Shitake innoculation tools

If mushrooms were apples, the mycelium would be the tree they grew on. The mycelium will eventually invade an entire log, showing white at either end when the log is fully colonized. Just prior to fruiting, a flush of small nodes, called pins, will be seen under the bark before the mushrooms themselves emerge. The whole process from inoculation to fruit will take as little as four months or more than a year, depending on the strain of mycelium used, the weather conditions, and the moisture in the log.

Several strains of shiitake are available for purchase: cold weather, warm weather, and wide range. Most growers recommend trying all three strains to determine what works best for your area and your market. Plugs and sawdust are the most common inoculation techniques.

In either case, holes are generally drilled at inch intervals down the length of the log. Spin the log to provide a gap of two inches between rows, and stagger the holes from one row to the next. Many growers seal the holes with melted paraffin wax, which helps hold moisture in and keep wild fungal invaders out.

Some growers also seal both ends of their logs for additional moisture retention. Use a wood moisture meter to monitor your logs for proper moisture content: between 35 and 45 percent is optimal for a successful harvest.

The bedding area for logs that have been inoculated with mushroom spawn should be well shaded and protected from wind, which will dry the logs. To conserve moisture in your logs, stack them close together and close to the ground, with space for minimal air circulation underneath.

Choice bedding areas include hemlock and spruce stands, under hardwood trees, or even under shade cloths. A criss-cross, box pattern works well, as does slope-stacking down a hill in a cribwork.

Some growers prefer to string a strong wire between two trees and lean the logs against the wire from either side, creating an X pattern.

You can either bring water to the logs or the logs to water. Some growers use gallon livestock tanks, a pond, or a creek. You should soak your logs for to hour intervals — or until the logs stop forming bubbles and show signs of complete saturation. The alternative to a soak tank is to use some form of irrigation or overhead watering system to drench the logs in place.

At this point, indirect sunlight can be beneficial to help fruiting. Some growers pound on their logs with a heavy bar to help encourage fruiting. Because of the high moisture levels required for fruiting, mushroom bedding areas need some sort of control to prevent slugs from eating the budding fruit. Options include a gravel ground cover throughout the bedding area, pans of beer to drown the gastropods, or a circle of iron oxide that is refreshed as needed to create a barricade.

Sierigk and other growers employ all three methods. At full fruit stage, the shiitake has a cap that is maroon-brown and speckled with lovely gem-like dots around the rim. Different strains vary to some degree, so learn to properly identify them. Gently break the stems off the logs and place them in cardboard boxes or paper bags. Once picked, the mushrooms will only stay fresh for a couple of days during hot weather. With refrigeration, they can keep for two to three weeks. Dry shiitakes reconstitute well and still command a good price.

Establishing your market is best done prior to harvest. Wild mushrooms, such as chanterelles, black trumpets, and hen-of-the-woods maitake , go for around the same price.

Whether you intend to grow shiitake mushrooms on a large scale or just for your own table, the process requires some work and plenty of patience, but the rewards are delectable.

CST, M-F. Growing Shiitake Commercially , by Bob Harris. I am new to growing shiitake mushroom and was wondering, how many lbs of mushroom can you expect off of a log? Avoid pine and fruit trees, as well as wood covered in lichen. Serious growers prefer sawdust spawn and invest in the spring-loaded inoculation tool necessary to insert the sawdust into logs.

Hobbyists tend toward shortcuts such as pre-inoculated wooden dowels, called plug spawn, or even pre-inoculated logs. In spring, once all danger of frost has passed, inoculate the logs using a power drill or a more efficient high-speed angle grinder with a drill-bit attachment. The size of the bit will depend on the type of spawn: The inoculation tool associated with sawdust spawn typically calls for a mm bit; plug spawn, an 8. Rotate the log a few inches and drill another row, adjusting the placement of the holes so that the overall pattern will resemble polka dots.

Continue turning and drilling until you come back around to the first row. If your spawn is in plug form, simply insert the dowels into the drilled holes and hammer until flush with the log. For sawdust spawn, place a wad of the spawn in a cup, plunge the inoculating tool into the cup to fill, then hold the tool up to the hole and push the button with your thumb to release. In either case, seal each hole with food-grade cheese wax.

I rely on a cheap deep fryer to melt the wax and a reusable dauber to apply it. Then arrange the inoculated ones atop it as depicted above. Illustration by Susan Huyser. The next day, move the logs to a shady area and lean them against a tree or fence, with a tarp spread underneath. Keep slugs at bay with an organic deterrent like Sluggo, or set out beer traps. Cover with a fruiting blanket or other permeable cloth, and wait five to seven days for the mushrooms to emerge.

Once the caps are open but not quite flat, cut the fruit from the log with a knife or twist it off by hand. Refrigerate the mushrooms in a paper — not plastic — bag for up to 10 days. Should a log fail to fruit in the first place, peel back a bit of bark: If you see a white film, the inoculation was probably successful but needs more time to fruit.

Restack and check again in six weeks. Allow roughly three days for drilling and inoculating, as well as three hours per fruiting, spread over a week. Save Save. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. I received a shiitake mushroom log for Christmas. I live in northern Indiana. Can I put it outside now, or should I leave it in the basement until Spring? I have Ash wood logs about three weeks old. Can I use this for growing shiitake mushrooms Do I use Parafinn to seal or there is some wax available in the market I already have the plugs little white of shiitake mushrooms which I will use.

Other than wood logs what can I use to grow shiitake mushrooms And what medium we use fi4 growing white button mushrooms. Any ideas? The Million Gardens Movement doesn't just help you grow a garden, we're also bringing gardens to kids across the country — and you can help.