I innoculated these in 2020 and got my first harvest in '21. It had been small harvests since then, just a handful at a time, then today boom massive bumper crop.
I wish I understood why these things do what they do
So my one log is in the bottom of a outdoor fruiting tent basically that I put blocks in during the warmer seasons. So it’s protected from the elements while still getting a lot of fresh air. And I manually spray the thing with the hose every few days if we’re not getting a lot of rain.
Relative humidity and moisture content of the logs both play pretty big factor. If they don’t have the right relative humidity they won’t start forming pins, if the relative humidity drops while they are forming pins those pins can dry out and abort. Putting a tarp over your logs can help keep the relative humidity up. Especially if you spray them with a hose first.
The logs can still take water in through the xylem pathways. Soaking logs, spraying them, or setting them on the ground with the base touching the soil (like a totem style) can facilitate hydration.
Aside from that temperature is a factor, but different shiitake strains can vary a lot in what temperatures they prefer to fruit at. Anywhere from like 50° to 75.
All of that said, most of my experience growing shiitake is in sawdust blocks. And what I know about log inoculation is mostly research and familiarity with the species and mushrooms in general.
I just stack em up and let nature do its thing, then just gotta be Johnny on the spot to harvest when they’re ready. Tarping is a good idea though when I see pins before hot weather which happens quite a bit especially with my oysters. I’ve lost a couple harvests this way. I never water mostly bc I can’t be bothered.
But yeah logs are the way to go, you can pony up a bit for the tools, I think it’s like 30 bucks or so, then get huge yields for years. Totem style is even easier just need a chain saw and a trash bag. I should post a guide on that.
The hard part is finding clean wood unless you have land with small trees then you are good to go. And shiitake will grow on anything pretty much. Arborists can drop off logs but a lot of them will be sick so it’s a crap shoot.
Yeah we have a friend that’s in arborist. That’s how I started this log in a few other ones. Unfortunately my physical health makes drilling a lot of holes difficult.
Of course, I didn’t realize they would fruit for five plus years. Which makes the effort a lot more worthwhile, which is why I want to start some more.
I innoculated these in 2020 and got my first harvest in '21. It had been small harvests since then, just a handful at a time, then today boom massive bumper crop.
I wish I understood why these things do what they do
Oh and sun and wind can dry out pins too.
So my one log is in the bottom of a outdoor fruiting tent basically that I put blocks in during the warmer seasons. So it’s protected from the elements while still getting a lot of fresh air. And I manually spray the thing with the hose every few days if we’re not getting a lot of rain.
Relative humidity and moisture content of the logs both play pretty big factor. If they don’t have the right relative humidity they won’t start forming pins, if the relative humidity drops while they are forming pins those pins can dry out and abort. Putting a tarp over your logs can help keep the relative humidity up. Especially if you spray them with a hose first.
The logs can still take water in through the xylem pathways. Soaking logs, spraying them, or setting them on the ground with the base touching the soil (like a totem style) can facilitate hydration.
Aside from that temperature is a factor, but different shiitake strains can vary a lot in what temperatures they prefer to fruit at. Anywhere from like 50° to 75.
All of that said, most of my experience growing shiitake is in sawdust blocks. And what I know about log inoculation is mostly research and familiarity with the species and mushrooms in general.
I just stack em up and let nature do its thing, then just gotta be Johnny on the spot to harvest when they’re ready. Tarping is a good idea though when I see pins before hot weather which happens quite a bit especially with my oysters. I’ve lost a couple harvests this way. I never water mostly bc I can’t be bothered.
But yeah logs are the way to go, you can pony up a bit for the tools, I think it’s like 30 bucks or so, then get huge yields for years. Totem style is even easier just need a chain saw and a trash bag. I should post a guide on that.
The hard part is finding clean wood unless you have land with small trees then you are good to go. And shiitake will grow on anything pretty much. Arborists can drop off logs but a lot of them will be sick so it’s a crap shoot.
Yeah we have a friend that’s in arborist. That’s how I started this log in a few other ones. Unfortunately my physical health makes drilling a lot of holes difficult.
Of course, I didn’t realize they would fruit for five plus years. Which makes the effort a lot more worthwhile, which is why I want to start some more.
Inoculation party