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.