Mushroom Gardening?

[applestar]

Harvested the last of this flush. I love it!

[applestar]

I went out a couple of days ago and found the shiitake logs had been *trying* to produce more mushrooms. It looks like the freezing temp caught them and these had more-or-less freeze dried before they were able to fully open. Since I learned that if left in this condition, all they do is collect moisture and rot, I plucked them off (I gave them the sniff-test, then put them in the dehydrator for few hours to fully dry and pasteurize just in case).

Back in the fall, I had picked up some just felled nice logs because I had discovered that I forgot to use up some of the Bellwether shiitake plugs and they had stayed alive and went through a mycelial run in the refrigerator. But life got in the way and I never got around to inoculating the logs, which stayed in the back of my SUV all these months (yeah, don't ask -- it's been an odd autumn season ). They had gone through the bursts of "indian summer" and pretty much dried out -- more like nicely seasoned firewood.

I really don't think this will do any good, but I stuffed some of the plugs in the big log that had cracked along the entire length, and put a second log over the crack. Then thoroughly watered with rainwater from a rain barrel that didn't get emptied like it should have been earlier. As it turned out, we had a soaking rain the very next day, so the new dry logs did get a chance be saturated some more.

I don't really expect these two logs to be colonized, but it seemed like I might as well do something within the limited time I had. I just hope they won't end up negatively influencing the existing logs. I also unstacked them and set them down in the rail-formation for winter protection.



Oh, yeah, I still had some more plugs, so I tried adding boiled and cooled brown rice to the bag and put the rolled and taped closed bag back in the fridge to see if they will come back to life. Very casual low expectation experiment.

[applestar]

-- that's actually a small (about 1/2") weather dried shiitake cap that I stuck in there. I'm guessing there were viable spores on it.

[applestar]

Swung by the shiitake logs after taking out the kitchen scraps to the compost pile, and found these growing



...I spread the logs out from the winter huddle a bit so the other nubbins that are trying to grow will have some room.

[applestar]

Here's that shiitake spawn in brown rice substrate experiment -- slow progress/development but definitely doing their thing in there without getting moldy

[applestar]

Yesterday --



...it was 30°F this morning and they hadn't grown much. Now it's pouring outside. Hopefully these will be able to grow to be a lovely harvest.

[rainbowgardener]

Beautiful! Something I still haven't tried yet. Every time I see your posts about it, I think "I should try that."

[applestar]

Thanks @rainbowgardener -- it's alot of *yummy* fun.

...With your (new) location, I would check this place out --

How Mushroom Mountain Got Started | Mushroom Mountain
https://mushroommountain.com/about

I'm not sure if the strains they grow would be suited to my climate since I need them to survive the winters here, but it's been on my list of likely sources. And like most of the ones that I like, they encourage organic concept, myco remediation, and offer workshops to boot.

[applestar]

It rained -- a lot -- in the last couple of days. These look waterlogged but hopefully will be OK.



There was a very opened cap growing under one of the logs, and I knocked off a button while trying to extract it.

[applestar]

The shiitake still looked a bit soggy this morning, but by lunchtime, they were starting to open up, so I harvested some



I separated the logs and lifted one up crosswise afterwards so they will gave room to stretch out more

[applestar]

Do you believe in luck, karma, fate... ? I decided to give today's shiitake harvest to my mom and ran them over to her house -- and noticed along the way that there was a house where someone had started to take down a tree and had some nice looking logs and trunk rounds out on the curb. After delivering the freshly harvested shiitake -- my mom was delighted -- I slowed down at the house on the way home and saw that a man had come out and was working on moving more logs and rounds out to the curb. I rolled down the window and asked him if he was getting rid of them and what kind of tree it was, and he said MAPLE, and they were freshly cut. Oooh.

When I asked if I could have some, he readily agreed, and when I turned around and got out by his pile of wood, pulled on a pair of gardening gloves and, taking a deep breath, prepared to load them in my SUV... he very generously got them all loaded for me, even checking them over and rejecting ones that he said were not very good.

When I got home and shifted them, I realized --- these are VERY HEAVY. I silently thanked the guy once again. I'm going to need some help unloading these and moving them to the back yard. I think I'll wait until day after tomorrow (It's supposed to POUR tomorrow).

[applestar]

Yep more shiitake today. I went out in the morning before the storm system reached us and harvested this much. Also moved the logs around -- hopefully this way they can grow without getting squeezed and smushed, and as long as it doesn't freeze, it's better for them to get some air flow while we are having wet weather.


...I was intrigued to see a cluster of shiitake growing on one of the support logs (not intentionally inoculated -- can't remember if this is even an oak ...it might be a plum branch....)

[applestar]

I was bummed to see these -- some kind of shelf fungi -- growing on two of my shiitake logs.

I don't know if the shiitake on those logs were spent, or if they were tired from all those flushes and, in their moment of vulnerability, were invaded.

[Gary350]

This is very interesting. I tried to grow mushrooms 35 years ago with a mushroom kit. I sprinkled the spores on the agar and a week or so later it was ready to cut into small pieces and put in the composed cow manure. A few weeks later the manure was full of white mycelium. A month later no mushrooms but the whole container of cow manure was solid chunk of mycelium. A month after that still no mushrooms. I kept watching and waiting but no mushrooms ever grew. I did everything like the kit said but no mushrooms. ?

We go camping and do lots of hiking, in the spring if I were to push a wheel barrel along a hiking trailer I could pick a wheel barrel full of mushrooms in 30 minutes. I know a farmers cow pasture at the dead end of Pate Rd in the spring you could fill 5 pickup truck beds heaping full with 1000s of mushrooms. I see lots of different mushrooms in TN, high humidity and lots of rain perfect conditions for mushrooms in cool weather but I can not grow mushrooms from a kit. LOL.

I studied mushrooms in college, a person needs to know what they are picking in the wild before you eat them there are look alike mushrooms that are poison. I did all the test & spore prints to determine what the mushrooms are but I still never felt save to eat a wild mushroom.

There are professional mushroom hunters in TN that make $1000s selling mushrooms to restaurants. I have always wanted to eat some of those mushrooms but I refuse to pay $10 for a mushroom to see what it tastes like, if I don't like it I wasted $10 for something that has almost no food value. I have lost interest in mushrooms, it has been many years since I even looked at a restaurant menu for mushrooms in season. If I could grow mushrooms I might get interested again.

[ElizabethB]

For years growing mushrooms has been on my bucket list. I waited too long. I no longer have the necessary shade - full sun front and back.

[Lindsaylew82]

Apple,

They look like Turkey Tail fungus to me. They grow on every downed log to be found around here. Literally everywhere. did you eventually get more shiitake?



(They are supposed to have medicinal properties when dried and processed, but I am ignorant of the methods... Proper ID would be a good idea too, as I am also ignorant of proper mushroom ID. )

[applestar]

...remember I gave up on my shiitake logs this summer because foreign fungi had taken over?

I was bummed to see these -- some kind of shelf fungi -- growing on two of my shiitake logs.

I don't know if the shiitake on those logs were spent, or if they were tired from all those flushes and, in their moment of vulnerability, were invaded.

...well, today just by pure chance, I happened to walk near the logs and just happened to glance at them — I Hadn’t been paying much attention to them since I thought they were goners — and THIS is what I saw!



They were frozen — 32°F when I went out — but Heck no I wasn’t going to leave them behind!

...the really small immature ones would not come off, so I did leave them, but these filled 1/2 of a gallon size ziplock bag. I decided to put them directly in the freezer since they were already frozen solid.

[applestar]

I found some more harvestable shiitake today.



I just had some of them for early lunch — soaked to defrost and shed debris in filtered water, blotted dry and sliced, then gently heated in evoo, then added to upgrade leftover lobster ravioli and whole wheat pasta and meatballs in button-mushroom marinara. Yes I mixed them all together.

[applestar]

...aaaand more today! I guess I could call this “winter flush” — I really think it matters which “strain” you grow and from which source. I bought this one called Bellwether from Field and Forest Products, located in Wisconsin, hoping to find a strain that is hardy enough for my Zone 6 negative single digit winters.




...I need to find out what this interloper is... it’s really pretty fwiw:

...current best guess is False Turkeytail because it has smooth underside and no pores. Not toxic — not eating it but was going to remove if they would contaminate the shiitake.

[applestar]

Yesterday, I went out for quick inspection of the garden to see if Friday’s crazy snow/ice/windstorm had caused any damage.

These shiitake had been growing

— they are much smaller than the other ones I harvested recently ...maybe last of this flush...

[Chris222]

This is a great thread. Thanks for all the updates! I see that this project was stared back in 2015 - I'm assuming the continued flushes are from the original plugs? If you could put a number on it - how many flushes do you think you've had?

I'm having a couple of mature pin oaks cut down in a few weeks, and will be able to basically build as many of these as I have room for. I've been wanting to do it for several years, but haven't had the right combination of time and materials until now. I'd be a happy camper to get anywhere close to those results!

[applestar]

Yep same logs, same plugs. If I was more dedicated to this project, I would have started more logs every year. — but I’m LOVING how well they have performed. I really couldn’t tell you how many flushes...sorry.

...btw that bag of spores in brown rice substrate in still in the fridge — solid white block. I really should have inoculated with them before. Now I don’t know if they are still viable, but I managed to procure two oak stump rounds ... I might try a (modified) totem technique.


I’m looking forward to hearing how yours turn out

[applestar]

Unfortunately, it looks like my shiitake logs have been taken over. This is what I found today.



...I have tried picking up fresh oak logs and rounds to start new inoculated logs, but have not been able to get it done for one reason or another. You can see a couple of rounds I had hoped to make totem style stacked rounds in the collage growing “weed” fungi as well.

I’m planning to move these logs and use them for pond-side landscaping.

___
ETA — bottom-right is a polypore and almost definitely Turkey Tail, so maybe good to use for immune system enhancing tea. But the other lighter colored one has gills, so I’m not sure what it is.

...maybe it’s this ...
Trametes betulina - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trametes_betulina

[applestar]

Aaaargh! I forgot to take pictures!

I just inoculated a large oak trunk round with Lion’s Mane E. americanum. I really, really wanted to do a totem, but I couldn’t get the right kind of logs, and ran out of time even for fall inoculation and indoor incubation/colonization (in the garage), so I “winged” it.

... single big trunk round in a brown kraft paper-cushioned black plastic bag, inside a wheeled bucket, then liberally inoculated with crumbled spawn on both cut surfaces then papered with more brown kraft paper, then covered with second black plastic bag and string tied/tucked in on all sides... Wheeled into the center of the unheated garage where hopefully temperatures will stay above freezing long enough for the spawn to colonize a bit before going dormant for the winter.

Since I very carefully wrapped it up with plastic — loose enough for air vent but tight enough to hold in moisture, I refuse to go uncover and take pics. Let’s just say “stay tuned” for the reveal in the spring when I can put it outside.

The Mushroom Forager – Lion’s Mane: A Foolproof Fungus
https://themushroomforager.com/2010/09/2 ... /#comments

Lion’s Mane on Logs
https://www.fieldforest.net/pdfs/Lions_Mane_web.pdf

- I have about 3/5 of the Lion’s Mane sawdust spawn left since I couldn’t inoculate another one before it started to rain buckets, and I needed to drill the log for the 2nd inoculation strategy.

- I have to see if I can saw a 1/2 round trunk piece in half for inoculating with Maitake/Hen of the Woods. This one is tricky because you have to pasteurize the Log first, and, as it is, it’s too big...Oh! hmmm maybe I could put it Whole in the kettle grill and steam it....?

[applestar]

I’m finding myself dragging “mushroom growing” to the front burner.

...I might be getting ahead of myself, but am currently toying with the idea of pressure cooking some substrates in 1 qt canning jars to inoculate with some of the Lion’s Mane spawn, Maitake spawn, and some scraps of the Beech mushrooms we had yesterday, ...

Also pressure sterilizing larger amounts of substrate in autoclave bags for Lion’s Mane and also this Shiitake —

Subject: Mushroom Gardening?
Fri Jan 13, 2017

-- that's actually a small (about 1/2") weather dried shiitake cap that I stuck in there. I'm guessing there were viable spores on it.

...I STILL have that and need to get it out of the fridge. It looks like the spawn is still alive, but I’m not sure if they have enough life in them to make a run....

[applestar]

I’ve mentioned it before — my garden has internet access and secretly monitors what I post about them on-line... then respond to show what they think of my misconceptions. They are particularly impressive when refuting any suggestion that they are “done” or when I post that I have “given up” on them.

This morning:


— and if you look to the left of the beautiful lone shiitake, I think I see another pin forming.

[SQWIB]

That is so awesome.
I'm starting some Winecaps "King Stropharia" this weekend
Spawn should be here by Friday, have one bed prepped for them and a few other spots.

[applestar]

Ooh keep us posted. I’ve been wanting to try that. Starting them in the fall might be the better idea — I had to give up this spring because I couldn’t find straw.

[applestar]

Having spent the last several days researching Turkey Tail mushrooms, and having actually braved making and trying a decoction tea from freshly harvested samples, I have decided to accept them as part of my Mushroom Garden.

Despite some bodacious health claims, there are definitely widely varied opinions on efficacy, but at least it is researched and sufficiently widely consumed to let me feel more confident. But you should definitely do your own research and make your own judgment.


Apparently, I am fortunate enough to have the more frequently described Turkey Tail look-alikes growing side by side for ID comparison and verification — I am prettty confident in my ID of these ...

Trametes versicolor
“The” Turkey Tail


Stereum ostrea
“False Turkey Tail”


Trametes betulina
The Gilled Polypore
(formerly Lenzites betulina)


...even this...

Trichaptum biforme
Violet-toothed Polypore

(https://www.mushroomexpert.com/trichaptum_biforme.html)

...and possibly this, though still not absolutely sure, based on this description...

brackets soon lose their pristine appearance, developing brown radial lines and deep furrows near the margin on the upper surface and a yellowish tinge to the fertile underside.
https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/tram ... escens.php

Trametes pubescens
a bracket fungus

- Wondering if his yellowed brown dried up one is also Trametes pubescens



But pretty sure (and excited) that these are likely to be also well colonized Turkey Tail, promising future harvest to come


...even this big trunk round that I had *intended* to inoculate with shiitake this spring but didn’t get around to it seems to have been colonized by Turkey Tail...

[SQWIB]

My better half thought I was crazy when I brought this home and ate it.
I do a bit of backpacking on the AT and I am laways looking for something to supplement my meals.



Here's a small one I found at work. This was was rather good












For the dip I used Outbacks Blooming Onion dip recipe, this dip is great with anything breaded and fried.
If I were in the field this guy would be chopped and added to eggs or a stew or something.

[applestar]

Giant Puffballs, right? I found one growing in the (safe part of the) lawn a few years ago, cut it open and it was white solid, so I ate it.


...I’m going to post this collage as a place marker that I did this. I will report on the results and details later IF they are successful... (unless someone wants to know NOW, then I’m not opposed to describing the process I used)



...they will need to incubate at warmer temps for the spawn run, then opened up in cooler location to breathe for primordia development, and finally fruiting of the mushrooms ... all kinds of things can go wrong, so it’s a big challenge.


- I still have some Combs Tooth (H. americanum) spawn left to process — I do want to inoculate in a big substrate, either another log or bag of sawdust mix since these won’t develop into larger fruiting masses in small containers ...these jars were just for fun. I didn’t try the Shiitake because one source said shiitake is one mushroom that won’t grow in a jar.
- Even though the shiitake is in a big bag of substrate, I’m not entirely confident about the spawn being alive/active after all this time. It didn’t smell like shiitake either, which I think is a big clue — it smelled more like something pickled, maybe bokashi, which is bacterial... it could even mean that all that white stuff isn’t even mycelia hyphae — but DH said he really wanted me to try growing shiitake, so I’ll see what happens. I did throw in the basal stem and a piece of the under cap from that last shiitake I harvested.
- Beech mushroom is another one that’s mostly an experiment. I stuffed in the stem base that you normally cut off and throw away, using the straw to load and inject.

- I’m waiting to inoculate the Maitake/Hen of the Woods until last because I don’t want to open the spawn bag until I’m ready to use them all. Apparently, Maitake is easily contaminated and won’t spawn when competitors are present. I can’t keep them too much longer, so in the next couple of days.

[HoneyBerry]

I am wondering if the type of wood for the logs matters. Does each mushroom variety have a favorite log? I have a walnut log. Would that work?

[applestar]

Type of wood definitely matters. At a quick glance Lion’s Mane/Comb Tooth are the only ones that will grow on Black Walnut/Walnut, and walnut species generally is to be avoided — definitely not for Shiitake

Here’s one nice chart, but there are several really good sources
https://www.fieldforest.net/pdfs/Tree%2 ... 0Chart.pdf

In Washington State and Pacific Northwest in general, undoubtedly the best source for spawn is Fungi Perfecti. I would have to pay for express shipping to make use of their quality product, so I use other sources closer to home. Especially when growing outdoors, you would want mushroom strains that are acclimated to, and known to thrive in, your local climate/conditions anyway.

[HoneyBerry]

Yeah, I stood in on one of their classes once. They are popular around here. They have a nice selection of health food supplements.
Mushrooms, a very interesting subject. There are alot of foragers around here. Lots of fungi around here.
The Hoh River area is really wet and mossy. We camped there and of course it rained. Very mossy and beautiful. Lots of wild mushrooms there.

[applestar]

My understanding is that better part of the tiny NJ state for mushroom foraging is in the Northwestern regions — at least 1 hour to 2 hours away... although I have thought about signing up for guided foraging activities at state forests in the more local areas.

I HAVE observed some cool looking tiny mushrooms in the Pine Barrens as well, however.

[HoneyBerry]

I have never foraged for wild mushrooms. I am afraid to. I don't know enough and would probably make a mistake. I would rather cultivate them in my yard from a kit. That way I know for sure which mushrooms I have and that they are safe.
I need to acquire a taste for mushrooms. I don't care for them really. Probably not cooked right. I sometimes don't like the texture. They are expensive to buy so it's not worth it to pay so much for something that isn't all that enjoyable. The last time I made soup I threw in some shitake mushrooms. I didn't like them. They were slimy. I admit it. I'm picky.

[applestar]

I wonder what kind of soup this was? Trying to imagine shiitake being slimy and failing.

Shiitake has a distinct flavor and aroma, so I tend to cook them into simple, uncomplicated broth if for soup or noodle soup. But IMHO, almost any mushroom is great lightly salted and gently cooked in butter (or good oil ... I guess I use sunflower, safflower, sesame, or EVOO) until they release their moisture and edges are slightly browned/caramelized.

[applestar]

Still hoping this is the Bellwether shiitake. It is definitely starting to look lively—


...I have been turning, jostling, and shaking the bag every day...

[HoneyBerry]

applestar wrote: "I wonder what kind of soup this was? Trying to imagine shiitake being slimy and failing."

It was just veggie soup, no recipe. The shitakes were just a little bit slimy, not super slimy. And not all of them, just a few. The shitakes were chopped into very small pieces. The soup wasn't ruined. It's just that the shitakes weren't all that fantastic like I was expecting them to be. I need to learn more about mushrooms and how to cook them. I grew up with the standard white mushrooms, crimini I think. No shitake or maitake or portabello etc. Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup was my most expanded mushroom experience back then. Sometimes we fried crimini mushrooms in butter and soy sauce. That was considered fancy. I didn't even know there was such a thing as shitakes, etc, back then.

[applestar]

OK. So it took me this long to move ahead with this project, and I was still unable to get the supplies together and I’m really REALLY out of time. I tend to NOT follow directions, but SOME procedures should really be followed to the letter — I’m afraid my chances of success has significantly diminished.

...this is likely going to turn in to “what NOT to do” arc from my mushroom growing stories...

Here’s what I did — this is the bed to the NNE side of the house where the Orchid Fern has established for years. Since the Arrowwood Viburnum and Alternate-leaved Dogwood, as well as Carolina Allspice have grown to mature size, and the big Siberian elm behind the neighbor’s house has grown taller, the area is pretty well protected from direct sun.


- I cleared an area and laid flattened cardboard down, then layered a fluffy bed of damp Douglas fir shavings
- put down some of the sawdust spawn, then laid the trunk round on top
- put down more sawdust spawn, then covered with brown craft paper and more shavings.
- I forgot to take a picture, but for the Combs Tooth in the foreground, I left some of the spawn in the bag and fitted it over a cut off stub of a branch to one side. I also scored the surface of the round before putting down the spawn
- it turned out that the 2nd big round I chose for the Maitake was already growing some kind of fungus — this was truly bad, but I did the Comb’s Tooth first and had no more oak round to work with, so I ended up thoroughly spraying the surface with peroxide and scraping off what I could, letting it air for a bit, then went ahead by only putting down the maitake spawn where there were nothing obvious on the surface. I also covered the spawn with the empty spawn bag and left the “weedy” portion of the log uncovered and unprotected to hopefully dry out and stay colder (die! )
- I loosely covered both with black plastic bag to hold in moisture better, then covered with cardboard box to reduce further contamination and insulate them a little, but with the freezing weather already upon us, I’m not sure how much chance they have of surviving. If the oak rounds are already contaminated by more winter hardy fungi, then the Maitake, which dislikes competition, and even Comb’s Tooth probably won’t be able to colonize due to competition pressure.


In the meantime... I had a bag of same substrate as the shiitake which I had pressure cooked the next day, then never had the chance to inoculate. That had been sitting in the pressure cooker on the corner of the stove unopened all this time. I had intended to re-pressure cook first, but ran out of time and energy, so I simply inoculated it with the Maitake spawn as shown in the top two photos below. I’ll keep that in the same room as the shiitake for now.

The shiitake bag looks like the 4 photos below. As you can see the “block” is well-colonized, BUT there are two patches of mold contamination. I’m not sure what to do now. I may take this out of the bag and try to see if I can get at least one flush of mushrooms to fruit before the mold takes over....



...of the 3 jars, the Combs Tooth had become spotty with bits of mold contamination.

- I think the leaf/twig substrate was too wet and should have been drained a little better, or better yet, should have been steamed rather than boiled, the combo may have been too rich, or it’s because I hotwater bath’d, but NOT pressure-cooked the jars. I actually emptied one of the jars and mixed it in with the Fir shavings under the Comb’s Tooth round. I misplaced the 2nd jar or I would have done the same. Not sure if that was going to be good or bad... but Comb’s Tooth is said to be pretty competitive so maybe?

...I didn’t get the chance to look at the beech mushroom jar yesterday.