Shiitake Mushroom Logs

This a post I’ve been excited to share with you! Several years ago, my brother and I got the idea to make some Shiitake mushroom logs, inspired by some friends’ prolific logs that we were invited to fruit while they were on vacation. Isaac hand-cut the logs, we plugged them and enjoyed eating our own homegrown mushrooms. We learned a bit from that first attempt and, for me, I realized Shiitakes are one of my favorite mushrooms!

Shiitakes have such a beautiful, earthy, sweet scent and flavor. It’s a pleasure to pick them! They are a firm, “meaty” mushroom that is fantastic sliced, sauteed, and added to recipes. You can freeze them after they are sauteed – perfect for popping out to add to a homemade pizza!

So…I’ve been feeling like it was time to try again! For anyone who is not familiar with the idea of mushroom logs, I’m no expert, but the simple concept is to inoculate a log with the spawn of a mushroom variety of your choice, mimicking the way mushrooms grow in the wild.

If you’ve ever made keifer or yogurt, it’s a similar concept. The culture takes over the milk and turns it into a cultured product – your keifer or yogurt. In mushroom logs, the mycelium (which is sort of like the “root” of the mushrooms) spreads through the log, feeding on the nutrients in the wood. Given enough water and the right conditions, when the log is fully inoculated, the mushrooms pop out all over the log! It’s fantastic! Not all types of mushrooms grow with this simple method, but the Shiitakes are a great choice.

This time approaching this project, I’d read an article by some folks based in TN (always an excellent idea to read about someone doing the same project in your region!). This article explained some tips I hadn’t understood before.

1) The best time to cut the logs is in the late winter or early spring, when the sap is going back up into the tree tops. That way, there’s optimal sugar content and nutrients in the wood for the mycelium to feed on as it grows.

2) It’s important to use recently-cut wood. Letting it rest after being cut for a week or two (preferably not in contact with the ground) helps to allow the living tree’s natural defenses against fungus to fade. But waiting beyond a month means there’s a high possibility the logs will already be inoculated with native fungus.

I have barely stretched the surface on this, but it’s fascinating! For one thing, just think about how there is so much native fungus and so many little creatures ready to take up residence in a piece of wood. Given the natural progression of things, these little harvesters will eventually use up all the resources of the log and reduce it to part of the forest floor, where it will provide for the soil life, which in turn will feed more young trees. Such an amazing cycle!

But I digress…

We ordered out a bag of 500 Shiitake plugs – little dowels that are inoculated with the Shiitake spawn – from a company called Everything Mushrooms. I also decided to add in a trial-run of Pearl Oyster mushrooms to see how they did! Once again, Isaac helped me out and, while he was harvesting wood for his new barn, he got us some oak logs, recently cut from a neighbor’s place. They’re around 3 feet long and 4-6 inches in diameter. Logs much larger than this get pretty bulky to handle, and they do need to be moved occasionally.

In late March, my mom, sister and I plugged the logs together. This takes some time, but it’s really a fun work project to do together with family or friends!

You know you want to do this! Here’s how it works. You simply drill the holes with a 5/16” drill bit all over the log in a regular pattern, about 4-5 inches apart and a smidgen over 1” deep. It’s great to place the holes a bit closer together around the cut ends, or anywhere the bark has been knocked off, as this is where native species could more easily get to the wood.

Then, you hammer a plug into each hole, ideally about even with, or just below, the log’s surface. This puts the spawn into direct contact with the log’s inner flesh, where it can start feeding and growing.

Then, comes the waxing! You’ll need to wax over each plug, to seal it off so the wood doesn’t come in contact with other spawn. There are different ideas about what wax to use. Some people use paraffin, some mix a little mineral oil with the paraffin, some use beeswax, and some use cheese wax.

I’d originally thought I might use our own beeswax, but after spending a lot of time refining and cleaning it from the raw state, there was no way I wanted to paint it on a log! 🙂 And, I’d read that beeswax can attract insects, so I originally used paraffin. Mixing in with mineral oil did help, but the paraffin still tends to harden to the point of becoming brittle and popping off the log. As I understand, you only need it to stay intact about a month, while the mycelium is initially establishing, but still…

I ended up going back through and using cheese wax, and I would recommend it as a far better choice. Cheese wax stays much more malleable. It works quite well to use a plastic syringe to draw up the melted wax and apply it directly where you need it.

We ended up with 12 Shiitake logs and 2 experimental Pearl Oyster logs. Now, the next project is to find where you’ll store them. Thankfully, we had a spot picked that checked the boxes. It’s ideal to keep them off the ground, in a north-facing spot that’s sheltered from wind and sun, but still allows them to receive rain. Ours are on a large pallet, against our barn wall, under the branches of a large tree. It’s not completely ideal, but pretty close! I also love that it’s within reach of our hose, because the mushroom logs do need to be somewhere you’ll see them and be able to water them, just as you might water a perennial plant when the weather gets dry.

They say to “lay” them like firewood for a time, then stack them up, log cabin style, during the inoculation process until you can start fruiting them at 6-8 months. Until then, they mainly just look like logs. You may be able to start seeing some white fungus covering the logs ends. That’s exciting, because you know the mycelium is spreading through the log!

Well, imagine my surprise when I stopped by our little mushroom cabin to find a natural flush of mushrooms in mid-August, in the middle of a dry spell, not even 5 months after plugging! We enjoyed a little bowlful of this unexpected blessing, then about a week later, even despite the dry conditions, there was another flush, at which point I decided “these logs are ready to fruit!”

To initiate the fruiting process, you knock one end of each log on the ground, then soak them in water for about 24-48 hours. Mushrooms are made up of a high percentage of water, so this will really get them going. I soaked the logs in a garbage can full of water, then took them out and stood them on end against the barn wall. I watered them to keep the water content up in the logs as the mushrooms began to pop out!

Then, when the mushrooms have grown to a sufficient size, you gently cut them from the log to minimize any disturbance to the mycelium. This first fruiting, we ended up with a gorgeous harvest of almost 2 ½ pounds of Shiitakes! What a gift!

They say to rest the logs about 4-6 weeks before trying to fruit them again, so I’m about ready to give them another go. It’s about time to try fruiting the Pearl Oysters, also, and see how they do!

It struck me as I was working on putting this post together… There’s spiritual significance, even in observing mushroom growing habits! What we put in our minds is “inoculating our heart,” if I might make the parallel. If we fill our mind with the world’s wisdom, darkness, evil, or worthless things, we may be able to still put on an outward appearance of a “good person” for a time.

But once the fruit appears, it will be obvious. Jesus said: “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:43-45)

Only when our hearts are filled with the Lord and with His Word can we bring forth any good fruit at all! By abiding in Jesus, the True Vine, we bear much fruit and glorify God!

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

These Shiitake logs have been a very rewarding project and I urge you, if you’re interested…make a little space for a few mushroom logs. Please let me know if you have any questions and we can learn together!

I love hearing from YOU… Have you ever tried to grow mushrooms? What is your favorite way to enjoy mushrooms? What projects are you excited about right now?

Thank you for visiting my small corner today!

Because of Jesus,
Maggie ♥