That was the inquiry that I recently received from Samson in South Africa and it got me to thinking about growing mushrooms and the many ways that the task can be accomplished. I’ve posted a video about mushroom log inoculation, and wrote several articles on the subject including; Outdoor Mushroom Growing and Growing Mushrooms Indoors.

Cultivating Mushrooms on Straw in South Africa

But the following account that I received last month from Linus in Namibia demonstrates that the best way to go about growing mushrooms can vary greatly depending on your climate and the local resources…

Hi Kenny! Thank you very much for sharing the little knowledge I have with you. To answer on the comment raised about time of growing mushrooms…

Mushrooms can be grown throughout the year provided it is well maintained outdoors. Here one can use a black plastic sheet that can accumulate more heat and humidity during winter as on the picture attached. Hence, here in Namibia we are experiencing winter this time though it is coming to an end.

Growing mushrooms on logs sometimes doesn’t give a good flavour but it depends on the type of wood one is using. Here the customers don’t like that. I prefer to use rice straws, wheat straws, or wild grass that can be soaked in water to overnight or at least two to three days to ferment.

Then it has to be placed in a trench of one meter (width) by two meter (length). This should be a very thin layer at the first layer followed by the inoculated substrates and then another thin layer of fermented straws that will cover the spaces between.

Different varieties adapt to different temperatures otherwise, someone has to control the temperature. Hope you will get these tips useful and enjoy your mushrooms behind your house. Linus – Namibia

It’s Always Great to Have Options when Growing in the Garden

Mushroom kits and hardwood logs work well in my home and backyard garden, but they may not be the most ideal, economical, or resourceful method to use everywhere.

I purchase mushroom cultivation supplies from Fungi Perfecti, and I believe they sell and ship to other countries, but there may be other alternatives for you to explore just as the one shown here today.

It’s also great to learn different methods of doing things in case the need arises and in order to gain a better understanding of how the process works. I’m also always fascinated to see how others garden and grow things in other climates and foreign countries!

Many thanks to Linus for sharing his knowledge and expertise related to growing edible mushrooms with all of us here at the Veggie Gardening Tips website.

You’ll find a number of articles right here at Veggie Gardening Tips related to growing both gourmet and medicinal edible mushrooms, and today I wanted to add a little video content to show just how easy it is to start your own crop of Shiitakes, Maitakes, Oysters, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Chicken of the Woods, and other interesting and delicious mushroom species.

Grow Your Own Edible Mushrooms Indoors or Out

There are many different techniques used to cultivate mushrooms commercially, but for the home gardener the best options are the convenient kits used to grow them indoors or hardwood log inoculation for cultivating mushrooms outdoors.

The great thing about using hardwood logs is that once they are inoculated and begin fruiting they will continue to produce pound after pound of gourmet mushrooms for years to come at no additional expense or labor requirement.

After watching the mushroom log inoculation video visit the following links to read previous articles here at Veggie Gardening Tips that are related to growing mushrooms in the home or backyard garden.

Links for Additional Mushroom Cultivation Information:

• Inoculating Hardwood Shiitake Mushroom Logs
• Cultivating Mushrooms Indoors with Growing Kits
• Growing Gourmet Edible Mushrooms Outdoors

Hardwood log inoculation is a simple and easy way to cultivate loads of shiitake, oyster, maitake, chicken of the woods, reishi, lion’s mane, and other delicious edible or medicinal fungi right in your own backyard.

And one of the best things about growing mushrooms on hardwood logs is that once the mushroom spawn has been introduced you can sit back and enjoy the edible fungi harvest for years to come with absolutely no additional effort.

Nature’s Perfect Solution for Recycling Dead Wood

After producing faithfully for over five years the hardwood logs that I inoculated with shiitake mushroom spawn have finally worn out and decomposed to the point that it’s time for them to be retired.

In some cases the mushroom spawn reduced the Birch and Oak logs to not much more than piles of wood chips and sawdust. In other cases the logs maintained their shapes but became soft and would fall apart under just a little pressure.

The entire life cycle of various fungi that live on and consume wood is nature’s efficient means of decomposing and recycling dead or unhealthy trees. In the process these trees are converted into mushrooms, compost, beneficial soil organisms, and mycorrhizal fungi.

Reaping Rewards from Mushroom Log Production

It was definitely worth the effort involved to grow the mushrooms, and the bumper crops of gourmet shiitakes that were produced and enjoyed over the years would have been very expensive if they had been purchased from a retail market.

I’ve already begun my search for a source of fresh hardwood trees to cut down this winter and inoculate next spring. If you want to learn more about how to grow mushrooms read the following articles on Growing Mushrooms Outdoors, or Mushroom Growing Kits. As with any wild plant don’t consume any mushroom unless you are absolutely certain of its identity and that it is safe to eat!

The decline in production from my mushroom logs doesn’t mean that they have fulfilled their destiny and can no longer serve a useful role in the garden. I’m conducting a little experiment with the remains of my depleted logs.

Coaxing a Few More Shiitake Mushrooms from Depleted Logs

All of the wood fibers, bark, disintegrating logs, and chaff that was left behind will now be used to line the rows in between my raised beds to see if I can stimulate the production of a few more flushes of gourmet shiitake mushrooms.

I laid the spent logs out between the rows along with the wood debris and loose soil that was underneath of the mushroom patch. Then I covered everything with a thick layer of bedding straw and watered it in good.

If the plan works I’ll be harvesting more delicious home grown shiitakes from the garden’s paths this fall. I’ll share the results of this project and post photos if I am successful in coaxing more production out of my mushroom log debris.

Even if my experiment fails I’m sure that the organic matter, mycorrhizal fungi, and other beneficial organisms that remain in the spent logs will serve as a great soil amendment and help improve the growth and health of plants that grow throughout the vegetable garden.

Enrich Garden Soil With Mushroom Compost

This entry doesn’t have anything to do with growing them, but rather how you can use mushroom soil in the garden to fortify the soil, increase the depth of your raised beds, and improve your soil’s texture.

Mushroom soil is a by product of the mushroom farming industry and consists of the bedding material (straw, manures, and other organic matter) that is left over after the mushrooms have been grown and harvested. 

You can obtain scoops of composted mushroom soil from most nurseries and garden centers that sell tan bark and garden mulches. I purchase a truckload once every three or four seasons to incorporate into the garden’s raised beds.

Applying Mushroom Soil to the Garden

Fall is probably the best time to add mushroom soil to the garden, that will allow it to age and mellow over the winter. For convenience I’m usually not able to add mushroom compost until early spring, much closer to the planting season than I would prefer, but I haven’t noted any problems with over fertilization or burning of the plants or seedlings.

To be cautious I only add a two inch layer of the mushroom compost and mix it well into the top four inches of the soil in the raised beds. During the seasons that you incorporate the mushroom soil reduce the amounts of other organic fertilizers which are added to the garden.

Mushroom soil is inexpensive particularly if you purchase it by the truckload, and is especially beneficial if you’re unable to obtain or make regular compost to add to garden beds. In order to be certified as organic the mushroom soil must be composted at the required temperatures and avoid the addition of prohibited additives.

Previous entries discussed growing mushroom kits and also looked at the alternative of growing mushrooms outdoors. Today I’ll provide more details for growing gourmet mushrooms in the backyard garden.

Selecting Hardwood Logs for Growing Mushrooms

The first requirement is to locate a suitable source for the hardwood logs that will be used for growing the mushrooms. Certain types of wood such as oak and poplar work best but avoid soft woods such as pine and cedar, and make sure that you leave the bark intact.

The logs must be freshly cut from live trees to avoid the risk of using logs that have already been colonized with strains of competing fungi spawn. So don’t waste your time trying to inoculate firewood or logs that have been laying around for any length of time.

The best time to cut the trees is during late winter or spring before leaf growth begins. You can use any size and length, but three to four foot logs, less than fourteen inches in diameter will be easier to handle and work with.

Gourmet Mushroom Spawn for Log Cultivation

You’ll need to decide which types of gourmet mushrooms you want to grow and order the spawn that will be used to inoculate the logs. Popular choices for log culture include: Shiitake, Tree Oyster, Chicken of the Woods, Maitake, and Lion’s Mane.

There are a number of companies that sell mushroom spawn on the Internet. I prefer to obtain spawn that has been grown on small wooden dowels that are easy to use when inoculating the logs.

Pay close attention to the instructions included with the mushroom spawn regarding handling and inoculation. The spawn usually needs to be kept refrigerated prior to use and sometimes requires a period of rest to recover from the stress of being transported from the supplier.

Inoculating Logs With Mushroom Spawn

When you’re ready to inoculate the logs you’ll need a drill, hammer, beeswax, and a small paintbrush. Use the recommended size bit to drill holes about two inches deep and six to eight inches apart over the entire surface of the logs.

Next, place a dowel containing the mushroom spawn into each of the holes and use the hammer to tap the plugs into the log until fully inserted. Depending on the diameter, a four foot log may require between forty to seventy-five spawn plugs to be inserted.

The final step in the inoculation process is to seal the plugs with a light coating of melted beeswax. After the logs have been inoculated with the mushroom spawn they should be kept in a shady area where they will be exposed to rain, snow, and other weather elements.

Growing and Harvesting Your Gourmet Mushrooms

It may take up to a year or longer before you see the first mushrooms start to grow out of the logs. It can take that long for the spawn to fully permeate the structure of the wood before fruiting can occur.

The gourmet mushrooms will be produced in flushes where the logs are quickly covered with the growing mushrooms. The flushes are most active during the spring and fall seasons and after periods of extended rainfall.

Mushroom logs will continue producing over a number of years until the mushroom spawn has depleted the nutrients in the wood and the logs begin to break down.

Inoculating hardwood logs with mushroom spawn will provide benefits that you can only achieve by growing the mushrooms outdoors.

Advantages of Growing Mushrooms on Logs

The biggest advantage over using a mushroom kit that’s attained by growing directly on hardwood logs is that you can grow much larger quantities of delicious gourmet mushrooms over longer periods of time.

Rather than being limited to the size of a kit’s growing medium, with logs you can produce mushrooms over the entire surface area of whatever size logs you choose to inoculate with the mushroom spawn.

What’s even better is that from a single “planting”, the mushroom spawn inoculated hardwood will continue producing gourmet mushrooms over a number of years, compared to the few months of production that the typical kit will provide.

It does require more effort to get started, and a longer time before you see results, but growing mushrooms outdoors will ultimately provide you with many more mushrooms at a lower cost per pound to produce them. Not to mention that your initial efforts will continue to reap rewards for many years into the future.

Challenges Facing the Backyard Mushroom Grower

The major challenge to growing mushrooms outdoors is that you’ll need to locate a source for the hardwood logs that will be inoculated with the gourmet mushroom spawn.

Certain types of wood, such as oaks are best for mushroom cultivation, while softwoods such as pine aren’t suitable for the gourmet mushroom varieties that we’re interested in growing.

The three to six foot hardwood logs should be cut from live trees during late winter and inoculated by early spring. You’ll also need a shady spot on your property where you can store the logs throughout the growing process, as this is definitely an outdoor activity.

The simplest way to inoculate your timber is by inserting small wooden dowels that have been thoroughly infused with fresh mushroom spawn. Next week I’ll post an article with all the details for how to inoculate the freshly cut timber with the mushroom spawn and go through the various stages involved in growing gourmet mushrooms.

Edible mushroom kits are growing more and more popular and can be obtained through various Internet or mail order sources.

Using Gourmet Mushroom Kits

Gourmet mushroom growing kits usually consist of a 12 by 12 inch square block of compressed sawdust that’s been enriched and inoculated with spawn (mushroom seeds) of the particular mushroom variety being cultivated.

Indoor mushroom kits include everything that you need to grow loads of delicious mushrooms just by following the simple directions. You normally soak the kit in cold, unchlorinated water for a few hours and then place it in a dark area with temperatures ranging between 60 – 75 F.

This cold water treatment will stimulate the mushroom spawn to become active and start producing edible mushrooms within a matter of days. Before the mushrooms have finished growing the entire growing medium will be completely covered with mushrooms.

Harvesting Your Shrooms

Once you’ve harvested the first crop of gourmet mushrooms that isn’t the end of your indoor mushroom garden. Allow the spawn to rest for a couple of weeks and then you can repeat the entire process to produce additional harvests of delicious mushrooms.

The subsequent crops of mushrooms will grow smaller and produce fewer mushrooms until the nutrients contained in the growing medium have been depleted. Then the remnants of the kit can be used to inoculate an outdoor garden compost pile or hardwood logs.

Mushroom Varieties for Indoor Cultivation

Popular indoor mushroom kit varieties include: Shiitake, Oyster, Lion’s Mane, Nameko, Maitake, Enokitake, and Cinnamon Cap mushrooms. The mushroom kits can also serve as an interesting project to introduce children to the fascinating world of edible fungi.

If you’re intrigued by the idea of growing your own edible gourmet mushrooms, an alternative to growing them indoors using the mushroom kits is to grow mushrooms outdoors with hardwood logs. Tomorrow I’ll look at the benefits of growing mushrooms outdoors directly on hardwood logs.