Yup, it's that time of the year! My OH did the same thing a few years ago, but he did the oyster mushrooms. A couple of trees are going crazy right now, I threw a bunch in my beef stew the other nite...yummy! He is always on the look out for the wild ones too, he has two or three different kinds that he brings home. He pickles a bunch in oil and vinegar with different spices...no set recipe, just different stuff that he throws together.

Cathy

Glad to hear it. I have some white oak logs that I inoculated in Spring of 2003, they have sprouted a few mushrooms but not the amount I had hoped for. Here it is autumn, and there are a few more! I am standing my logs up on a wooden pallet under a pine tree for shade. Tell me if you got more than a small handful of shiitakes....

I did get a few more shitakes. The chipmunk also has gotten a few choice shrooms, too! Now when I approach the logs to inspect for shitakes, the chipmunk makes a real fuss and lots of noise.

Now, I am having new problems in survial of the shitakes! I am thinking of a netting some how or a cage around the logs, since there are only 8 logs.

This years harvest was on the logs which seem to get most of the misting I set on them ( air currents made it difficult to always have it evenly misted). I got about 5 pounds of mushrooms so far, I am not sure how much I missed to Mr C. Munk, either.

Interesting! With the wet weather we had all summer, I did little watering. Now that it is almost mid October, the logs are pretty dry. Do you use a mister attachment to a garden hose? My logs are kind of far from the house so running a hose is kinda impractical for me. I will start watering with the watering can more, though. I haven't had enough mushrooms for TBC (theft by chipmunk) to be an issue... just a couple here and there. Like I mentioned in my first post, my logs are upright on a wooden pallet under an old pine tree for shade. Are yours upright or horizontal? I don't know if that makes any difference.

horizonal...the directions suggested to lay on top of a pallet and then space four on the bottom and then four crosswise on top evenly spaced.

Mine are underneath a heavy canopy of fir poplar and swamp maples. Its a moist wooded area, but I didnt start misting until late this year...after I noticed the logs were looking a bit dry.

The mister hooks onto a hose that I run into the woods. 50 feet away from the house. I like the idea of a pan of water under the pallet to help moisture, but havent tried it, yet.

I was thinking this thought because I would like to get away from using anything that has toxic residues in it (pvc and hoses) and get back to a homesteading method of everymove towards nuturing and not destroying. Which is more physical work, perhaps with thought- my lazy self will find creative methods to solve these issues ( my insecure sense that plastics leech into our food supply too much to encourage it in any further).

Thanks again for the information! I think I will return my logs to the horizontal position, maybe they are drying out too fast standing upright.. I have been hauling out water by bucket to drench the logs. I, too, want to take a minimalist approach to this and hope that nature cooperates and rewards me with more of those delicious shitakes...

Here it is November 7th, and my shiitakes are going crazy! I am covering them at night with plastic to avoid them freezing, but I never expected them to produce this late in the season... I may move the oak logs into my hoophouse to extend the season further. I am so happy that this mushroom growing experiment is finally producing. I guess the lesson here is to never give up!!

wow!! I quit looking at my logs...I will checkon them again tomorrow morning! Please have some there for me please ole mother nature!

It got about 20 degrees last night here where Iam....

congrats on your mushroom harvest mainelyjim

It has gotten cold here too, in coastal Cumberland County, probably down to the mid 20's at night.. That's why I was so amazed to find the shiitakes this late in the year. Tomorrow I am moving them into the hoophouse, I am hoping the climate moderation and moisture there makes them keep on producing! By the way, I used white oak logs I cut last spring (2003) so I don't know why it took so long for the shiitakes to take off like they have but here they are! Good luck with yours, I hope you find some!!

My logs were fresh from 2003 as well.

When I went out to see if I had any more mushrooms....well I did but I didnt...the chip munk must of stolen all of it! There were areas of logs were the chipmunk actually chewed onthe log as well leaving fresh chewed wood areas of a story to be found. I will be building a hardware cloth cage 5 feet by five feet to enclosed my oak logs for next year.

I am sad that I missed some of my favorite mushrooms to a woodland theif! I wouldnt mind sharing...but there was nothing except chew marks to be found!

I moved the logs to the hoophouse, covered them with some reemay fabric, and have been running an old wick style kerosene heater on the colder nights to beat back some of the frost. Result - I am now (Nov 16th) harvesting good sized shiitakes! I think if I hadn't moved them into the hoophouse they would have been severely frost damaged. So the logs definitely benefit from frost protection, whatever it may be.

HMphf...for me! However i appreciate so much you sharing of your success! I will try to organize my harvest better for next year.

Congrats on your success and endurance to create an abundance harvest!!! Awesome job.

OH...Jim...what are you doing now with your oak logs for shitake? Mine are buried int he snow, which I think is great for the moisture requirments. I still need to protect them fromthe chipmunks etc....

I wonder if well see any growth this spring, or will it only be in the fall like last year?

LillyRoseViolet

My shiitake logs are still in the hoophouse, which survived (sort of..) this snowy winter. A bunch of broken PVC ribs but it is still protecting the greens within. I will move them out once there is some bare ground to move them to.. Hopefully they'll get a good soaking and a flush of mushrooms will follow. I was amazed at how late in the autumn these mushrooms started appearing on the logs.

Good, I too, am hoping for some shitakes this Spring.

I went out in the hoophouse on 3/26 and there are new mushrooms, even though I haven't watered the logs or anything. The warm spring days and the moist environment inside the hoophouse must be doing the trick. This has been a great project, I recommend it to anyone willing to wait to get homegrown mushrooms. By the way, I got my shiitake plugs from Oyster Creek Mushroom Farm in Damariscotta 2 springs ago at the flower show in Portland.

Does anyone know if Oyster Creek Mushroom Farm goes to the Bangor Flower Show? I've gotten interested in this thanks to your coversation here.

Robin, I'm finding this interesting, too. I did a web search and found their web page. What a cool operation! They sell shiitake kits from the site and there is a lot of how-to information there as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oyster Creek Mushroom Farm

AEGH... I am currently in the Ozarts and although all the pear trees are in bloom, my oak logs are still in the woods in Maine under the snow when I could be there moving them into the green house to produce and I wanna start sowing seeds.....AAArrgh well enjoy those mushrooms, I'll be home next week and those logs will be in that greenhouse as soon as I can.

Thanks for sharing Jim. and thank you for the link Robin and Cindy. I would like to try some other mushroom as well...I am not brave enough to forage from nature quite yet- this feels much safer. :)

Imagine fresh green bean casserole with onions and mushrooms all grown and harvested from the garden. Sounds happy to me.

I like my shitakes right off the log and into my mouth as my harvests were poor and great for the chipmunk. Which reminds me, I need to keep those logs in the greenhouse during harvest season and away from the critters.

Thanks for the link Cindy. I'm going to try this.

I've been gathering wild mushrooms since I was very young. My father grew up doing it and taught us. There are just a few I'll pick unless I'm with my father. Some look too much like poisonous ones for me to take a chance. Growing these will give me more time to have fresh mushrooms since we don't start picking until August at the earliest.

Oh Robin, that sounds like fun to find mushrooms in the wild. What a gift to be able to know the differneces enough to gather some at all!

I moved my oak logs from the woods where the chip munk was already eating the bark and any mushrooms as they were growing!

I put most what I could in the car ( back) and the rest in a porch room. I am keeping the loags wet with a drizzle from a wine bottle filled with water. I put my hand over the flow to kinda of splash it evenly.

I could hear the chipmucnk up in the tree having a fit and really making a fuss loudly at me.

I hope I didnt miss much with the Spring Shitakes blooms. Warm days with cool humid nights.

would applying yogurt in the watering bottle diluted in half or more help feed the fungus?