The last couple of days I have been cutting down some oak trees on my property. I do not like them for they are such a mess. A few less will help with the amount of leaves I have to clean up in the spring. These trees were fairly close to the house and up hill from it. I wanted to eliminate any chance that they would fall on the house. I intend to use the oak for growing shitake and oyster mushrooms. Are there any forum members out ther who are also growig mushrooms? I would like informaton about the process. I have read some articles online but it is always nice to hear from others who have tried doing this.

Swizzle never tried to,
Google search may be of help .

By coincidence, I picked my first shiitakes of the season for dinner tonight!  I had some big oaks taken down last Spring and ordered sawdust spawn from https://www.fieldforest.net/ .  Followed their instructions - drilled holes, packed the spawn in, waxed over the top, and then left them alone.  I had a few 'shrooms last fall and more started pinning about a week ago.  I'm not an expert but this was pretty easy.  Unfortunately the local squirrels have good taste, but I am protecting the logs with bird netting now.  Good luck!

 

i shouldn't have read this post.. urgh.. i don't need another hobby... 

Put Maitake in the stumps. I would not waste Oak on Oysters, more Shiitake! 

now i'm googling on how to grow truffles and morel shrooms.. 

They look delicious!

there are shiitake table kits from $20 or so.. i might give it ago.. 

Maitake are much better than shitake.  Both are better than oysters.  Lion's mane and chicken of the woods are great also.  The morel kits are fairly unreliable.  If you want to grow oysters get some used coffee grounds from your favorite shop and grow the oysters on the coffee grounds.

Truffles are much harder.  They're mycorhizal with certain trees.  Perigord is the best studied.  You have to fumigate your soil then keep it at pH 8 for years while your oaks or hazelnuts grow.  At that pH the hazelnut trees wont produce nuts.  You missed the Oregon Truffle Festival for 2014 but they have it at the end of January every year in Eugene, OR.  Charles LeFevre is probably the go to guy if you want to grow truffles.  If you talk to him tell him I said hi. Princess and I were going to hunt truffles for him one year but I was out of town when he needed us.

Oysters are easy, but, I've found that it isn't as easy as they make it out to be. Logs take a lot longer than sawdust... don't even try cardboard. Kits make expensive mushrooms, but, it's a way to get the ones that don't ship well. I've got a friend that set up a clean-room and he's supplying me with innoculant. I have logs going with maitake, lion's mane, and oyster. I'm getting a room ready to put sawdust cultures in. I'll be able to tell you more in a month or two.

Thank you all for your input. It will be another growing adventure, just like the fig adventure I'm on. I believe I should try to get as much as I can from the property I have. I try to use all my space to grow something that is beneficial to me and my family. My wife loves mushrooms and over the years I have grown to love them just as much. There is nothing better than going out to your garden and picking fresh fruit, vegetables, and hopefully soon fresh mushrooms.

Bump to ask how's it going?  Did you do it?  I grew indoors for a few years and finally did the logs last fall and stored them in the garage over winter.  Kept them under shade cloth all spring and summer until just recently a storm shredded my cloth but Hershell sent a new one.   I have harvested quite a lot of Turkey Tail for extracting and have mostly Shiitake with a few Reishi, Pearl Oyster and Chicken of  the Woods that should all begin to fruit soon.

I put plugs in oak logs in May. I have been watching them but no mushrooms yet. Although today I picked some chicken of the woods. I'm going to eat them with eggs in the morning for breakfast.

You can force a fruiting by soaking your logs. I can't remember how long your supposed to wait after inoculation of logs before fruiting by soaking. 8 months comes to mind, but that might be off.

Yes eight months is a good minimum for standard spacing plugs. If you drill more holes it will go faster. Producing your own spawn really helps with costs.  Most people cut logs in the fall after dormancy, inoculate and wait a whole year.  Good chance they will fruit by the next fall. 

My log ends are sealed with food grade cheese wax since cutting.  It's clear to see the colonization through the wax but some like Shiitake require a cold shock to force fruit, otherwise it is recommended for unsealed end logs to be soaked every two weeks at air temperature water while the spawn runs.  I do not really want to handle the logs that much so they were sealed to keep in moisture and bad things out.

The high speed angle grinder bits sold by Field & Forest are a real time and labor saver.  Just touch the log with it and you have an instant hole.  Kind of scary actually till one gets used to it. 

Turkey Tail was incredibly fast and has fruited all summer.  I'm waiting for a natural fruiting first on Shiitake according to lower fall temperatures and will likely force fruit next year.  Once forced and harvested, a log needs to rest for two months.  If you have many logs you can enjoy harvest continually.  Thanks for bringing that up Calvin.

I agree with Bob about the Morel kits not being reliable.
If anyone has used a morel kit and been happy with it I'd love a link.

Pete you crack me up.

Some pics of the mushrooms I collected recently. The first is a coral mushroom and the second is the chicken of the woods. They were delicious.

Nice finds! 

Stop this, right now!!! You've got me so fired up that I want to go out and collect wild mushrooms..... in Florida??? I love to cook with mushrooms and have them raw on salads.

has anyone bought mushrooms dowels  from raintree nursery? I read omnivores dilemma by Michael pollan... interesting that people hunt for morels in California and chanterelles... they have shiitake dowels for 18.00 has anyone grown them successfully?

Last year I inoculated a few logs with shiitake dowels, and this past spring I was able to harvest some. All in all it's an easy process to set up, and the logs are low maintenance. During dry spells in the summer just wet the logs so they dont dry out. Also, shop around for dowels... I think I got 100 for around $12. I forget what site they were from, but I know they specialized in mushrooms.

thanx jim i'll check other sites out ... I thought 18 for 100 wasn't bad ( home depot sells a small kit of white button mushrooms for 18 or so dollars) have you tried or going to try other kinds?

I'll probably try a few more varieties in the spring. Not sure what kind just yet... here is a link with good prices. You'll also need a block of cheese wax to seal the log. Good luck, and have fun. The hardest part is waiting for them to start producing.

http://everythingmushrooms.com/mushroom-plug-spawn/

Pete, I'm with you!!  I SHOULD NOT HAVE READ THIS POST!  It sounds so easy AND good!  But...okay, I'm here!

I bought my plugs from Oyster Creek Mushroom Company in Wiscasset Maine. I bought 300 Shittake plugs for $30. I inoculated 4 6 foot logs. I did that in 2014. This summer I picked around 40 pounds of mushrooms. They are very delicious. It's nice to know where they are coming from and knowing they are totally organic.