Wild & Cultivated Mushrooms

[Jafo]

I have been doing a lot of reading about edible/medicinal mushrooms lately and recently ordered a kit to grow some oyster mushrooms at home. I want to get a feel for identifying them, as they grow abundantly here in the wild. Supposedly I should have some in a few days.

I have also ordered some of the plugs you can buy that you put into logs (you drill holes into one, and tap in the plugs). I ordered a couple hundred of shiitaki and oyster plugs after watching numerous videos on how others are using them. Supposedly the logs will produce mushrooms for years.

Anyone here have any experience in this? I would love to hear your stories.

- Jeff

[Dan R-M]

My brother got us a bag of shiitake plugs, and I put them in some mulberry logs. Mulberry wasn't on the list of perfect trees, and I cut it at the wrong time, but they were the material I had when I had the motivation to do the project. They're sitting out under a tree at the garden, doing their thing. I'll let you know if they ever fruit!
We have a book, Mycelium Running, by Paul Stamets. He's the bomb, as far as mushrooms go. It is both informative and inspiring, in terms of fungus' ability to thrive in and heal environmental problems.

[Jafo]

I am thinking of using maple, yellow birch and some black cherry I have laying around up at camp.

[Marshall Eppley]

Love wild mushrooms but never learned to tell the good from the bad so I have to settle for store bought. Let me know how it turns out for you.

[Jafo]

Well for the record, these won't be wild, just cultivated. I would like to get used to identifying oyster mushrooms though so I know them in the wild.

[Jafo]

Well the mushroom kit was a bust. I am going to email the manufacturer and complain and see what happens lol.

However, on another note, I did find some wild oyster mushrooms and they were delicious! I have found a new Spring/Fall hobby: hunting for shrooms!

[Jafo]

I complained to the manufacturer of the kit and they sent me a new one which did work BTW. Wow, I forgot how much I love the taste of oyster shrooms!

[ryankal]

I love mushrooms!! I don't have any experience cultivating or hunting mushrooms, but I have been researching this. I recently read a book by Sepp Holzer. He is a popular proponent of permaculture and loves mushrooms. He recommends the plugs in fresh cut logs as well as putting plugs into straw bales. In wood logs he says it takes about 6-12 months for fruiting. In straw bales 3-6 months for fruiting. Consider the straw used though as many farmers will use a lot of chemicals, fungicide in particular.

I plan on trying both methods this spring with several varieties. I will report in once I see results.

Ryan

[Jafo]

I do have some inoculated logs, but I think in the future that will just be for shitakes. There are so many other wild mushrooms around here, you can pick them almost year round (except for bitter winter). Oyster mushrooms are a good one to start with.

[robosmoke]

It is not very difficult to inoculate your own plugs or dowels. Besides using Paul Stamets' book, The Mushroom Cultivator, Shroomotopia.net is an amazing forum for many of your cultivation questions. I am new to the forum and about to begin construction of my twenty footer. Hello all!