Eat your stumps - growing 'shrooms

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osagebow

osagebow

Minister of Fire
Jan 29, 2012
1,685
Shenandoah Valley, VA
Had to take down some top-damaged red oaks. Spring is a great time to innoculate stumps or logs with wood-loving fungus mycelium "plugs" availabe online or at local sources. 20-30 bucks gets you 100 plugs.(Edit- 200 plugs, enough for 8 3' by 4" logs)

I jammed these oyster mushroom plugs in a few shallow chainsaw cuts, and hammered wedgeshaped pieces in behind. - this isn't the recommended way, but I had to get them going because the plugs were growing mycelia so fast. Luckily, this oyster strain is an agressive, local one that should do well. Oysters are the easiest to grow, by the way.

[Hearth.com] Eat your stumps - growing 'shrooms


These Maitake or Hen of the woods plugs are more finicky. Buy from a reputable source, as some strains reportedly will not fruit well.

Due to our repeated freezings, that do not look to end soon, I brought two big log sections inside after soaking to give them a warmer head start.I used 3/8" drill bit (5/16 is better) sank into the sap wood about 1/2 inch in a ring shape, tap in with mallet and seal with food-grade wax beeswax or cheesewax. Decided to play a joke on the wife and dollied them in front of the dryer just for kicks;lol .
I will bury these 1/2 way down in a damp, shady area with nice loamy soil as "artificial stumps". Where I cut the trees is probably going to be to dry and sunny anyway. These 2 took about 70 plugs each, ( I put 2 in some holes i over-drilled, as well as a diamond pattern down the sides.)
.I''ll do a third, smaller one later this week for my school's courtyard.

[Hearth.com] Eat your stumps - growing 'shrooms


[Hearth.com] Eat your stumps - growing 'shrooms




I also did some shitake logs I will bury 1/3 in sand in a shady location I can get to easily with a garden hose. When I see a few start to fruit, i will soak in the stream overnight and the'll fruit like this one from several years ago.
[Hearth.com] Eat your stumps - growing 'shrooms
 
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I have actually looked into the plugs. Over at the cabin, I have some prime locations to line up a few different stumps. Just have not got around to doing it yet. Looks like you are gonna have some prime fungus.
 
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I've always wanted to do this...but wondered about the 'harvest window'. Are these things gonna sprout grow and pass after a rain before I notice them? How often should I have the kids run out an check on them??
 
Very cool!
Are there certain tree specie stumps that work better than others? I have a lot of cedar (Juniper) and pine stumps.
 
woodgeek said:
I've always wanted to do this...but wondered about the 'harvest window'. Are these things gonna sprout grow and pass after a rain before I notice them? How often should I have the kids run out an check on them??
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They stay on the log for several days. If left too long, they can be further dried and rehydrated, or used wonderfully in soups/ stews.

Innoculated in spring, they are kept watered and shaded over the summer. After fall rains start,check to see when they start to fruit on their own,. You then soak them to induce full "flushes" of shrooms. Non chlorinated water or let muny water sit 24 hrs before soaking.)
Check during warmer fall, summer, spring rainy stretches thereafter or soak periodically to "force" fruiting after mycelia recover. All the info is here under "cultivation"
http://www.sharondalefarm.com/

EDIT- 25 bucks for 2 bags of 100 plugs. My bad.

This guy has a very hardy shitake strain, and is very reasonable. And he's an independent.
 
semipro said:
Very cool!
Are there certain tree specie stumps that work better than others? I have a lot of cedar (Juniper) and pine stumps.
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There is a special oyster strain, called "Pheonix oyster" that does well on pine. Most other species like oak or other hardwoods if available.
There is also a cool "Blue oyster" :cool: for anyone interested in CULTivation hehehe...
 
My dad tried this a while back but the 'shrooms didn't grow...never even tried to germinate (or whatever the term is for fungus, idk). I think whatever he plugged didn't have enough moisture, but that's pure speculation...any idea if that might have been the case?
 
Here's a caution. I'm an avid 'shroom hunter for the table. There are many poison species that grow on logs or stumps, some deadly. If you're going to do this, make sure you know what the desired cultivated ones look like. Just because you stick in some plugs of one kind doesn't mean nothing else can grow there!
 
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My friend did Shitakes, once they started fruiting he had to battle with squirrels as they cleaned them out as fast as they sprouted. He ended up moving the logs to his screen porch. I think he got 30 or 40 gray squirrels before he moved them with a 22.
 
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Squirrel and /or rabbit with mushrooms is a classic combo. Whenever i find wild oysters in the fall, I'll immediately "go to the matresses" vs. the squirrels and bunnies.;)

Cacciatore style with shrooms, basil, tomato, peppers, and other veggies, or get a good bottle of Marsala....
 
That its a great idea!

Looks like I will be placing an order!

This board makes me buy things like chainsaws, maple syrup and now shrooms! Hah
 
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So this mushroom walks into a bar and orders a drink. Bartender says " I don't serve your type 'round here". Mushroom says "Why not? I'm a fun guy!"
 
Good point house. We have a false oyster that can make you a bit ill locally.
 
lukem said:
My dad tried this a while back but the 'shrooms didn't grow...never even tried to germinate (or whatever the term is for fungus, idk). I think whatever he plugged didn't have enough moisture, but that's pure speculation...any idea if that might have been the case?
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he may not have soaked them first, kept them damp enough or put them in wood that wasn't fresh.wood should be inoculated2-6 weeks after cutting. Too soon can be bad as tree's fungicide needs several days to break down after cutting
 
Ehouse said:
Galerina Autumnalis (deadly).

Jack O'Lantern ( make you real sick, I know).
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Yeah, those Jack's can be bad. A fallen punky old hickory near those oaks I cut has a rootball polluted with them. That colony doesn't glow, but supposedly some of our local ones glow. Don't know if i've ever seen Galerinas. I stick to collecting the 5-6 ones I know well and can spore print to tell from look-alikes. Homey don't play ANY gilled round fungi, I pass on chanterelles and Agaricus i'm 99% sure on all the time. Some of my students traditionally pick "leatherbacks" (Lactarus?) and love them.

First Morels should be showing up in a few weeks. Hard to say with another snow coming though.
 
Going to be a weird year for morels. Last year was too warm and I was finding dried out yellows when I should have been finding blacks. Hard to say how last year and the weather this year will play out with yields.
 
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osagebow said:
Yeah, those Jack's can be bad. A fallen punky old hickory near those oaks I cut has a rootball polluted with them. That colony doesn't glow, but supposedly some of our local ones glow. Don't know if i've ever seen Galerinas. I stick to collecting the 5-6 ones I know well and can spore print to tell from look-alikes. Homey don't play ANY gilled round fungi, I pass on chanterelles and Agaricus i'm 99% sure on all the time. Some of my students traditionally pick "leatherbacks" (Lactarus?) and love them.

First Morels should be showing up in a few weeks. Hard to say with another snow coming though.
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The two times I effed up were chanterelles and agaricus. The "chanterelles" I picked from the lawn under oak were Jack's growing on a buried stump, spaced a foot or two apart! Only one field guide I was using stated "some people might be sensitive to it" when describing A. arvensis. Boy, were we ever!
 
osagebow
The bow in your avatar, is it Bois d'Arc?
In Texas they were called "Horse Apples". What a pain the fruit was when you were mowing fields.
I attended a bow making class once there and we used bois d'arc.
Never finished the bow. though.
 
semipro said:
osagebow
The bow in your avatar, is it Bois d'Arc?
In Texas they were called "Horse Apples". What a pain the fruit was when you were mowing fields.
I attended a bow making class once there and we used bois d'arc.
Never finished the bow. though.
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yep - osage orange, hedgeapple, Bois d'Arc, monkeyball, etc. are all names for Macula pomifera. Native to east TX and southeast OK, but planted as a living fence everywhere else. Also the best BTU wood in the country. Probably some by you, we have a lot in Shenandoah County, where are you at?

My wife bought me a bow class, that's how i got started. Have about 8 or so done to this point, with a few others broken.
Finish that bow up! Go over to primitivearcher.com - great site like this one. They'll get ya goin' or PM Me.
 
osagebow said:
yep - osage orange, hedgeapple, Bois d'Arc, monkeyball, etc. are all names for Macula pomifera. Native to east TX and southeast OK, but planted as a living fence everywhere else. Also the best BTU wood in the country. Probably some by you, we have a lot in Shenandoah County, where are you at?

My wife bought me a bow class, that's how i got started. Have about 8 or so done to this point, with a few others broken.
Finish that bow up! Go over to primitivearcher.com - great site like this one. They'll get ya goin' or PM Me.
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I think my stave was burnt long ago. It was too small to be useful anyway.
I haven't found any osage orange here yet but you've got me thinking I might have noticed a tree on my drive home. I'll check it out.
We're in Montgomery County. I'm driving through your area tomorrow. Its not looking like a good drive thought given the forecast.
 
semipro said:
I think my stave was burnt long ago. It was too small to be useful anyway.
I haven't found any osage orange here yet but you've got me thinking I might have noticed a tree on my drive home. I'll check it out.
We're in Montgomery County. I'm driving through your area tomorrow. Its not looking like a good drive thought given the forecast.
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Yeah, winter won't go away,be careful. They have 81 salted pretty good though.You'll see osage along 81 especially from Strasburg to Winchester
 
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