Good or not - mushroom *All Grown Up Pics*

[simple life]

For the morels I innoculated a patch in a shady area of my yard.
They say an old bonfire site is the best place to innoculate for morels but since I didn't want to give up the bonfire site that we actively used I just shoveled all the wood ash out of there and put it in a 4x4 foot section.
Its important to include pieces of burned wood with the charcoal still on it.
For the other varieties I innoculated logs with dowels filled with mycelium that I purchased.
I drilled 2 inch holes all over the logs and then pounded in the dowels and sealed them with beeswax.
Let them incubate for a few months and then put them out to fruit.

 

[injunjoe]

You should start a thread on this!
Wonderful info.
Sounds as if you are well read on this subject!

 

[simple life]

I toyed with the idea about two years ago and just kept reading what I could on it for about a year and then finally narrowed down what I thought I would like to grow and gave it a whirl.
The thing with the logs they should be innoculated within a certain time frame of being cut.
Too long and you risk them already being naturally innoculated by some other type of mushroom that is not good for you and too soon after cutting ( before 3 weeks) then there is still an anti fungal chemical in the wood that will deter the mushroom growth.
I have a friend that owns a tree service so I have him bring me the right size logs and stumps and I hold them for three weeks and then innoculate them.
I will have to take pictures next time they fruit and start a thread as you said.

 

[injunjoe]

Thank you that would be wonderful!

Joe

 

[Greensage45]

Simple life,

Can you be more specific, really, I can understand what you're saying but I am missing details.

Where are you purchasing your spores? Tell us more about the holes and the dowels...that part got me. Is it you drilled a hole to support the dowel 2 inches apart, or are you saying you actually took a 2 inch hole saw and made a hole in your log?

Step by step from the beginning would be better. Seriously!

And, do you have a book you use to reference, or do you have resources you can share online?

I am such a visual thinker and visual aides are my sidekick! Can you perhaps do a step by step tutorial with pictures?

Thanks,

Ron :bee

 

[simple life]

I ordered most of my supplies from Fungi Perfecti.
The dowels come in a bag of 100 or 300 in quanitity.
They are about an inch or so long and have ribbing around it, like carved rings going around the dowel.
It is filled with the fungus of your choice.
They come in a ziploc bag and already have some white fungus growing on it a little which is good, you know you have some good stuff.

The wood required for each mushroom can vary but a hardwood such as oak and maple are the most universal.
A couple of species prefer conifers.
The logs should be between 3 and 4 feet long and no bigger than a 14 inch circumference but 6-8 inches is the preferred size.
You can also use tree stumps and innoculate the face of it.
You drill holes 5/16 and 2 inches deep.

The holes should be placed in the shape of a diamond all over the log and no more than 4 inches apart from eachother.
You put the dowels in and pound them with a rubber mallet to make sure they are all the way in.

A log can take between 50 - 100 dowels and a stump can usually take 50 but this can vary with log size.

You can then seal them with wax, melt wax and brush it on over the hole or you can skip this step according to some but its probably a good idea to go ahead and do it.

Then you put them in a shady place and let them incubate for several months.
When the time is right you put them out to fruit.
Now fruiting is done according to each species of mushrooms.

To conserve water (you do have to water your logs) its recommended that you partially bury the log either horizontal or vertical depending on the variety of mushroom you are growing.
The will tell you this in the literature they send with your dowels.
You can also lean your logs against a fence or side of the house etc. or form a rick. Lay them on the ground in a square and pile them with the ends under and over like you would with lincoln logs.

The Morels mushroom mycelium is sold mixed with sawdust in a plastic bag.
It gives instructions to either spread it around an abandoned bonfire site and water it or prepare a site with wood ash, gypsum(calcium sulphate), sawdust, charcoal encrusted burnt wood, sand or peat moss.
You put all this in a 4x4 foot area. I used a bunch of rocks to form a border, you can use a raised bed method but its important that the materials touch the ground as the soil helps grow the mushrooms.


http://www.fungi.com/plugs/index.html

 

[Greensage45]

Oh thank you,

The link was what I was praying for! The dowels sounds more plausible this time LOL I was imagining some big holes!!! LOL

So cool!

Ron

 

[simple life]

Your welcome. Here is another link, they are more pricey but they do offer some things the other site does not but the other site is one of the biggest suppliers to everyone else and is the orginial mushroom authority.
Still, you can check it out.

http://www.gmushrooms.com/pots/index.htm

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

What a cool idea! So once you innoculate and harvest the mushrooms, will more grow or you do have to order more and do it all over again?

 

[simple life]

It is suppose to last a couple for a couple of years according to the folks that sell it.
They say the first fruiting is usually light with subsequent fruitings getting heavier then tapering off.
One of the companies said there have been reports of morel patches still fruiting 20 years after innoculation.
I think if the conditions are right you can have alot of success.