Mushrooms are host-specific, and supermarket mushrooms won't work.

Look up "mushroom spawn" and there are sites that sell the spawn.

Most "mushroom spawn" are for the kind of mushrooms that eat dead plant matter. (And my google searches uncover a lot of sketchy sites for people growing "funny mushrooms".)

Any idea what mushrooms pair with beech, pine, black cherry, or Norway Spruce?

In general mycorrhizal fungi are picky. People have been trying to cultivate truffles,pines and Chanterelles for years. Some questions...Is your site an established stand? Has the soil has not been disturbed for a good long while? If not I have doubts that you will have anything in quantity. Paul Stamets, a hero of fungophiles everywhere has numerous books and a great website, fungiperfecti.com. One thing to consider, is that while saprophytic fungi are not to our eye directly benefiting trees or plants, they have a absolutely massive part of the ecology of any site. They create soil, enzymes break down organic matter into it's base parts, aereate soil, I can go on and on.

No, not an established stand. In some of the locations I'm considering, the soil hasn't been disturbed in a while. Not really trying for significant production, more trying to help the trees and maybe get a mushroom or two for the fun of it.

Potential locations are:
1.) Underneath old Norway Spruce. Undisturbed soil.
2.) In a grove of young White Pine and black cherry where Austrian Pine once grew.
3.) Around newly planted Beech.

Hey Ed,

So as pouka94 mentioned at least Chanterelles are saprophytic which means they actually parasatize fungi that are already decomposing dead organic matter. So in order for them to start growing they would need a very old well established duff with many layers and probably some dead roots from old trees for the host fungi to feed on.

I know my brother collects them in bounty near Eureka CA. They grow really well in old redwood groves near there so deep duff, lots of old trees, and tons of moisture. He has told me that they can be spread in the area if mature mushrooms with ripe spores are collected and scattered in a good habitat.

There are fungi everywhere though so even if you don't get any mushrooms to eat out of it you will increase ecosystem and soil health if you let your organic matter (leaves or needles and sticks) to build up and decompose in layers under your trees. Of course you will also get a lot more bugs and might have to watch for termites depending on how much wood you leave around. I have done this in my back yard and even added some logs to enclose a few areas around trees to hold in the decomposing materials. I definitely get some fungal growth but there really isn't enough moisture in my area to get many mushrooms. I have also gradually removing some of the crappy soil that the contractors put back on my yard after they scraped all the good soil off with the new soil that is created by this process.

Hope this helps,

Kate

P.S. Not such a crazy idea. I wish it was as simple as just spreading the spores.

i found the best thing to do for soil
is to add lots of mulch and organic matter.
i use lots of coffee grounds (free from starbucks)
like 80lb a week... leaves and grass on top of it,
that way, the worms get to the UCG first.
and worms LOVE UCG !!!

also, get a few handfuls of soil from qan area that has bamboo which has been there for 20+ years.

put that soil in a 5 gal bucket with molasses
(or cane syrup) and aerate for 2 days.

or, make some bokashi, but use the dirt from the bamboo area.
bokashi

Here is a link that might be useful: bokashi video

Honestly, I think this is a great idea, but I think you would be better off starting with oyster mushrooms than chanterelles or porcinis (which are both difficult to propagate). Oysters are notorious for being one of the easiest mushrooms to propagate and should satisfy all your requirements. I believe they feed on some harmful grubs as well. Also, you won't need to start with spores or spawn: just go to the grocery store and find FRESH oyster mushrooms. If they aren't fresh, don't buy them - find another store or ask the manager when they will be getting fresh oysters. You can then use the stems (these will have mycelium still on them - it's the white fuzzy stuff) to propagate mycelium and - later on - mushrooms. You can look on youtube for ideas on what I just described. My one caution is that all the how-to-do videos will instruct you to propagate the mushroom in an enclosed environment (usually a jar) using (what they call) sterile method. I advise against this method as it gives mold the upper hand on the mycelium - and it will outcompete your mushrooms. And then you'll just have a jar full of mold. Eww.

What I do is grow the mycelium in a clean cardboard box using anything from coffee grounds to shredded paper for growing medium. All items should be clean, but do not attempt to sterilize them (i.e. don't put rubbing alcohol on them!). Loosely close the box to allow air flow, and open the box once in a while to spray some water on top to keep the box humidity up. Don't worry if the medium drys out sometimes: it's okay for the mushrooms and bad for the mold. Just make sure it isn't always dry!

As for introducing the mushrooms to your yard: I have absolutely no experience in this. If you have wood chips in your yard, try starting there. Oysters should propagate on the wood chips fairly easily, but there will need to be a thick layering of wood chips. Alternatively you could make a wood chip pile and try to inoculate that with oyster mycelium. I know a great deal of people use straw (that they have 'sterilized'), but straw would not be my first choice since it is usually crawling with mold - regardless of how long you boil it.

Also, I would recommend you read the book Mycelium Running. I haven't read too much of it, but I think it would answer some of your questions better than I have. If you pursue this, please keep us updated! I am very interested in this and have thought of doing it myself, but I currently live in an apartment!

Aly

This past summer we had a very large amount of rain along with above normal moisture the past few years and I was getting mushrooms growing in areas that I have not seen before. The most unusual was a type of Suillus growing under my Siberian Larch. There are areas where a type of mushroom will grow on a regular basis, if you can duplicate those conditions then you may have a chance to get some to grow. When I was living in B.C. I would pick Pine mushrooms and Chanterelles, but you may not find them in the same place from year to year. Temperature and moisture play a large part where and when they grow.