Caring for Inoculated Logs
Welcome to Alchemistic Fungi’s blog! If you are an aspiring mycologist, wish to grow mushrooms or are curious about all things fungi, you’ve arrived at the right place. We will be releasing blogs correlating with produces we offer to the community and so much more. Stay tuned.
This is a great example of how Shiitake logs can be stacked.
Outdoor log cultivation is an easy, fun way to receive wonderful mushroom fruits with minimal maintenance. It is a patient long-term game, one that closely mimics mushroom formation in the wild. Logs are an excellent additional lower strata (for all the permies out there) to add to your garden, whether its tucked in amongst your fruit trees or shaded beneath your annual vegetable production. These logs not only do a great job at holding up the edge of your garden bed but also produce fruiting body which can be created into culinary delights and/or medicines. Fungi passively breaking down the wood, converting it into soil, housing the next succession of life. Additionally, when the mycelium has completed its cycle of life, it becomes an excellent source of nutrition and medicine for other organisms. The potent medicinal benefits of fungi transcend into the following successions of life.
”Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”
- Issac Newton’s Third law of motion
Like any method of cultivation of anything there are different strategies that can be used to influence or accelerate production, mushroom log cultivation is no different.
General rule of thumb, log cultivation takes roughly 6-12 months to produce fruit, depending on your environmental conditions. Most wood decomposing fungi typically grow in forest environments, abundant in woody substrates. Forests hold a lot of moisture, creating humid environments for fungi to thrive. Keep this in mind when determining the location for your log.
Log Location
Refer to how and where you might find your fungal species in its natural habitat. Ponder how you can mimic this environment on your land. Here are some key considerations:
Keep it moist!! Most fungi are 80-90% water.
Keep it in a shaded or dabbled light area to avoid dehydrating
Try to have it sheltered from hot dry winds.
Is there a shaded easily accessible location near a garden, where your log can also receive regular doses of water?
Are there any humid and shady microclimates on your land where your log can rest, and the fungi can colonise efficiently?
Cover with a tarp, watering periodically to maintain moisture & humidity. Note: Shady location is best, so you don’t fry your fungi.
What is in your log?
Dowels or sawdust spawn (essentially mycelium consuming woody substrate) are sealed into logs with beeswax. This gives fungi the best fighting chance, keeping the moisture in & the bugs out. Some cultivators will seal the open ends or areas that have had branches removed with beeswax. I have also heard paint can work. If taking this step, we recommend beeswax.
After sufficient time, colonisation of your log is complete and the mycelium is awaiting signal to fruit. Mushroom formation may occur on its own accord, however is typically signalled by some environment change that will signal the fungi to fruit. The fruits are what we call mushrooms, the sexual reproductive structure of the fungi which produce spores (essentially fungi seeds).
After several months of colonisation, the white mycelium can be seen on the ends of the log and peaking through the bark.
Shiitake log on Ironbark, 8 months post inoculation. The ends appear marbled representing the mycelium and its decomposition of lignin and cellulose.
Several environmental changes which may stimulate logs to fruit:
Temperature starts to cool down (fall/winter) = bag of ice or an ice bath for the log
Temperature starts to warm up (spring/summer) = putting log in water warmed by the sun
Branch breaks off tree and hits the ground = hitting the log with a hammer
Electrical impulses of lightning and thunderstorms
Heavy rains = 24-48hr soak in water bath
Depending on environmental conditions, your log will be ready to fruit roughly 6 to 12 months after inoculation. Baby mushrooms, called primordia formation or pinheads, burst from the seam of the wood. Watch in amazement as they grow rapidly day by day.
Take note of the mushrooms species you are growing, there may be varying water requirements as well as time to harvest. We will continue to share our knowledge about the various species parallel to the species we share with the greater community to grow. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for project updates and more informative blog posts.
Watch this space!!
Mush love,
Mik & Bryan
