon we can get a mushrooms subforum of this what else do you grow section and keep all the info and threads in one place?

[Randall]

I do have a pressure cooker. It would be nice to be able to give it a try. I'd have some research to do but it would be interesting to learn. A sub forum might be a good idea on this...

[RootLoops]

great! i'll keep a culture on hand so don't spend any money on cultures without checking, the high dollar cultures are mostly worth the money from some of the different sellers like fungi.com or aloha medicinals but you want a good, basically free one to learn with!

if oysters are your favorite you will definitely enjoy growing them

[Randall]

Sounds good. I've always liked oysters. When I started looking into it and saw them described as "easy to grow" I knew I'd found a good thing! I have all of the logs at the N end of the house in shade right next to the rain barrel. I should be able to keep them wet and soak them when the time comes.

[RootLoops]

logs are about the easiest way to grow em, though other methods aren't hard either. they will taste best on logs so you're in for a treat when they finally grow. if you just started them they will probably fruit this fall but that depends on several factors, but by next season at the latest they will be puttin em out.

last year i shredded up an old pair of cargo shorts, one old t shirt, one pair of old boxers and one pair of old socks(all laundered of course) and grew some oysters on that, it grew a decent amount of mushrooms actually i just did it to see what would happen oysters will eat almost anything!