How to Grow Gourmet Mushrooms Video
Mushrooms have to be one of the biggest overlooked finds for the backyard vegetable garden. That’s a shame because they are so easy to cultivate and extremely productive considering the minimal effort required to start them growing.
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
Other Related Vegetable Gardening Posts:
June 27th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I had thought about growing mushrooms before, and actually tried an indoor kit with no luck. But never realized how easy it is to do it yourself. Gonna look for plugs now. Can you send me in the right direction? And what time of year is best to inoculate the logs?
June 27th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Bdiggin, I purchased my mushroom spawn plugs from Fungi Perfecti. Spring is the most convenient time for inoculating the logs but it can also be done during summer and fall. My biggest challenge is usually locating a source of suitable live-cut hardwood to use. Good luck.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Thanks, Kenny. I checked out several, including Fungi Perfecti. Prices are certainly reasonable. You’re right, looks like the log is the bigger issue. Is there another medium that you’ve tried or would recommend – still growing them outdoors, of course?
June 28th, 2009 at 3:38 am
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June 28th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Wow! I had never considered growing our own mushrooms, but we do eat a lot of them, so it would totally make sense for us. Thanks for your awesome video, it’s really useful!
June 28th, 2009 at 11:26 am
You’re welcome Nathalie, thanks for stopping by and checking out the video. Growing mushrooms is really cool and very easy using the mushroom plug method. The best part is that or a little upfront work, the same mushroom logs can continue producing for five years or even longer.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:46 am
Kenny, your site is my fav! Growing mushrooms will be a perfect homeschooling project. I am going to order the spawn today. FYI, I’m not trying to be a know-it-all, but there seems to be a little room for confusion about how “fresh” the log should be when you innoculate it. My impression from your instructions on your blog was that the log should be cut and inoculated immediately. I noticed, however, that Fungi Perfecti instructs differently. Quote: “The log should be cut one to three months in advance of plugging . . . Freshly-cut logs should not be immediately inoculated; trees naturally produce anti-fungal compounds, which degrade in two to three weeks from cutting.” Just thought it might be helpful to clarify incase anyone else had the same “cut it and drill it immediately” impression that I did. Thanks again for your great website. It’s the only gardening blog I read regularly.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Thanks Mireille, and I appreciate your pointing out the confusion. You are correct that you should not cut the mushroom logs and then turn around and inoculate them the same day. Some recommend to wait as short as two weeks after cutting and I try to stay around three or four weeks before I inoculate them. I will go back and put the emphasis on using “live-cut” rather than freshly cut hardwoods. On the other hand, you don’t want too much time passing before inoculation as it could give other wild spawn an opportunity to take hold before your plug spawn is introduced. Thank you for commenting and for being a loyal reader here! I will be sharing additional gardening projects such as worm composting that may also interest you and make for great homeschooling projects.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 am
Thanks for posting such a great video (and other info as well)! I’m having a go at growing shiitake (on a log) and oyster mushrooms (on a roll of toilet paper) indoors – hopefully it’ll go well.
I wrote up a mushroom growing guide that includes different sources of spawn and spores that might be helpful.
Thanks again!
July 7th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Kenny, would you believe that my research on mushroom growing was how I found your web-site years ago? Shame on me that I have not done this yet.
I have a few questions:
#1 ‘Other’ sites say that the log should be partially buried and kept in the shade. What is your experience in this? I don’t have a spot that has year-round shade and I’m wondering if this is truly necessary.
#2 I saw a photo of some logs leaning against a house-modular home, wouldn’t this make for a perfect vector for sub-terrainean termites? Because of THEM, here in TX we have to be careful about organic material such as wood touching the house.
#3 Do you water the logs? Fertilize the logs?
You make it seem so easy, can it really be THAT easy?
July 7th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Hi Barbee, it really is that easy to inoculate and grow gourmet mushrooms right in your own backyard! Sure, I have had a log or two where the mushroom spawn just didn’t take for whatever reason and produced nothing, but for the most part it has been an extremely easy and successful venture.
There may be a specific mushroom varieties that must be partially buried or grown on stumps during the inoculation process but none of the species that I have grown had to be buried and the recommendations that I have read indicated NOT to bury the logs until after they were inoculated and incubated. Even then burying is optional. I have never buried any of my logs but plan to do so with my current crop next spring just for the convenience of having them stand on end with only enough buried to keep them upright.
I’ve never noticed anyone leaning the mushroom logs against a house, but just avoid that if termites or other issues are a concern. I don’t water my logs but that is a good idea if you can do so. There is no need to fertilize the logs, the mushroom spawn are feeding on the nutrients in wood itself as they break down and decompose the fibers.
I would recommend that you keep the logs in a shady location, or simply suspend a piece of shade cloth over them if you don’t have any natural shade to take advantage of. Good luck!
September 10th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
[...] 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 [...]