The weather is cooling, the bees are slowing. Though we’re wrapping up the growing season, it’s time to think about next year and the spiral of years to come. One of my favorite parts of this autumnal winding-down time is the container it provides. We reflect on what passed and imagine what is yet to be: a nurturing future rich in medicine, food, and flowers. It’s a wonderful time to save seeds, put the garden to bed, and inoculate mushroom logs!
Growing your own mushrooms via plug spawn log inoculation is a fun, relatively easy, and mostly hands-off approach. It’s a great way to provide yourself and your community with fresh, locally grown mushrooms. Even if you only have a tiny outdoor area to work with, log-grown mushrooms don’t take up a ton of space. For those of you with no access to outdoor space, I recommend using a box/bag mushroom grow kit or checking out your community garden to see if they’d like to foster some logs. Logs inoculated in the fall tend to fruit after about 9 months – 1 year, depending on environmental factors.
Growing your own mushrooms at home is easier than you think! Mushroom logs allow you to cultivate tasty edible varieties like oyster shiitake and lion’s mane right in your backyard.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process of making DIY mushroom logs, from choosing the right wood to harvesting your homegrown mushrooms. Follow these simple steps to enjoy fresh gourmet mushrooms for years to come.
Why Make a Mushroom Log?
Cultivating mushrooms on logs has many advantages:
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Logs provide the ideal growing environment mushrooms naturally thrive in. The wood substrate offers nutrients and moisture.
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The setup is low maintenance compared to other mushroom growing methods. Logs just need occasional watering once colonized.
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Logs produce flushes of mushrooms for 3-5 years with little effort required.
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Mushroom logs fit easily into any shady spot in the garden They take up little space
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Homegrown mushrooms taste far superior to store-bought varieties.
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It’s fun and educational to grow your own food!
Step 1: Obtain a Fresh Hardwood Log
The first step is sourcing a freshly cut hardwood log about 3-12 inches in diameter and 3-4 feet long. Good wood types are oak, maple, poplar, birch, alder, beech, or ironwood. Avoid pine wood.
Recently felled logs have optimal moisture and nutrients for mushrooms. Old, dried logs won’t colonize as well. Cutting your own or getting one from a local tree service is best.
Step 2: Prepare the Log
Use a drill with a 5/16” bit to make staggered rows of 1” deep holes 4-6” apart across the log’s length. Wipe away sawdust.
Seal any damaged bark areas with wax to retain moisture. Also seal the log ends. Avoid submerging the entire log yet.
Step 3: Inoculate the Log
Insert mushroom plug spawn suited to your climate into the drill holes. Gently hammer in flush with the log’s surface. The mycelium will start colonizing the wood.
Seal each plug with wax to prevent moisture loss. Store inoculated logs in a shady spot while the mycelium spreads over several months.
Step 4: Fruiting and Harvesting
Once mycelium has fully colonized the log, move it to a shady garden spot. Initiate fruiting by soaking logs in non-chlorinated water for 24 hours.
Pinhead mushrooms will emerge from drill holes in about 2 weeks! Use scissors to harvest mature mushrooms with flattened caps. Enjoy or preserve them.
Troubleshooting Tips
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Use fresh, non-rotting logs – old wood won’t colonize well
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Avoid wood with antimicrobial compounds like cedar and pine
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Keep logs moist but not waterlogged during colonization
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Provide more shade if mushrooms won’t pin after soaking
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Disinfect tools between logs to prevent contamination
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Try a different mushroom species if your climate is unsuitable
With some adjustments, you can overcome challenges and grow beautiful mushrooms!
Choosing a Mushroom Variety
Many gourmet mushrooms can be grown on logs. Top beginner’s choices include:
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Oyster – Fast colonizer suited for warmer areas. Thrives on poplar.
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Shiitake – Meaty, flavorful mushrooms. Grow well on oak and maple.
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Lion’s Mane – Cascading shaggy mushrooms with seafood notes. Favor various hardwoods.
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Wine Cap – Hardy mushrooms that fruit spring and fall. Tasty sautéed or grilled.
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Chicken of the Woods – Prized for its chicken-like flavor. Forms orange brackets on oak.
Consult your local nursery to select a species adapted for your climate and preferred wood type. Many options are available!
Alternative Mushroom Log Materials
While hardwood logs are traditional, other materials can be inoculated too:
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Coffee grounds – Compacted into buckets to grow oyster mushrooms.
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Straw – Formed into compact mushroom-growing bricks.
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Cardboard – An eco-friendly log replacement; often layered into bags.
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Wood pellets – Dense pellets well-suited for oyster mushrooms.
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Wood chips – Work best supplemented with nutrients in a bin.
Get creative with recycled urban materials like cardboard or coffee grounds to sustainably grow mushrooms!
Fruiting Your Logs
Once colonized, move logs to a shady spot with indirect sunlight. Initiate fruiting by soaking logs for 24 hours before returning them to the shady area. Repeat this process for multiple harvests.
Uses for Homegrown Mushrooms
Enjoy your log-grown mushrooms:
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Sautéed in butter, oil, or sauce as a topping for meats and vegetables
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Simmered into rich, savory mushroom broth stocks
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Stuffed into whole caps before baking or grilling
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Thinly sliced raw onto salads
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Dried and powdered into umami seasoning
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Candied in syrup for a unique sweet treat
Preserve extras by drying, freezing, or fermenting. Get creative in the kitchen with your mushrooms!
Inoculating fresh hardwood logs with mushroom spawn is a fun, simple way to grow gourmet varieties at home. Follow the steps for preparing, inoculating, and fruiting logs to enjoy pounds of delicious mushrooms for years on end.
Position mushroom logs around your garden for edible landscaping appeal. Learning this traditional cultivation method lets you sustainably harness the natural decomposing abilities of fungi. Get started on making your own mushroom logs today!
Step 6 – Strategically place the logs
Once inoculated, find a shady, relatively moist spot for the logs to colonize. You can stack them or stand them under a tree or against a wall. Use shade cloth or burlap to make shade if there isn’t any. Really, you want to make sure that they don’t get blasted with direct sunlight, and stay relatively moist. It’s ideal if they recieve rainfall, or are at least hosed down every once in a while. It’s important to put the log somewhere easy to see! Your mushrooms can appear suddenly without warning, and you want to catch them in their prime.
When the logs are fully colonized and the weather conditions are right, the mushrooms should fruit from the log, ready to harvest and enjoy. With some care, each log should produce around 2 pounds of mushrooms over its lifetime (up to 5-6 years), but uncontrollable factors such as rainfall, temperature, and humidity levels can affect yields.
Make Your Own Mushroom Log!
To start, you’ll need hardwood logs, plug spawn, a drill & 5/16ths bit, a mallet or hammer, and beeswax or paraffin wax.
How to Grow Shiitake Mushrooms at Home!
FAQ
How to make your own mushroom logs?
To make get some fresh oak logs. Drill holes about 4 inches (10 CM) apart. Fill said holes with sawdust spawn or plug spawn. Cap the holes with wax. Place somewhere shaded and damp, or hose down occasionally. Then wait, wait some more. After about a year they should start fruiting.
What kind of wood is used for mushroom logs?
All log grown mushrooms are grown on fresh cut logs, so you will need to cut some fresh hardwood logs, preferably oak (check tree chart for alternatives), that is less than a month old cut from living healthy trees, 6-10” diameter logs are best.
What time of year do you start mushroom logs?
Spring is generally the best time to plant mushroom logs for several reasons. First, it is best to cut logs during the dormant season before the buds swell in the spring. Logs can be stored until planting when the daytime temperature consistently reach 40°F or higher.
How do you make a mushroom log?
Make Your Own Mushroom Log! To start, you’ll need hardwood logs, plug spawn, a drill & 5/16ths bit, a mallet or hammer, and beeswax or paraffin wax. The hardwood logs (white oak, red oak, poplar, maple, birch, beech, etc.) should be at least 4-6 inches in diameter and 2+ feet in length.
What do you need to grow mushrooms on logs?
Inside is everything you need to inoculate 1-4 logs, including spawn plugs, wax, a drill bit, and wax applicator. There are two styles of spawn we commonly use for growing mushrooms on logs: plug spawn and sawdust spawn. For smaller projects, home-scale grows, or if you’re not ready to invest in equipment plug spawn is ideal.
How long does it take mushrooms to grow on a log?
In general, you’ll want to cut the mushrooms off the log when the cap is 3-4 inches across, after 4-8 days of growing (they grow faster in warm weather). After harvesting your mushrooms, leave your log outside in a damp place for four to six weeks to rest, then soak the log in cool, unchlorinated water again to start a second fruiting.
How do you harvest mushrooms from a log?
Once the log starts to fruit, you may begin to harvest mushrooms by cutting them off the log when the cap is three to four inches across. It’s important to cut them off the log rather than picking them by hand, which can reduce the chances for more mushrooms.
What’s in a mushroom log grow kit?
To make it convenient and save you a little money, we’ve put together our Mushroom Log Grow Kits Inside is everything you need to inoculate 1-4 logs, including spawn plugs, wax, a drill bit, and wax applicator. If you’re inoculating more than 8 logs or are looking to maximize efficiency, choose sawdust spawn.
How long does it take for mushrooms to grow?
After making a mushroom log, mushrooms will begin to grow within one year. Once the log starts to fruit, you may begin to harvest mushrooms. It’s important to cut them off the log rather than picking them by hand, which can reduce the chances for more mushrooms. Cut the mushrooms off the log when the cap is three to four inches across.