Three totems done….

My Oyster Mushroom spawn arrived yesterday so today in the rain I built three totems for growing them. The totems get wrapped in heavy black plastic garbage bags where the totems are going to reside for the next three years or so, the spawn has been added and now I wait for 4 months before removing the plastic. There’s no lack of moisture here today for sure so I didn’t have to fret about the sawdust the spawn is in getting dried out.

Another member here was kind enough to supply me with the section of poplar we sawed into workable logs to build the totems. He also had a load of oak logs for peg spawn to start his Shitakis as well as his Poplar for his Oysters. While I have barrels of water handy I am re-soaking my Shitaki logs I started last season. I know a couple guys who’ll be deep in good eating this fall.

That’s awesome Tom, where did you learn about growing your own? Can you point me in the right direction to start this process (ie links or websites)?

Here you go….www.fieldforest.net

Just a couple thoughts here if you’re interested in growing your own mushrooms.

1. Don’t let any of this intimidate you….its way easier than people think.

2. Use wood from dormant trees or near dormant trees. By dormant, I mean from the time leaves turn in the fall until buds start swelling.

3. keep things manageable. Try a few logs one year to get a feel for things and then add to that the following spring.

Personally I did about thirty 4″-6″ X 24″ oak logs about eight years ago and used the peg, or dowel, spawn for the West Wind variety of Shitakis and had mushrooms the first fall. Not many, but enough to scratch the itch. The next spring was radical with them and some were in the ten inch diameter size range. And I don’t think there is any variety of mushroom that can beat a Shitaki, but the Oysters, like the Italian Oysters I just started today, are a super close competitor. Using the dowel [peg] spawn for the Westwind Shitaki mushroom and the oak logs it would be hard to not do ok. But if you have to wait until fall to collect the wood, by all means wait and inoculate them late. They’ll be bearing the following spring/early summer. For the Westwind variety I used red oak logs. I have the Westwind variety inoculated in white oak totems right now too.

Shitakis of any kind will take 6 months to fully inoculate the oak. Oyster varieties will do the inoculation in about 4 months. The Oyster varieties have a shorter log life than Shitakis. I was still cutting Westwinds off the original logs as they say in the burn pile last fall. lol

Can you grow those little icky tasting ones that make you giggle?

Is it true that morel mushrooms can’t be grown ‘in the lab’ or through these type of methods? I’ve always heard that’s part of the allure of them, they can only be found in the wild and not re-produced so to speak.

A person can purchase Morel spawn for home growing from some places but its my understanding that growing them is really, really hit or miss. Try a search for “morel spawn for sale” at bing or google. I like a few morels once in a while but honestly the Shitakis and Oyster mushrooms one can grow make morels taste bad. Shitakis are nicknamed the beef steak mushroom and for good reason.

Shitakis can be dried, then ground into flour and used to coat fish or other meats for frying and the end result is out of this world. As far as wild mushrooms go, I’d take a bag full of two inch pheasantbacks over the same amount of morels.