Wow, it’s been awhile since I have posted. I guess I was waiting for something exciting. And then it happened….one day we were outside in the yard and noticed some tiny little brown things coming out of our mushroom logs.
After we had almost lost hope, our shiitake logs are starting to produce little mushrooms! Two and a half years ago, we put mycelium plugs in several maple logs as an experiment. We were hopeful, but not convinced that it would work. After moving these logs twice to our various houses, we were about to give up on the next move. Then, all of a sudden the weather warmed up and the logs started growing little, baby mushrooms. We are so excited.
Shiitakes are different from many other mushrooms, in that they like the spring time and warmer weather. In order for them to sprout, you have to soak the logs for 24 hours, and then continually water them as they are sprouting. We didn’t even soak them and they started sprouting. We have been watering them and watching them grow for the past week.
It is still an experiment because we are not sure how fast they should grow and what temperatures are ideal. We would consider it a success if we get a meal out of it at this point. But, we hope that we will have a supply of shiitakes for the next several years. Sometimes it just takes a while for the mycelium to spread throughout the log. Theoretically, this is only the beginning of many years of shiitakes to come.
I will post some pictures soon.
Hooray! So exciting!
)
It worked! Do you think it was the drumming on the logs that we did? I’m so excited for you guys! You have to tell me about them as they grow.
Love you!