Log inoculation (with fotos) - Help please

Started by kukaPT, March 03, 2009, 05:31:46 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

kukaPT

Recently, me and a friend, inoculated some Oak logs:





After inoculating and waxed the inoculation points:




and a inoculation point detail:




Is it everything o.k.? It's the first time we are doing this, so normally, there should be some mistakes... If someone could "criticize" it will be welcome ;)

PS: it's indoor, in a wine cellar/mill in granitic stone. Region: Portugal

Trips509

What kind of mushroom are you trying to grow?

psilocybin warrior

Everything looks good to me as of right now, your logs look a little dry tho and some of those innoc sites look like they could use a little more wax.  How long ago were those cut?

PW

kukaPT

We made 3 types of mushrooms: Shiitake, pleurottus and "Lyon's head".

The logs were cut from a tree that fall down with the wind 2/3 weeks ago.
Why do we wax the inoculation points? never understood it...
Should I spray a little water in the logs?

Same day we inoculate those logs of the pictures (last Friday) we cut some very small logs and put a pellet on each one of them, which I putted inside a plastic bag after spraying them with a little water.
Today I opened the bags to see if they were dry, and there was already some white spots in the cut edges... I am going to take some photos and put them here ;)

psilocybin warrior

Nice, thats perfect fallen time those should be some nutrient dense logs you'll get some nice fruits.  The wax is to keep the myclium from drying out, you could give those logs a dense mist from a hose or spray bottle ( just don't soak them) "moisten them".

PW


juhha

Yap. It started as something small, but it's surelly going to grow. I am the friend that kuka talked about in his 1st post.

I have another question for you shroom masters.

We have a large quantity of freshly cutted oak logs, and we wanted to inoculate them, the same way we did with the first batch.

The problem, is that indoor space isn't very abundant. At my girlfriend's farm, there's kind of a space with ceiling, but with no walls. I don't know the name in english... sorry... like this:


Is it possible to grow mushrooms in logs, under that?

How many pellets, should there be in each log? I've seen from a lot, to a few... I'm a bit confused here... can you help us?(again?) :rolleyes:

psilocybin warrior

Is there any kind of wall you could put up? like one from a big tent? my concern would be too much sideways rain soaking the logs.

PW

juhha

The space has a back wall. Probably we can put some kind of a plastic wall. Not water/air proof, because the walls might become sails, and sail away with the wind if not properly secured...

A kind of net, could do also? Like this?



The wall is only to prevent direct rain from falling into the logs, right? This net has very small holes in it. The rain can't go through. Well, probably it can, but not lots of it. A mild "moist" won't screw up the logs. Or will it?

psilocybin warrior

The wall is only to prevent direct rain from falling into the logs, right?

>Correct.

>That rolled up tarp? in ur pic (I forgot the name) will work perfectly. A gentle mist won't harm it at all, it might be benificial in maintaining an adequet moisture level and keep them from drying out + improving your speeds.  Also, if the base of that canopy is known to pool water together maybe try elevating the longs too keep them from drowning. Other than that everything is good, don't forget to post some pics when ur fruits are here!!

PW

psilocybin warrior

Crap sorry I overlooked one of ur questions.  A general rule of thumb is 8-12 "spawn plugs" per foot, but it varies depending on the diameter of your logs and they should be plugged in an even pattern within 4 inches from each plug, but trying to keep each plug an equal distance.  So the more plugs the better colonization times(thats all).  If you used less plugs it might just take a lil while longer.  So for future reference this is a very effiecient pattern ( when your drilling your holes, make a diamond shaped pattern so each hole is equal distance from the others around the entire log "360`")avoiding overkill of coarse. Hope that helps

PW

juhha

Of course it does! Thanks PW.

When we finish making Round 2, of log inoculation, we'll post here the pictures.

There are also a couple of pictures from the first batch, and our indoor-under-the-bed-log-testing, that Kuka, probably forgot to post here.


Azurascender

This looks like an exciting project : ) can't wait to see how this turns out!
Chloroform and a dish towel, yeah that will keep them quiet....

juhha

Another update.

First, some photos of our under-the-bed-log-inoculation tests:




These went straight to the fireplace... (it seems these pictures are from the same log... lol! The other log was the same. Radioactive green...)

This one is still in test:



The black isn't a chainsaw burn. It's someting like a spider web, but black. We will see what it's going to grow from there...  :rolleyes:

As we are still waiting for the new pellets to arrive, we started(or tried to... or are trying to) a new tipe(for us) of mushroom growth. Plastic bags.

We have read a lot of books, seen a couple of videos, and attended to some classes, but we can't sort out what's the best way to do that. It seems everyone has his own thoughts how to grow mushrooms.

Some say to sterilize the straw, some don't, some don't use it, some just add everything and throw them inside the bags...

For our first try, we did it this way:(shitakke spawn)

1- cut the straw in small pieces.
2- added moisture by soaking the straw in almost boiling water. We let that soak and cool, for an entire afternoon.
3- removed the excess water and let it cool to room temperature.(it was a bit hot)
4- Filled the bags(one layer of straw, one spoon of spawn)
5- Closed the bags, pressing them down a bit.
6- Made some holes(3) in each bag
7- placed the bags in a dark and temperature stable room(wine cellar)

Everything was sterilized. (spoons, knive, hands, tupperware)

The straw:(1kilo)


The spawn:


The bags:


The ratio was: 1kilo of pre-soaked straw to 200grams of spawn.

We have another 1,3kilos of spawn to mess up with.

Any help, or sugestion, is most welcome!

areallyfunguy

Some years ago I interviewed a shiitake farmer in west central wisconsin. He stressed temp and moisture control and he did hose/mist/spray them down to get this effect. He was using red oak upper limb logs only about 5-6 inches in diameter. Yes he waxed and innoculted much heavier than those of yours shown. The red oak limbs are actual trash left from logging crews. After the logs were spent from production, he burned them in his outside boiler to heat his operation which was in a old dary cow barn. Very cool old dude, back in the 90s he was grossing over 20,000 dollars US. Just in his spare time he did all the marketing and delivery himself too. Now the story takes a sad turn. He went on a vacation for a month or so and left someone entrusted to carry on hjis business. they botched things up so, he ended up out of business. You may want to contact Shiiga or the wisconsin shiitake growers association. I am sure they will be very helpfull to you friend.

kukaPT

#15
I couldn't explained it better Juhha! :)

One more thing: we are going to try to multiply the shittakke spawn using the PF-TEK technique. Using vermiculite and whole rice flour (I just bought whole rice and crush it) and putting some spawn in it, I should have in some time a inoculated jar. So, I will then, divide it again for others jars, and so on, so on...

PS: Is it possible to put wood pellets in an inoculated jar, and so, inoculate them?  :huh:

I hope (again  :rolleyes:) we are doing everything accordingly the masters technique  ^_^

Please, comment!!

Quote from: areallyfunguy on May 05, 2009, 06:08:52 PM
(...) He was using red oak upper limb logs only about 5-6 inches in diameter. Yes he waxed and inoculated much heavier than those of yours shown. (...)

We have now, a second shipment of oak logs, that Juhha got, and there are a lot of logs with that diameter. Of course we are going to inoculate them as well. Nothing goes to trash  ^_^
Thanks for the contacts areallyfunguy, all information is rich and valid!!

k12357

Yes you can use wood chips.  Watch this, its just a clip but explains the process.
"We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open."

k12357

"We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open."

kukaPT

Thank you k12357.

I think we have all the video collection of that bearded-dude  ^_^

But that video explains the culture already in plastic bags. What I am trying to know, is the best way (more secure) to colonize jars, to multiply the spawn, and later, to use that jars to colonize the plastic bags...

Simplifying: the best substrate to use in jars to multiply spawn!  -_-

This week-end I check our first logs (inoculated in the beginning of March, so with 2 months and a half aged). Only one log has a white spot with 3 cm's radius... Shouldn't they be more colonized? Is this because our small use of pellets for each log?

Again, THANK YOU! ;)

k12357

Then use grains.  Such as rye berries or wild bird seed.  I would go with the rye berries.  The addition of the wood chips and saw dust isnt nessicary to grow the mycelium for spawning.  Im not sure if there would be any positive or negative affects of mixing the sawdust and woodchips with the grain.   Test it and see what happens.  Also yes the low amount of plugs is a big factor in slow colonization.   More plugs is better,  Do like PW said and make the 3 inch diamond.
"We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open."