Hi,
There are a number of ways to cultivate mushrooms from spores once
collected properly. You have specified 'wood' in your question so I
will concentrate my efforts there for your answer, but there are a
number of other methods as well.
One method, other than wood, which comes to mind is the Hydrogen
Peroxide method documented by R.R. Wayne Ph.D.
http://www.mycomasters.com/
which if nothing else is a very interesting read. Now, on to the wood methods.
In most of the guides I have read, sawdust is out, but chippers or
planers create a good wood bed mix. What type of wood to use is often
the preference of the mushroom. Shiitake mushrooms for example grow on
hardwood logs under forest shade. They prefer colder humidity than
some other mushrooms, and most often you will find them growing wild
by streams. Shiitake is also one of the easiest mushrooms to grow.
Oak logs are usually used, but other hardwoods can also be just as
good. Since you are gathering from a local forest, your best bet is
going to be the hardwood growing in that area. You will want young,
healthy trees. Avoid deadfalls, and logs of uncertain origin. You
don't want something with obvious signs of disease. Commercial growers
us a standard of 4" in width, cut 30" long. Pines and other conifers
will not produce mushrooms, the sap is much to acidic.
This website page here (http://www.shroomery.org/index/par/24333 ) has
a complete, blow by blow description on how to cultivate shiitake
mushrooms year around. Another good Shiitake mushroom page is on Ohio
State's website (http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0040.html )
For good spawn production, proper spawn preparation is necessary. Take
note of the mycelium, and see if normal growth patterns for your lines
are observable.
Contaminants can be the downfall of your spawning efforts. Make
preparations so that other fungi, bacteria or insects growing in or on
the culture do not infest your mycelial culture. The Penn State Links
below have great articles on how to insure your cultures. Also there
is some great information on grain growing (as apposed to wood
growing) on that site as well as some other information such as basic
procedures for mushroom growing, cultivation of shiitake on natural
and synthetic logs, and spawn growth.
For a general knowledge, blow by blow description from spore
germination to harvest spawning,
(http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_cultivation_az2.shtml
) is a good page for that.
There is another article (http://www.mycosource.com/homecult.htm ) on
mycosource.com titled Grow your own mushrooms, which has much more in
depth information, and a few times while reading it I felt like it was
possible the author was trying to "scare off" the neophyte grower form
"doing it from scratch" and just buying the kit. However, it is a
great source of information and in his "Growing at Home" area he talks
about the lack of need for a good deal of the "lab requirements".
I think between those two pages you should have a good idea of what to
do and how to do it once you have your spore prints.
If you need more information, please send me the type of mushroom you
are trying to grow in your clarification request.
Links of Interest
A good glossary of Terms for Mushroom growing
http://www.usask.ca/biology/fungi/glossary.html
Home Cultivation
http://www.mycosource.com/homecult.htm
Mycology Resources at Cornell University
http://mycology.cornell.edu/
Growing Mushrooms with Hydrogen Peroxide
http://www.mycomasters.com/
Spawn, Spawning and Spawn Growth
http://mushroomspawn.cas.psu.edu/SpawnGrowth.htm
Penn State Mushroom Spawn Laboratory Home Page
http://mushroomspawn.cas.psu.edu/
Getting a Year-round Harvest from Japanese Forest Mushrooms
http://www.shroomery.org/index/par/24333
Mushroom Cultivation and Marketing
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/mushroom.html
Spore Print Sheet (Jpg file on Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Spore_print_sheet.jpg
The American Mushroom Institute
http://www.americanmushroom.org/
the Mycological Society
http://www.msafungi.org/
Something to look out for:
the book Mushroom Cultivator: A practical guide to growing mushrooms
at home, appears to be anything but... you can read some comments on
this book here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/cgi-bin/apf4/amazon_products_feed.cgi?Operation=ItemLookup&myOperation=CustomerReviews&ItemId=0961079800&ReviewPage=2
I ran across this in the library this morning while researching your
question, and I agree with most of the comments: A huge source of
information, but not a practical guide.
Search Strategies
Home Mushroom Growing
mushroom spore germination +wood
mushroom spore
thanks,
webadept-ga |
