Dominic, I would be interested in some spawn--chicken of the woods, shiitake and if possible morels. I can get you some hardy kiwi later when I have access (in June), I can also get some black walnuts, they are pretty common around here. I have rooted white grapes from a trade (seeded), and I need to check on some others I was rooting, if they are not moldy, I can send some. I also have arapahoe blackberry plants and heritage red raspberries. Mark

It depends on the cleanliness of the operation. If you were to completely sterilize the straw, 1% would be more than enough. Commercial operations use close to 10%, but 5% is a good number. You next spawn is 1/20 of the current batch (if successful), so it becomes a bit like doing sourdough bread. Unlike sourdough bread, though, your starter will last a few months at least. Let me mention that I have never been successful with in-drum pasteurization (0/2), and always been successful with pressure cooker sterilization (I have a 4 gallons one) (4/4) and 1% inoculation (basically, 2 plugs for 1 qt jar).

Fungi Perfecti, in Olympia, has mushroom spawn. I wasn't able to find Shitake on their site, specifically, but you could probably contact them to see if they know a source. Their website is www.fungi.com

I do not know where your spores are from, but mushrooms in your bin is OK. I have had them at times in my outdoor bins. I just pull them and leave in te bin as worm food. Also I have picked wild mushrooms around the yard and tossed them in the bin. Good luck, Pete This post was edited by mendopete on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 22:52