Several weeks ago 
posted a blog about her first attempt at growing mushrooms.
posted a blog about her first attempt at growing mushrooms.Her post immediately captured my attention. After reading her post several times, @plantstoplanks/having-fun-experimenting-with-fungi
I thought that I'd also give it a go. After watching several videos on the subject it seemed to me that my location, Upstate, New York would provide the perfect conditions to attempt to cultivate this edible fungi.
Before doing this post I checked in with her to make sure that I was not stepping on her toes. Being the sweet young lady she is, this was her reply.
"Yay for 'shrooms! I'll definitely be interested to see how yours come out with the sawdust spawn. I would love to see your version of a garden post focused on your mushroom method. I'm sure plenty of other folks would, as well. The more the merrier in our little online gardening world."
WHAT A GAL
According to the growing manual that came with the items you see in the above picture, came a list of the preferred trees for growing Shiitake mushrooms on.
The two top trees were Oak and Hard Maple. Having an abundance of Hard Maple trees on our farm it was just a matter of choosing one that I could work with without breaking my back. After scouting out several trees of the right size I dropped one that had a diameter of around 8 inches and stood about 50 feet tall. I cut the usable part of the tree into 4 foot sections and ended up with 8 logs. According to the manual, the timing for felling this tree was perfect as the sap in the tree was still running. Sap flow will help increase the yield and longevity of your mushroom logs.
After sourcing the logs it was time to drill the holes.
The spacing of the holes should be 4 inches apart, with the rows being 2 inches apart. With the average diameter of the logs being 9 inches, the circumference is approximately 28 inches. Each 4 foot log needed to have 143 holes drilled in it to a depth of one inch. In this picture you can see that I used a piece of wood laid out with black marks placed at 4 inch intervales.
After the first row was drilled, I drilled the remainder of the holes by eye.
Staggering each row created a triangle.
The next step was to take the inoculation tool and fill each hole with the sawdust spawn.
After filling the holes, each hole was then sealed with wax.
Sealing the holes will insure that the log will not dry out or become contaminated. I used a crockpot to melt the wax.
Say goodby to that pot, now I need to buy 
With each log requiring approximately 140 holes drilled,
stuffed with sawdust spawn, and then covered in wax,
it took a few days to complete this process.
8 logs times 140 holes equals 1,120.
The ends of the logs were also sealed with wax to help prevent them from drying out.
After all of the logs were ready it was time to pick out a good location for them to do their thing. The logs needed to be placed in a shady area and close to the ground where it is humid, without touching the dirt. .
The initial stage of colonization can take up to a year, depending on the size of the log, and the environmental conditions.
Following the colonization of the logs they are restacked. They can be stacked like you would if you were building a log cabin or then can be stood up on their end while leaning against something.
If all goes as planned I hope to get a flush of Shiitake mushrooms like you see here.
