Mother’s day dawned sunny and mild. It was a perfect day to begin our family’s long-term mushroom cultivation project. I say long-term because, depending on the type of wood, size of the logs and conditions, we might have to wait two or three years to see a harvest. I am hoping it will be sooner! Early this spring we took down some trees that were heavily damaged in an unusually early snow storm. This is the time when the sap and moisture content are highest in the trunks. This higher concentration provides more food for the developing fungi. We cut up the logs and stacked them up off the ground to wait for the anti-fungal properties of the fresh wood to abate and for the danger of freezing weather to pass. The next step was to choose what type of fungus to grow and order the mushroom plug spawn from Fungi Perfecti. I chose three types:
Shiitake or Black Forest Mushroom (Lentinula edodes) 
Lion’s Mane or Bearded Tooth (Hericium erinaceus)
Maitake or Hen of the Woods (Grifola frondosa)
Based on their preferred habitat and the wood we had available, I chose maple logs for the Shiitake and Lion’s Mane plugs and an oak log for the Maitake plugs. We tried to choose logs that had the fewest breaks in the bark as the bark helps to keep out unwanted competitors. I placed the chosen logs in a raised wooden box under the large weeping willow tree because it is shady and damp there most of the year. This should help the mycelium to remain moist and thrive. The oak log with the Maitake spawn is horizontal and mostly buried in the wood chips. Only about 1/4 of the log remains uncovered. The maple logs containing the Shiitake and Lion’s Mane spawn are propped up at an angle as they do best if the log is vertical and only partially buried.
Using a 5/16” drill bit, my wonderful husband drilled holes in a checkerboard pattern around the log. The holes were supposed to be 1 1/4” deep, so he used some masking tape to create a stop so he wouldn’t drill too deeply. After he had drilled the holes, my sons and I inserted the dowels and gently pounded them in with a rubber mallet. Well, sometimes it was gently and sometimes they were pounded more vigorously due to the enthusiasm of my helpers. After all the plugs were pounded in, we added bark mulch around the logs and covered them with burlap to help keep them moist while the mycelium colonizes the logs.
Here are a few photos of the day and how our mushroom patch looks now.
This is what the dowels looked like before we inserted them into the logs. The white fuzzy material growing in the grooves is the active mycelium, ready to spread and colonize the logs given the right conditions.
Finished mushroom patch:
If you look very closely, you can see the oyster mushrooms growing at the end of the box where we buried the two indoor mushroom kits under all the wood chips.
-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi
8 comments so far
MsDebbieP
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13892 posts in 2136 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 349 days ago
the family that grows mushrooms together, sticks together AND enjoys and abundance of organic, healthy foods.
Very creative thinking and good team work.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
GMman
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101 posts in 1767 days
posted 349 days ago
Great story and great fun guys thanks for posting I like it a lot.
That was all news to me.
OttoH
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133 posts in 1174 days
hardiness zone 9
posted 349 days ago
Wow, there is a lot more to growing mushrooms than I had imagined. It looks like it was a very successful family day, waiting two to three years for a harvest seems like a very long time to gather the fruits of your labor, here’s to hoping that the harvest comes sooner.
-- My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~H. Fred Ale
Iris43
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3678 posts in 1765 days
hardiness zone 5a
posted 349 days ago
That is what you call patience…....and I guess faith in the future.
Great tutorial, Robin. I’m wishing you ‘good luck’ for you mushroom growing. :)
-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'
Radicalfarmergal
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3982 posts in 1398 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 349 days ago
Thank you all. : ) It was a really fun learning project and, based on our oyster mushroom experience, I am very positive that we will get a good harvest in the future. Now I just have to watch it to make sure the logs don’t dry out. Anytime we have a long spell without rain, I need to slowly water the logs and wood chips to create the moist environment the mushrooms need to thrive.
-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi
Vince Kirchner
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190 posts in 924 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 348 days ago
Thanks for the detailed explanation and photo’s. I signed up for a forest farming workshop in July which will detail mushroom cultivation, and as part of the class we get to inoculate a log to bring home for ourselves. My plans are to add additional mushroom varieties in the back yard for medicinal purposes (immune system health). My Wife does not like mushrooms so there is little room to cook with them or have them available fresh, but I can sneak a little powdered mushroom into soups and sauces now and then. :-)
Thank you again.
Vince
-- If you wouldn't spray it in your mouth, why would you spray it on your food?
Bon
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7357 posts in 1915 days
hardiness zone 5a
posted 348 days ago
What a great project for you and your family to do together.I found it very interesting and hope you get lots of mushrooms from the plugs.
-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more
Radicalfarmergal
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3982 posts in 1398 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 347 days ago
Thank you Vince and Bon. I have never eaten any of the three mushroom varieties that I chose to grow so this entire project will be an adventure.
Vince, your forest farming workshop sounds so interesting; I wish I could join you. I did leave out one of the recommended steps which is to cover each plug with food quality wax to help keep the plugs and logs from drying out. I thought about the wax and wondered how I would keep it hot while I was down by the logs and finally decided that I would just be more vigilant in keeping the logs and wood chips moist when we have very dry periods. I did put the logs in the place that I lovingly refer to as “our swamp”. Omitting the wax covering may reduce the quality of our harvests, but if mushrooms thrive in the wild without wax protection, I am hoping they will like the habitat I prepared for them and thrive here as well.
-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi