Thanks! It's great to have a great team with hard scientific / mycological backgrounds!

This was great, thanks, I been tryin to find out about "mushroom boxes grow your own" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Heenyan Mushroom Organifiction - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some decent things about it and my partner got great success with it.

here's a few suggestions to try pick the best variety - there are many available. grow them in the right environment - some eg oyster muchrooms like cool humid areas and can be put outdoors (I discovered these and why they work on Gregs Mushroom Grower website )

Yes. Truthly mycologists on KZfaq are hard to find. *North spore are the real deal. A true mushroom cultivation company. They grow many gourmet products and sell many aswell (fresh grown by them /grow @ home boxes).* All the other KZfaq mycologists I see usually on here, are either people with a KZfaqrs production team, and is all scripted. Most mycologist vids on KZfaq, are just paid actors, or some random kid in a bedroom with his 1st illegal grow kit. For USA, I would say *NorthSpore* is one of the Holy Grails. I wish there were companies like u in UK most are extremely limited. A new farm in my city is in process of being built from the ground up (literally building it now). It's going to the the city's 1st urban mushroom farm. I'm hoping to get a job there maybe. To help them progress and for my mycology learning to progress at the same time. With luck.

What type of tree are you cutting for logs?

Thanks! We're trying to put significant energy into developing educational materials and cool mushroom video content. I appreciate the kind words!

Thank you so much for your support! Reach out anytime.

​@NorthSpore How long can you keep harvesting off of the logs in ideal conditions?

Glad you enjoyed it!

Reach out with questions anytime!

I hope you were able to start your mushroom patch! If not, hope you're planning one for this year!

How it's going now you still have it??

Good luck sir

How did it go

Any updates on this?

Thanks! Epidemic Sound is great for sourcing music for videos

Ikr

i love that intro song

Music videos have the best music

good luck with your project!

Thanks for your support!

How do you like them?

Reach out with questions anytime.

You should give mushroom cultivation a shot, it's easier than you'd think!

Greetings! Thanks for watching the video and reviewing the tools and spawn. I wish morels were more common in Maine.. though we've encountered them a few times here!

You got it!

You're welcome!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for your support! Fun, rewarding work happening here!

Reach out with questions anytime!

Thanks for your support! Reach out with any questions you have along the way!

@@NorthSpore let me know if you want to do any classes on my land. 😁

If it's been a couple weeks without rainfall give the logs a soak overnight. You don't want constant moisture or irrigation on your logs as it will weaken the bark over time. What you want is for the moisture content inside of the log to stay relatively constant. If the ends of your log start to crack or if your logs feel like they've lost a lot of weight, those are good indicators that your log should get some soak time!

mush love!

We haven't written a book... yet! Thanks for watching the video and good luck with any mushroom projects you have in your future!

Thanks Mike!

Thanks for your support!

You're welcome!

A clear food-grade paraffin wax ideal for sealing holes in inoculated logs. We sourced the tools for our different types of spawn!

Thanks for your support!

Thank you! The inoculating tool is just a hollow tube with a plunger mechanism.

Thanks for watching!

Yeah it is. Never ceases to amaze

Thanks! 😃

thanks for watching the video!

Check this out: northspore.com/pages/log-mushroom-cultivation-faq

We used food grade paraffin wax (aka Cheese Wax). Bees wax also works. If the wax is too brittle you can add a little mineral oil to soften it up.

@@NorthSpore Thanks for sharing the details 😊

I think it would be ok as long as you monitor them for signs of drying out. You don't necessarily need to spray them unless there is a dry spell! Most temperate climates do not require watering logs as intermittent rains and atmospheric humidity do the trick.

It's sort of a hybrid drill/anglegrinder at that point..

Thanks!!

Nice! Reach out with questions anytime!

@@NorthSpore I do actually have a few. How big is too big for logs. For a garden, Knowing it may not fruit for 3-5 years. 1ftx6ft? I have 3 types. Oyster, Shit, and Wine. The garden plan is 2 kiddie pools with soil and fresh mulch with a log in each, and the front ground soil filled and herbs. I was hoping to put in some button mushrooms somehow. Opinion? Hard truth? Thanks so much. Got it at Fullerton Farms, Ontario, Canada.

(the best spot is a 12x12 concrete pad from an old hot tub. best shade/sun mix.

@@MurderBong the larger the log, the longer it will take to colonize. The average size is around 4 feet with varying diameters. Kiddie pools sound perfect for beds. Almond Agaricus is an option for button mushrooms and it loves compost and warm temperatures.

@@northspore6175 Thank You.

Fresh cut! Oak is best for shiitake, but you can sue many other things. Check this out: northspore.com/pages/grow-mushrooms-on-logs-videos

If it's green, it's probably mold. It's tough to know how that will play out for your log, but hopefully the mycelium was able to develop enough inside the log to combat that contaminant fungi!

Thanks!

You could! It might not have as high a success rate as fresh spawn, but what a great way to get the most from a block!

Wishing you the best of luck with your logs! It all sounds good on our end, that your plugs were healthy and strong. Reach out with questions anytime!

It looks like you can buy sawhorses with clamps that would be similar to this!

Plenty of people grow mushrooms on logs in Florida, the natural humidity (I imagine) will help keep the logs health. You still want to focus on having plenty of shade. You want freshly cut hardwood, not standing trees. The logs only need to be soaked if there is prolonged drought or they have gone over a year and a half without producing any mushrooms.

There are different schools of thought on this subject. It certainly won't hurt to hold off a week or two, but we've had success using freshly cut wood too!

Let us know if you have any questions!

Hi Larry, it all depends on the species of mushrooms you're trying to inoculate. Shiitake is known to work best in oak, but also can grow in Sugar Maples, Beech trees, and Birch to name a few. Some species of mushrooms have far more specific types of wood they like to grow in. Northspore.com has a whole list of mushrooms and their suitable tree species!

Actually yes! For several species like maitake and chicken of the woods, we recommend sterilizing or pasteurizing logs first. You'd need special bags and a pressure cooker or steamer. That's pretty involved. If your wood is fresh and you're working with easier species, sanitizing shouldn't be an issue!

The rule of thumb for shiitake logs is 2lb per log per year, though I've had years with significantly more than that, and years that were a bit light. A successful flush will have large shiitakes over the majority of the log.

North Spore Thank you! 🌷

You know something I've asked and couldn't find out. I've suggested that future videos include the music in the descriptions. Sorry!

@@NorthSpore Hey! Thanks for your reply! Oh well.... Thanks for including in going forward! Just got my mushrooms in the mail. So excited to grow them this year! Thank you for all you do.

@@NorthSpore I'm sorry I didn't think of this before! I asked Google to ID the song: Andreas Boldt "Gentle Impulsions".

They can take up to a year to colonize. We suggest stacking them close but off the ground to reduce pest interference. You may have to water them if it is especially dry. We have a great FAQ here: northspore.com/pages/spawn-faq-1

Thanks! sorry for my slow reply.. I'd definitely start with the easier species to cultivate. Mushroom beds are great (I made another video going over how to do that) Oyster mushrooms on straw beds or in buckets, wine caps in wood chips, and shiitakes on logs are the trinity of easy and productive species for new mushroom growers. Mushrooms are great for selling at farmer's markets or direct to your customers in CSAs. North Spore started as a mushroom farm before it pivoted into growing supplies. Give it a shot!

Elm is great for oyster mushrooms but not recommended for Shiitake. You can always start logs inside and bring them out after the last freeze or simply manage some insulating layers on them stacked close to the ground.

Tap water should be fine for soaking your logs. I've done it many times in my backyard with success. Definitely err on the side of hydration with tap water, not letting the log dry out.

The wax is just used to keep other mushroom spores or bacteria out of the log. You are drilling to inject the fresh log with spawn, then sealing it up to prevent any cross contamination. The mycelium will slowly grow throughout the entire log, when it's fully colonized mushrooms will pop from anywhere on the log, not necessarily where you injected spawn!

@@NorthSpore that is great!! Thanks a lot for the informations! I did it on one "row" of a log, so now i will procede with the rest and patiently wait 🤗🥰! Should i keep it humid? Is it useful to somehow feed the log or you just leave it to nature?

Sorry for the delay :) That sounds perfect! The mushrooms will grow when conditions present themselves if the log is colonized. Most mushrooms fruit between 60-75F.

Hope you have fun!

I bought mine in an online store

On ig

Logs can take up to a year or more to start flushing so that aspect of the process was not available to film at this time! We have a lot of great log photos on our Instagram , however!

nice!

Hi Jeremy, the cool thing about mushrooms logs is that they will fruit for many years. The rule of thumb is 1 year per inch of diameter of the log. That said, we've heard of shiitake logs fruiting for a decade. It really depends on how well they are taken care of. Damage to the outer bark or letting them dry out are death knells for logs. If they've got a couple years without flushing mushrooms they are probably done (though it's hard to make a concrete rule about this). Once they've stopped producing they'll be much lighter in weight and probably in pretty rough shape. You can treat them like camp fire wood or let them biodegrade in the woods.

You don't always need to cut down a full tree. Do you have services that trim boughs off trees in the UK? They are often great sources of freshly cut hardwood. Best practice is to use freshly cut wood. You *may* be ale to rehydrate and inoculate wood with success, but mushroom growing is really about removing variables, not adding them.. It may be worth giving it a shot on a small scale to see how it works but I wouldn't rely on that method. You can definitely use smaller logs, but they won't produce for as long and are more prone to drying out.

Wow, I'm so glad mushrooms have helped you! They've certainly been good to us. I'm excited to try a new recipe this week with some dried morels! No need to use boiling water on your logs. Just make sure the logs are as healthy and fresh as possible.

you want to keep them someplace as shady and cool as possible. If there is a drought give your logs a soak overnight! The heat won't kill them, but letting them dry out will!

Hi Ruslan, North Spore sells all the tools for mushroom log inoculations. northspore.com/collections/tools

You can definitely make mushroom logs with other species. Check out NorthSpore.com to learn more about different species. That said, there are certain species that are better suited to commercial mushroom log production- with shiitake being right at the top of that list. Oyster varieties do really well on logs too, but need to be inoculated in different wood species such as sugar maple or poplar as oak tends to be a poor wood choice for oysters. Lions mane can be grown successfully on logs, though I wouldn't consider the harvests commercially viable though they are a great species for home gardeners. Maitake can also be grown on logs, but best practice for that species is to sterilize smaller log segments first then inoculate them with spawn in a sterile space, bag them in a filter patch bag, and allow them to incubate in the bag until they are fully colonized. After colonization the maitake log segments can be taken out of the filter patch bag and buried outdoors. Fruiting mushrooms will grow from the soil. Chicken of the woods can also be grown outdoors on logs, but isn't a commercially viable species. It takes a long time to incubate and prefers larger logs than the ones used in the video, though the process is exactly the same. Hope this helps!

@@NorthSpore Yes, it did! Thank you for your response. My logs are big bigger than yours so maybe I can try a couple more varieties at my home for food and medicinal needs.

Thanks! Yeah, we're working on a ton of mushroom cultivation videos. I'll make sure we do one on cultivating reishi too! Are you interested in growing it indoors or outdoors?

North Spore I’m most likely going to be growing it outdoors on some kinda hard wood hopefully. I have a decent size barn to work with and a pond but need to figure out what type of wood is best for Reishi. Also how long does it take after inoculating before the first flush typically and how many flushes is a log good for until it’s spent?

Awesome vid! I'll be inoculating 50 odd oak logs in the coming days using North Spore's angle grinder adapter adapter and drill bits, so stoked! I have about 10 different ones including Reishi, Nameko, Enoki and am thinking to just stack them all like that come fruiting season. What do you think ?

Thanks for your support! Reach out with questions anytime.

wait and see like he said it should take about a year to innoculate then give put them to fruiting conditions

Yes it takes at least a year for colonization of logs.

@@NorthSpore I had no luck with the direct spore into log innoculation. I've learned a lot since my original posting. Recently I learned you guys sell plug spawn for native reishi. Wow! That'll save me a lot of trial by error. I recently bought a dozen blocks from ya'll. My friend has a huge store in our local mall and she went in halvies on them. We're planning to set up a display and grow and show a mushroom grow. If so we'll be needing many, many more blocks. In any case I will be ordering some tsugae spawn as soon as I can line up some logs. Trying to time it with our reishi season.

Sawdust spawn is recommended for log inoculations. Fall is a great time to start but you might want to store them in a heated structure or under insulating tarps or blankets if your first frost is coming up.

No. Mushroom spores are ubiquitous anyways, nothing you do growing mushrooms should negatively effect your lawn or garden.

Hi there! We do only recommend growing on fresh cut healthy logs! I would suggest cutting some new ones if you are planning to inoculate this season!

Hi there! We only recommend using fresh cut and healthy wood for inoculation. Coniferous trees are also not recommended for most mushroom species to be grown in!

at least i saw some seller/re-seller/producer that warned against using his products on pine

From internet: Shiitake mushrooms are traditionally grown outdoors on seasoned hardwood logs - preferably oak, although maple, birch, poplar, aspen, beech, and other species have also been used successfully. fir is actually softwood. It burns quicker and faster. Good stove starter, and hardwood for longer-lasting fire.

Pine and coniferous trees are not conducive for most edible mushroom species. Shiitake, however, does grow on birch!

Hey there! We have a great table that matches tree type with mushroom species and difficulty level here:northspore.com/pages/spawn-faq-1 The drill bit we use is 12.5mm here:northspore.com/collections/tools/products/mushroom-log-drill-bits

Happy to help! You could inoculate logs in the fall/winter if you don't experience freezing temperatures but you'll want it to be warm enough for the logs to colonize at first, and then they can be overwintered next year. Stacking them helps maintain moisture and then you could stand them up against your fence for fruiting. Pine and coniferous trees in general aren't conducive to most species but we have a great FAQ (northspore.com/pages/spawn-faq-1) that matches species with tree and difficulty. Fruiting can take up to a year or more, but it really depends on log size, environment and species as they all vary.

check out this reference! northspore.com/pages/spawn-faq-1

North Spore thank you so Much 😁. But, I still need to learn what these trees look like....sorry, I really need repetition, the dam things change their looks four times a year in Canada 😀

The kiln would dry the wood out way too much I think. You need to be able to retain moisture.

Yes, is does: northspore.com/pages/grow-mushrooms-on-logs-videos

Sorry for the delay. You can probably inoculate now!

You can leave your log to rest for up to 1 month though it isn't necessary. There are different schools of thought on this. Some log growers swear by aging their logs for 1 or 2 weeks before inoculation. We've always cut and inoculated the same day with great results!

northspore.com/pages/grow-mushrooms-on-logs-videos

Sometimes it helps to elevate them or even just move them to a different location to prevent pests. You can also use diatomaceous earth to deter pests, although it gets washed off with every watering.