Hardwood cultivation is ideal for those who have just felled or have young stumps of beech, hornbeam, birch, maple, poplar, willow, rowan and fruit tree species. Growing on wood is a great place to start for the inexperienced.
With oyster mushrooms and shiitake mycelium, you can easily grow your own mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms can be grown in coffee grounds, straw and hardwood. In this guide, we share our experiences and gather the best tips and tricks from other mushroom growers to help you get the most out of your mushroom cultivation.
Find mycelium for gray/brown oyster mushrooms here and for yellow oyster mushrooms here.
HOW TO GROW OYSTER MUSHROOMS AND SHIITAKE IN HARDWOOD
Crops (wood or straw) planted outdoors in the fall should be inoculated 1 month before frost – this protects the mycelium. A timely fall crop has the advantage of high humidity and an early harvest the following year. If the stumps/stems can be stored frost-free, they can be grafted and grown all year round.
Before sawing/drilling, it’s a good idea to wash the stump with “chlorine water” and let the surface dry before sawing/drilling.
APPROACH (WITH STEMS):
INGREDIENTS:
- Freshly felled hardwood logs (over 10 cm in diameter, length 40-60 cm)
- Mycelium, depending on how many strains you have
- A slice about 5 cm thick is sawn off one end.
- An approximately 0.5 cm layer of mycelium is placed on the entire cut surface and the sawed-off slice is nailed as firmly as possible to ensure good contact between mycelium and wood.
- Seal the cut with wide tape or similar.
- The logs should now be covered with plastic or placed in plastic bags. The logs are perfect in places such as sheds, garages, stables or similar. You can also place them in a corner of the garden where it’s moist and shady. The optimal temperature for the strains is 20-25°C. At lower temperatures it will still work, just slower.
- Depending on temperature, humidity and wood species, the mycelium grows through the wood in 4-12 months.
- Then place the logs in a shady spot, burying them 10-15 cm with the ungrafted end – at the same time removing the graft cover.
APPROACH (WITH STUBS):
INGREDIENTS:
- Fresh tree stumps
- Mycelium
- Cork stoppers
On fresh – max. 3/4 years after felling – hardwood stumps, oyster mushrooms and shiitake grow very well and at the same time the stump decomposes quickly and conveniently.
- Graft the stump using the intersection method as described above. In our experience, the intersection method gives the best results.
- Before sawing/drilling, it’s a good idea to wash the stump with “chlorine water” and let the surface dry before sawing/drilling. Alternatively, you can drill a series of holes 10 cm vertically into the stump with a wood drill bit, e.g. cork plug size (the more the better).
- Mycelium fills the holes
- Insert the cork plug – alternatively you can cover with a plastic bag.
As with straw culture, the harvest periods come in waves, but outdoor tree culture has a longer time between harvest periods, so you only get 2-3 harvests per year.
Pests. Snails in particular are very fond of mushrooms and can devour all the fruiting bodies in one night. Slug protection can be established in the form of spread lime, sawdust, wood ash. When growing in bags, the bag can be suspended.
Outdoor cultivation on straw bales can be impossible under heavy slug pressure, as eggs laid in the straw will cause slugs to emerge later from inside the straw bale with no chance of prevention.
We love growing mushrooms and we enjoy following your projects at home. If you want to share your projects, you can join the Facebook group Mushroom Growers Community.
