Last week, I started a mushroom bed to grow wine cap mushrooms! The bed is made of cedar dust, wood chips, and straw. Today, I continued the maitake mushroom project.

Maitake mushrooms

I am going to attempt growing maitake mushrooms on oak tree logs. A couple of months ago, I went to a lumber yard and found a couple of oak logs to inoculate. I finally got around to it and here we are!

First, I needed to soak the logs for 24-hours since they were not newly cut, and rather dry. I could not figure out what to put them in to soak, though. Yesterday, I decided to dig a hole, line it, add water, and let them chill.

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Two oak tree logs

I put one log in for soaking and I went ahead and drilled holes in the other one with a 5/16 drill bit and the plan to soak it next-day. I didn’t think they would both fit, although, now I know they would have. Oh well!

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Wet oak log…

Today, I tossed the dry log with holes into the water pit and continued to drill, seal, and inoculate the wet log. I noticed the water seemed to activate some fungi or something in and around the log; I hope this doesn’t interfere with the project, but since there are spores everywhere, it is possible some got into the log before I got a hold of it.

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I call the first picture above, “weird peanut butter fungi” and the other, “mustard fungi.” No idea what they are, maybe someone within the mushroom/fungus community can help ID.

In the pre-soaked log, I drilled 8 holes about 4.5 to 5 inches apart in a triangular shape going down the log. I left the bottom alone, without holes, so I could cover just the bottom of the log with soil in the place it will hang out for a while. Next, I plugged the dowels with the maitake mycelium, hammered them in, and covered each with beeswax.

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I wanted to find a shady area for the oak logs to set, somewhere where some sun comes in, but not much. I found what I hope is a good spot in the back yard. I dug a little place that both logs can sit side-by-side and made a manure tea with some compost mixed in and dumped it on the ground yesterday evening. My hope is that it will help the ground and even plants around that area have more nutrients and maybe, just maybe help the mushrooms grow, in turn. I figured it couldn’t hurt, anyway.

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…And here is our first log, in place. The other log is currently soaking and but will be plugged and in place tomorrow.

From what I am reading it seems as though both mushroom projects could produce mushrooms anywhere between 2 months and a year or more! Okay, so, we wait 🙂 I will mist them from time to time to keep moisture going, but won’t soak them like I did the first time.

Until next time!! Happy sporing and megustalations!