growing mushrooms on logs

[cam]

hi all anyone tried growing mushrooms on logs in the wide bay/ southern qld area before looks interesting as your log once inoculated, can produce mushrooms for up to 4 years. i havent done this yet as am unsure of our growing conditions but am confident it will work.any info would be great if you have givin this a go.the best timber i think is eucalypt ??

 

[Mark]

This is an interesting question and I was just thinking about this on the weekend when we were discussing mushroom kits in the thread @Steve made http://www.selfsufficientculture.com/threads/mushroom-kits.214/

I sent an email to Russel from Aussi Mushroom Supplies (Vic) and asked him - he doesn't exactly answer wood type but he said he will pop over to our forum when he gets a chance so hopefully he can give some more info. This is his answer so far below:

With Logs all you need is to colonize some hardwood dowels drill a hole in the log cover the dowel with some wax to keep the bugs off and it will colonize the log.

When the humid weather comes around it should start to fruit on its own.

You also usually bury some of the log into the ground (about 1/4) this way the log can soak moisture up out of the ground to keep hydrated.

That's the simple way to explain it There's heaps of videos on YouTube etc as well.

Great to hear there's a Aus form out there when i get some time ill have to look you up

Let me know if you need anymore info or help.

Here's the site link http://aussimushroomsupplies.com/

 

[Steve]

A mate of mine at work is seriously looking into growing mushrooms on logs at the moment.
Exactly how Russell described is how he is going about it I think.

I actually saw this only a couple of week ago on the River Cottage show (UK) where they basically took about 6-10 logs and drilled holes up them in various spots. then pushed in some dowels that were pre-coated in mushroom spores and then waxed over the top to seal it in. They soaked the logs in some water for a week or so and then laid them just off the wet ground so they didn't rot but covered them in leaves and branches to set up the right conditions.
Then they said it would take about a year for them to grow mushrooms! At that point I put it in the too hard basket and went out to buy a mushroom kit that should see results in 3 - 4 weeks. Needless to say I haven't seen any action in my kit yet and are starting to get a bit worried. Still early days I suppose....