This is probably a newbe dumb question but..........

[1shotwade]

I've been watching youtube trying to learn all I can. I've seen a couple clips where people have scrapped the bark back and "planted" oysters and made fruit. Also have seen "planting" hen of the woods at the base of stumps and trees. They say it works.OK, I can buy that. So,what about chicken of the woods? Can it be "planted" in a similar manner? If so,just how would a person go about doing this?

I'm always curious!

Thanks,

Wade

[vitog]

I've never tried growing chicken of the woods mushrooms, but I'm sure it's similar to growing shiitakes. You can find spawn and instructions on the Internet; just Google "laetiporus spawn". The key to success is using the right types of freshly cut logs or stumps. The main problem with growing any kind of mushroom is contamination of the substrate by undesirable fungi.

[brianf]

It is completely negligent to attempt to colonize any living, standing tree. Especially with something like Chicken of the Woods. You're basically giving that tree plus any other local tree capable of hosting the mushroom a death sentence. Not to mention creating a potential safety hazard. People who do this are ignorant. Please do not do this.

To colonize fallen, rotting wood with purely saprobic fungi (sapotrophic fungi) such as hericium and (some) pleurotis is fine. In some cases saprobes have been known to improve the quality of life of it's immediate surroundings by increasing the rate of decay and returning a larger volume of nutrient back into the environment over a shorter period of time.

The parasitic polypores, the armillarias, hypholomas, etc, should not be inoculated in the wild, or at least not under anything less than completely controlled circumstance.

Again, please do not plug healthy, living trees.

As far as "planting" goes, it is possible to take a living culture and to inoculate, or seed the ground surrounding the roots, but this would be far less reliable than plugging the actual wood. Basically, you would expose as much root as possible as close to the surface as possible. In the beginning it would probably require reasonably frequent waterings. So if it got dry, you'd have to play mother nature. This generally requires distilled water as the chemically treated tap and well water we're used to is capable of destroying far to many species.

Sometimes it can be really easy to overlook long term consequence in favor of short term gratification.

[1shotwade]

Brianf- Thanks for your response. I read it back a few days and have been "studying up" to some degree on the info you gave me. I wanted to wait to respond so that I could also add pictures to this response.

I will include here one pix of the growing sulfur shelf I have available to possibly "seed" with. The "seeding" I am referring to would be contained to the stump and 5 other logs seen in the pix which are all from the same tree.This wood has decayed to the point it has no use even as fire wood. Since i have the growing fungi on the one log and not the other,I simply want to "transfer" spore from the existing to the barren material in hopes of getting some use of the material.

OK so that didn't work right! I don't know why it posted above the text!

Anyway,I'd like to continue by asking your(or anyone else's) advice on the following. I have been unable to locate,in my area ANY oyster even though they are said to be plentiful. I have also been unable to find Any hen of the woods,of course it is early for this season. I have a tree that I would like to do something with and want advise as to what to do.

My understanding is that the oyster will not be ":damaging" but since reading of how many species it can be grown on I have pretty much ruled it out. I would like to start some simply because I can't find any and watch it and learn from in thru it's actions in the wild.

The tree in question was core dated in the 1960's at over 300 years old and at that time was the 7th largest white oak in the state of Indiana.I will add a picture of the tree trunk and one of the canopy showing the state of decay it has suffered in the past 15 years.It has lost about 1/3 of live growth. The atv in the picture has a 5ft blade on it and it is centered even with the center of the tree.You can drive a full size pickup into the tree and never see both mirrors from the other side.

Back to the point. My family has decided to leave this tree and not harvest the many logs from the limbs,some of which are well over 30". We would like to seed this tree with an appropriate fungi so it can also remain productive. It has not had acorns for 11 years now.We were hoping the hen of the woulds would be appropriate for this seeding. If not we would be open to any other suggestions. With that said I will add the 2 pix of the tree. Any comments are welcome. We are just trying to learn as all of you have had to do. Thanks in advance for your help.

Wade

[brianf]

Oyster mushrooms can be damaging. They do run the fine line between parasite and saprobe. They will colonize healthy, living trees. They'll just continue long after the tree is dead and rotten. Chicken of the Woods have a limited life span once the life span of the tree comes to an end.

The point I was trying to make is that it's bad enough we have to deal with the parasitic polypores that naturally occur. They can destroy large areas of forest in (relatively) short periods of time. To intentionally introduce species like this is negligent.

Why not try growing oysters on a cellulose substrate? It's incredibly easy. You can even start off with one of those ready to fruit kits.

Inoculating logs that far along the decay process is probably a waste of time. You'd be lucky to see one or two fruitings.

DO NOT DO ANYTHING to that big beautiful tree in the 2nd picture. If nature has plans for it, so be it, it's not up to us.

[1shotwade]

I had watched a presentation by Dave Wichland (?) where he said you could put a fungi in luke warm water and it would drop it's spore within 24 hours. I thing that's right but will go back and watch it again. So,since these cherry are there and doing nothing,and I'll have no expense involved,I thought it's worth the try.

As for the big oak,that has been our train of thought over the past 61 years we have owned that property. 15 years ago when the decay began we discussed it and decided to let the old girl live on. With that decision we gave up hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of potential lumber. (And yes,we own our own sawmill and two of us are sawyers.)since we seem to have a lack of Chicken,hen and oyster mushrooms on our land we decided to look into the possibility of seeding various trees,this being one of them.

Thanks so much for your input. It's quite helpful.

As for your comment about the oysters,I agree, since I have seen recent videos of how easy it is to start them including one which you boil a roll of toilet paper,fill the tube with spore and have a growing flush within 10 days! (I'm learning so much!)

Thanks again.

Wade

[brianf]

Wade. Glad to meet a Sawyer, I often put your end product to good use as a carpenter .

I highly suggest starting off with some grain spawn from a reputable source. That's the best way to minimize mistakes and maximum success. It's best to start small and slow with mushroom cultivation because the hiccups can be very discouraging.

One alternative to outdoor log growing is to either take hardwood logs and hardwood loving species into a purely softwood forest, or to take the logs and move them into an unwooded location such as under a porch, stacked alongside your foundation, etc. Just not directly on the forest floor within spitting distance of healthy trees.

The downside to outdoor cultivation of parasitic species is that spores travel. It's all about minimizing overall environmental impact while trying to achieve reasonable production numbers.

My biggest gripe with mycology on the whole is it's tendency to completely ignore other sciences for a multitude of reasons so you need to be careful with some of the youtube videos on cultivation. Lot's of things tend to be ignored in favor of obtaining these delicious, health promoting, lovely mushrooms.

I will be the first to admit though, indoor cultivation can be difficult. And once you start getting into climate control, separate grow rooms, etc, etc, etc costs can add up quickly.

These days our basement is filled with bonafide laboratories which requires the use of tyvek suits, masks, and getting blasted with a sterlizing spray.

Not to mention the need to purchase various pieces of equipment that can throw up some red flags to the right people. Which is kind of sad that the production of illegal things has made it so difficult for many of us to attempt the indoor production of food.

[1shotwade]

I am doing so many things on a regular basis I have no desire to get into growing srooms seriously. I don't have time to do the things I already do. It it's fast and cheap and not labor intensive,I'm interested but babysitting spawn and do this then that is not for me at this stage of life.

I want to try the "wash" to inoculate the downed cherry here close to the house and I want to try some oyster spore on a couple maple logs I have to put into my ginseng shade house where I have easy access to both and other than that I'd like to start hens,preferably somewhere relatively close so I can document their growth.If I have put on my tyveck or bee suit,it's not worth the bother.That's fine for others but I'm overwhelmed with my other projects.(You know,all those things I'd be caught up on within a year of retirement! 9 years out now and still working on them!) If it were not for all the rain we've had in the last 6 weeks i wouldn't have the time to learn about mushroom!LOL!

Later!

Wade

[brianf]

A shade house is a perfect place to grow mushrooms on logs. Generally though, growing mushrooms does require a bit of time and care. Even in the wild.

Heh, I just gave up on sleep years ago. I've gotten lucky in the last two years and finally found some reliable guys to run the day to day on the job site so I've been free'd up a bit. I spend most of my time tending to the gardens, greenhouses, mushrooms, fruit trees, hiking, and general property maintainence. I can fit in estimates and the general contractor duties alongside my daily activities. I've been known to conduct business on the phone while crawling around picking mushrooms. Aside from my girlfriend and I, we have a small group of people who pitch in for access to the produce so that makes things easier. There's four other people who can tend to the mushrooms alone. It's not a bad idea to get friends and neighbors who might not be able to start everything from scratch to pitch in, in exchange for free produce.

We produce or have a direct influence on the production of about 90 percent of our food so the efforts are worth it.

By any chance would you be willing to post pictures of your mill set up? This is something I've dreamed of being able to do, but I'm not sure I'm ready to invest that much money into something that would be difficult to fit into my day. It would spell the end of wildmushroomhunting.com for me, and I love this site.

Still though, really cool about the saw mill. That would mean one step closer to complete sustainability for me. I've even started looking into hydroelectric power. Just need a couple million dollars in grants. And I'd probably have to kidnap an engineer and technician to keep it running.

[1shotwade]

Sounds as though you are quite busy also!

If you are serious about getting a sawmill,don't take my word for this,check it all out yourself,but you will end up with a woodmizer! Got to their website and look at the LT-30. That's what we use.It's a16'bed with a 22hp onan and will cut a 32' log.If you give it due diligence,there is no other choice that makes sense! Look over what they offer and there's something in their line that will fit your need.

The company is employee owned and all our dealings with them have been absolutely excellent! I just can't say enough good about the quality of their product and I have never experienced service with any other company that even comes close to the level of service they will give you.When you walk into their facility you are absolutely treated like a king! If you are there during a meal period you eat anything you want and as much as you want and as long as you want with absolutely no questions asked.There is absolutely nothing they will not do to help you in any way they can.Every single employee is absolutely dedicated to helping you in any way possible!

In making a choice for a mill you need to first decide if you want an old "bell blade mill or a band mill. The band mill is by far superior in every aspect. Quality=price,operating expenses,sale-able produce = waste,equipment maintenance/upkeep,portability,and even longevity.

we bought our mill used up in northern Minnesota,took it straight to woodmizer in Indianapolis where they went over every inch of it for 4 hours insuring it was "as New" operationally For something like $200.They even changed the oil and spark plugs and tuned the carb. Just part of their service. We've had it something like 15 years now and the only expenses other than blades/gas/oil has been 1 set of drive belts,1 roller chain and I think 2 or maybe 3 batteries.

do your homework and get back with me if you have any questions.

Wade