Things to Keep in Mind before Buying Mushroom Logs

Sometimes you may not be in a mood to step out of your home to get mushrooms and would like to have them at your own backyard. Cultivating mushrooms at your home is a great idea because you will not only get fresh mushrooms but also feel great about your homegrown success. Log cultivated mushrooms at home have superior taste alongside texture and appearance than the ones that are available commercially.

Preparing the mushroom log is one of the most important things you should consider in the beginning. But, one needs to have knowledge about growing the substrates and put in efforts. However, you can also buy Mushroom Logs from one of the reputed suppliers. In that case, you should keep certain things in mind before buying them.

Choosing the oak species: When you plan to buy Mushroom Logs it is important that you choose oak wood belonging to the white oak group. It is the most preferred species as they decompose slowly providing food for several years to the fungi. Consequently, they offer a longer harvest period. The logs are kept in production for three seasons providing them with ideal conditions. After three seasons, it provides an average yield of 1.5 lbs of mushrooms per log yearly. Other hardwoods that can be used are birch, beech, hickory, and cherry but they have a shorter productive life span compared to oak.

Using freshly cut log: Make sure the log to be used for growing mushrooms are cut from living trees during winter or early spring when the daytime temperature is warm but it is cold at night. At this time, the sap of the tree begins to move upwards which remains stored in the roots during winters. In addition, a freshly cut log has high moisture content which aids the development of mycelium. It is a long-lasting source of food as they have not yet started to decompose.

Prevent unwanted fungus: Make sure that the substrate to be used for growing mushrooms is not vulnerable to colonization by a fungus of other species which are unwanted. When unwanted fungus gets the right conditions, it competes with the mushrooms. A log which is prepared from green wood or freshly cut trees is not already colonized by other fungi.

Size of logs: Before buying the substrates, one should consider the size so that it is easy to handle. Growers mostly prefer harvesting logs that range from 3 inches to 6 inches in diameter and 3 to 4 ft long. Substrates that are larger than this becomes very heavy when they are soaked in water to induce fruiting making them difficult to maintain and transport.

Choosing the supplier: A good quality log can boost the production of mushrooms. If you choose to get it from a supplier, you need to ensure that they are specialized in manufacturing high-quality safety mushroom substrates. In addition, an experienced supplier implements the most innovative and hygienic techniques and has the capability to meet your expectations.

Once you have got the substrates, this will enable you to grow mushrooms for several consecutive years.

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10 Easiest Ways for Oyster Mushroom Log Cultivation

Oyster mushrooms are one of the simplest to cultivate. They are delicious and healthy and can be a great addition to your backyard and garden. Here are some of the ways to cultivate them.

Ways of oyster mushroom cultivation

1) Culture on logs: This is the most favored method. Though it may take about 6 to 12 months, the taste of log-grown oysters is much better than those which grow on other substrates. During late winter or early spring, a live deciduous tree (oak, maple, alder, and cottonwood) are cut down which are about 4 to 8 inches in thickness and left for about 3 to 4 weeks. Meanwhile, other species of fungus that prevent mushrooms from inoculating declines. Then holes are drilled on the surface of the Oyster mushroom Log keeping a gap of about 4 inches, plug spawns are hammered in the holes and then sealed with beeswax. After 6 months of inoculation, oysters will show up on the logs.

2) Straw logs: Using straw logs to grow mushrooms is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways of cultivating mushrooms in your home garden. You can either use mushroom kits supplied by reputed companies or grow Oyster mushroom Log on your own requiring fewer equipment. In this process, pasteurized straw is inoculated with mushroom grain spawn to enable the mushrooms to colonize the straw. Then the logs are placed in the right environmental conditions for fruiting to take place.

3) Stump cultivation method I: Stumps are also excellent substrates because their roots remain undamaged and can get moisture from the soil. However, stumps should be located in a shady place.

4) The topmost surface of the stumps: It is drilled and plugged and using cheese wax the inoculation sites are sealed.

5) Stump cultivation method II: In this method wedges are cut from the sides of stump and then sawdust spawn is applied on the surface that gets exposed. After that wedges are fastened back to the inoculated site with the help of nails and the cracks are also sealed with wax.

6) Stump cultivation method III: The stumps are cut into sections and then a ring of spawn around the edges is applied. After that, the sections are fastened back in layers on top of the stump.

7) Indoor cultivation: This form of log cultivation involves inoculating 6-inch diameter discs and then the discs are put together with nails. After that, the discs are kept in large plastic bags so that it retains humidity and moisture.

8) Spore: Producing mushrooms from spores is said to be almost similar to growing plants from seeds and is the most difficult and time consuming one. Growing them requires Petri dishes, a clean room, and a laminar flow hood.

9) Wood chip: The wood chip method is an easier process and one requires putting fewer efforts. One needs to get the mycelium from a commercial producer.

10) The mycelium: It is supplied in a mixture of wood chips and deciduous tree sawdust.

Final words

Oyster mushrooms grow very quickly. Since these are resistant to other competing fungus, they grow on a wide variety of substrates. So you can grow these mushrooms in your homestead and reap their culinary and health benefits.

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