About Growing Mushrooms
Many of us are crazy about mushrooms. We love hunting for them in the damp
forests
during spring and fall, cooking them, tincturing them or just admiring their
mysterious beauty. People have cultivated mushrooms for thousands of years.
Around a
century ago, American seed catalogs offered mushroom spawn bricks for
30¢ each,
right there between the melons and the mustard.
We’re excited to collaborate with North Spore Mushrooms to offer the
following
selections for you to get started on your own fungus garden. These products
are all
Maine-grown without pesticides and on natural substrates. Most can be
refrigerated
until you are ready to start growing. Detailed instructions will be sent
with your
order, or can be downloaded as PDFs (See: growing mushrooms from plugs, growing mushrooms in beds, growing mushrooms on sawdust). We also have a
comprehensive FAQ section below that will get you off to a good start.
Getting Started
First decide if you want plugs or sawdust spawn for your mushroom-growing
adventure.
Kits are a good choice for beginners.
Plug Spawn are small wooden dowels colonized by mushroom
mycelium.
Sawdust Spawn is hardwood sawdust colonized by mushroom
mycelium, and
comes in a 5½ lb loaf. Depending on variety, it can be crumbled into
outdoor beds
or used for larger-scale log inoculation projects.
Plug Kit contains 100 plugs, wax, dauber, 5⁄16"
drill bit,
instructions. Everything but the log, drill and hammer to get you started.
Countertop Kits Simply slice open the bag, and keep in a
humid
environment, like beside the sink. Mushrooms should start to produce
“pins” within 2 weeks and will grow quickly. Each kit contains a
4½-lb inoculated sawdust block that could produce up to 3 lbs of
mushrooms over
2–4 months. Instructions included. The easiest way to get into growing
mushrooms. Makes a great gift.
Growing Mushrooms
Log Method Drill holes in logs, insert plug spawn or sawdust
spawn,
then seal with wax. See mushroom tools, available at OGS. Be sure to choose
an
appropriate tree species for the mushroom (see variety descriptions.) We
offer these
options for log inoculation:
- Plug Spawn 50 plugs will inoculate a single 4' long,
4"
diameter log. Drill 15⁄16" holes (or
8.5mm with
angle-grinder adapter) into your log, hammer in the plugs and seal the
holes with
wax. Plugs are an excellent choice for beginners. Plugs come in
bags of
100 or 500.
- Sawdust Spawn Each bag contains 5½ lbs of hardwood
sawdust
colonized by mushroom mycelium, enough for about 25 logs. Drill
7/16" or 12mm
holes in your logs, pack the sawdust using an inoculation tool and seal
with wax.
Good for commercial mushroom growers.
Outdoor Bed Method Some varieties can be grown in
non-sterile outdoor
beds of fresh wood chips, sawdust, straw or other organic matter. Plant them
under
orchard trees or in your garden paths! Layer Sawdust Spawn
with your
growing medium, and keep beds watered. One 5½-lb bag of sawdust spawn
will
inoculate a 4x4' bed. Once established, a well-maintained bed can produce
for many
seasons.
Growing Methods |
Mushroom type |
Log method |
Bed method |
Almond Agaricus |
|
X |
Hen of the Woods |
X |
|
Lion’s Mane |
X |
|
Chicken of the Woods |
X |
|
Shiitake |
X |
|
Nameko |
X |
X |
Golden Oyster |
X |
X |
Blue Oyster |
X |
X |
Italian Oyster |
X |
X |
Wine Cap |
|
X |
Frequently Asked Questions
Expand AllClose All
- Can I get my order now or do I have to wait until April?
- We ship spawn in April, during our regular trees and plants shipping
season. The
spawn supply is produced over the winter and is ready in the spring.
Inoculating
logs in spring optimizes success, especially for beginners and here in
the cold
North. We recommend you cut your log while it is still dormant and
inoculate in
the spring.
- What kinds of trees can I cut for growing mushrooms?
-
Oak and Maple are preferred; they are very dense and offer a lot of
nutrition
for a longer sustained fruiting period. Poplar also works well with
Oyster
mushrooms. You can try a wide range of tree species including beech
and birch,
but you may get varying yields. Generally, poplar and other soft
hardwoods
will colonize faster and produce mushrooms sooner but don’t
yield as
much overall, or produce for as many years. Regardless of species,
cut only
living, disease-free wood.
There are different strains of mushrooms, and the suggestions for
types of logs
are based on North Spore’s particular strains.
type |
preferred |
possible |
Chicken |
large oak |
(oak only) |
Shiitake |
oak, maple |
alder, ash, beech, hickory |
Reishi |
oak |
maple, plum |
Oyster |
oak, maple, poplar |
alder, beech, birch |
Lion's Mane |
oak, maple, poplar |
beech, birch |
- What size should the logs be?
-
Any size logs will work. You can use branches or saplings, if that is
what you
have available. Small-diameter wood will colonize faster, but will
not produce
for as many seasons as a larger log.
You don’t want the logs to be so large or heavy that they are
difficult
to use. For drilling methods, a 4-6" diameter with a 3-4' length is
ideal. For
the totem method, they can be up to a foot (or more!) in diameter,
and 12-18"
high.
- When do I cut the logs?
-
The best time to cut is before the trees have budded out and the bark
is still
holding fast to the trunk. Fully leafed-out trees can also be cut
for logs, if
you’ve missed the dormant-tree window.
Then, wait at least a week before inoculating, but get it done within
a
month—long enough to allow the cells in the log to die but not
long
enough for the log to dry out, or for other competitor fungi to
become
established.
Do not cut logs in the period between bud swell and leaf-out.
Do not use logs cut last year.
- What if I buy spawn and can’t get around to inoculating in the
spring?
- Store the spawn in the fridge and do it during the summer. Just be sure
that you
harvest your fresh log within a few weeks of inoculation. Avoid cutting
logs
during leaf-out. Dormant trees and fully leafed-out trees make the best
logs.
- What kind of yield can I expect?
- Around two pounds per log per year is pretty typical, but this can vary
quite a
bit depending on the weather conditions, log size, wood type, whether or
not you
force fruiting, and other factors.
- How long will it take from inoculation to harvest?
- Mushrooms need cool wet weather to fruit, and growth slows in the heat
of summer.
With spring inoculation, it’s possible you may get your first
flush of
mushrooms in autumn, but more likely it will take a full year until you
see your
first fruiting.
- How often should I water my log?
- Logs stored in shady outdoor locations close to the ground generally
retain enough
moisture to colonize fully without watering. During especially dry
periods,
watering may be necessary but most of the time no supplemental watering
is needed.
Don’t let the log dry out but neither should you overwater it.
It’s
okay to water the log to force it to fruit, but most growers wait until
the log
fruits once naturally before starting to force fruit.
- What tools do I need?
-
- For plug spawn, you’ll need a drill with a 5/16" (8.5mm)
bit to make
holes in the log, a hammer to drive the plugs into the holes,
and wax to
seal the holes.
- For sawdust spawn, use a drill with a 7/16" (12mm) drill bit,
and an
inoculation tool to pack the sawdust into the holes. You can
insert
sawdust by hand, but an inoculation tool greatly speeds up the
process and
packs the sawdust more densely.
- If you are inoculating many logs, instead of using a drill, you
can put an
adapter that takes a drill bit onto your angle grinder to help
the work go
more quickly and easily.
- Seal the holes with hot wax (cheese wax, food-grade paraffin
wax, beeswax)
to prevent both dehydration and contamination with other,
unwanted fungal
species. Do not skip this step!
- The totem method requires no special tools aside from a saw to
cut the
log. Wine Cap mushroom also needs no tools.
- How long can I store mushroom spawn?
- Plug and sawdust spawn will store for six months to a year in a
refrigerator. Do
not refrigerate Almond Agaricus.
- How many plugs do I need for one log?
- 100 plugs will do 3-4 logs; the drill pattern does not need to be
perfect.
- How many years will a log produce mushrooms?
- Two to four years, on average; varies by type of wood, size of log,
whether or not
it’s forced, rainy/dry balance, etc.
- How do I choose plugs vs. sawdust?
-
Plugs are very resilient but are slower to colonize. Plugs require
only a drill
and hammer for tools, and are economical for smaller projects.
Sawdust
colonizes drilled logs about 30% faster than plugs. They’re
good for
larger projects, but an inoculation tool is recommended, along with
other
tools.
The totem method, using sawdust, is good for urban settings or other
locations
without access to a forested or shady area. No special tools are
needed.
- Can Wine Cap be grown using drill or totem methods?
- No, the Wine Cap only grows on substrate that is already broken apart,
like
sawdust. It’s best in garden path areas or other places where beds
of
sawdust, wood chips or straw can be maintained.
- It’s okay for the log to freeze over winter?
- Yes, logs are fine outdoors in winter. A blanket of snow helps protect
the logs
from drying out.
- Is it okay to inoculate one log with multiple types?
- No, use only one species of mushroom per log. Multiple species will
compete with
each other and produce poor results.
- Will Hemlock work for the Reishi?
- No, not for the strain of Reishi that we are offering.
- Are cultivated mushrooms the same size as their wild counterparts?
- Yes.
- What kind of pests can I expect on my mushrooms?
- Sometimes mammals like deer or squirrels may take a nibble or two out of
mushrooms
but generally they don’t devastate a crop. Occasionally you may
find some
insect damage. Just cut out that part; the rest of the mushroom will be
fine.
Additional Resources:
We recommend the book The Essential Guide to Cultivating Mushrooms: Simple and Advanced
Techniques
for Growing Shiitake, Oyster, Lion’s Mane, and Maitake
Mushrooms at
Home.
The Cornell extension website hosts a lot of information on cultivating
mushrooms,
including short instructional videos. Click here to see online
courses and videos on mushroom growing from the Cornell Small Farms Program.