Growing Magnificent Mushrooms

If you're new to growing mushrooms outdoors, we've got some great starter mushrooms for you! King Stropharia mushrooms are perfect for beginners, you can plant them in the soil right in your garden. Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms require a bit more preparation as they grow in logs, but have no fear! Our mushroom spawn grower, Mr. Mercy's Mushrooms, has got videos and written instructions to make your mushroom patch healthy and abundant.

King Stropharia 

Here’s what you need to know:

• King Stropharia (Stropharia rugosoannulata) is a mushroom that grows well in outdoor beds, as well as in garden paths.  It loves growing with woodchips, especially woodchips from hardwoods (deciduous trees, including birch, cottonwood, maple, fruit trees, etc).  If hardwood chips are unavailable, some softwoods will work (Douglas Fir is the best), as will straw.  

• Each bag of spawn will cover an area of 50-100 square feet (One 5’x10 to 10’x10 bed).  Smaller beds will fruit faster and have a higher chance of success.

Creating your King Stropharia bed:

1. Assemble materials. You will need enough wood chips to cover your bed to a depth of 1-2”.  Cardboard (non-waxed and non-coloured) can be helpful as a weed barrier and as a home for the spawn as it starts to grow.
2. Place cardboard (if you’re using it) over the entire area of the bed you are creating.  Wet thoroughly.
3. Open bag of King Stropharia spawn, crumble up, and mix with woodchips in a separate container like a wheelbarrow or bin.  
4. Spread inoculated woodchips evenly over the bed.  Wet until saturated.
5. Water often (every few days, or when dry to the touch), especially in first two weeks, and periodically after that point.

Harvesting your mushrooms:

1. Mushrooms can fruit as soon as 2-3 months after creating a bed.  A heavy rain (or watering) can stimulate fruiting.
2. King Stropharia can get big! However, it has fairly soft flesh and is susceptible to insect damage if left too long before harvest.  Pick mushrooms before caps become flat, and when veil (skin on underside of cap) is still intact or has just broken.
3. Make sure the mushrooms you have are King Stropharia!  Although unlikely, it is possible that other mushrooms could grow in your bed (just as it’s possible for weeds to grow in a garden).  King Stropharia is easily recognized by a large red-purple cap, off-white stem, purple-grey gills (blades) on underside of cap, and veil that leaves a cogwheel shaped ring on the upper stem.  If in doubt, consult ID guide below, or email us to confirm the mushroom’s identity.

Tips

• Making a King Stropharia bed in a garden path or adjacent to other garden beds can make watering easy and make checking on your mushrooms part of your gardening routine.
• When creating a bed, it is best to use fairly fresh woodchips or straw.  Older materials can already have other competitor fungi growing in them, making it harder for the King Stropharia to become established.
• Starting a new patch is simple!  Just take a few scoops of woodchips from an existing patch and mix with more in a new bed.
• Stropharia need lots of food!  It’s a good idea to add fresh woodchips yearly to your patch.  This way they can become a perennial in your garden and generate new soil by breaking down chips into dirt.
• To check on the progress of your new bed, gently dig around and check for white mycelium (the mushroom root system).  King Stropharia mycelium is thick and ropey, with a pleasant, earthy smell.

King Stropharia Identification:

• Medium to large size (up to 8” across).

• Cap burgundy-coloured, fading with age, with white fibrils when young (see pic. 3).

• Gills (plates on underside of cap) purple-gray, darkening in age (see pic. 1).  Gills connected to stem.

• Spore print purple-grey to purple-black.  To obtain a spore print, place the cap of a mushroom on a sheet of white paper with the gills facing down.  Cover, and leave overnight.  Observe colour of spores deposited on the paper.

• Veil covering gills of immature mushrooms, forming a prominent ring on the upper third of the stem.  Distinct cogwheel pattern on veil (see pic. 1)

• Stem thick and slightly yellow-tinted below veil, tapering outward to wide base.

• Thick ropey white mycelium attached to base of mushrooms.

• Smell mild, slightly like potatoes.  

• Growing in inoculated beds, or in adjacent soils. If all of the above characteristics are not noted or there is any doubt about the identity of your mushroom, please contact us, and we’ll be happy to help you! 

Shiitake

Here’s what you need to know

• Each bag of Mr. Mercy’s Shiitake Dowel Spawn contains hardwood dowels inoculated with the mycelium (mushroom “roots”) of the Shiitake Mushroom (Lentinula edodes), a delicious and easy to grow species of gourmet wood loving mushroom.  

• Bags of spawn come in three sizes: 40 Dowel, 200 Dowel and 1000 Dowel. Each bag of spawn is used to inoculate fresh hardwood logs (not included). The standard size for cut mushroom logs is between 3’-4’ (1-1.25m) long and 4”-8” (10-20cm) diameter. A bag of 40 dowels will inoculate one log, a bag of 200 dowels will inoculate 5 logs, and a bag of 1000 dowels will inoculate approximately 25 logs. The precise number of dowels per log depends on the spacing of the drilled holes (see below).  

• For more information, including videos of the inoculation process, please visit www.mrmercysmushrooms.com/growing-mushrooms/growing-methods.  

Materials Needed

• Freshly cut Hardwood logs or stumps. Shiitake mushrooms are specific in their preference for wood types. The best woods to use are oak and hard maples (e.g. sugar maple), but other woods that will also produce well include birch, alder, and beech. Avoid poplars (aspen and cottonwood) and the wood from fruit trees, as well as all conifers (pine, cedar, spruce). Ideally, logs should be cut in the colder half of the year when the leaves have fallen and should be from healthy trees with intact bark and no evidence of insect or fungal damage.

• A drill and 5/16” bit.  A stopper on the bit set to 1 ¼” will ensure that all holes are drilled to the same depth.  Corded drills work much better than cordless, as batteries will drain quickly.

• A hammer.

• Wax for sealing inoculation points.  We prefer a food-grade and environmentally friendly wax such as beeswax.  Soy wax or paraffin waxes can also be used.  

• A paintbrush or wax dauber (included with spawn purchase) for spreading wax.

• Heat source and pot for melting wax.  If doing inoculations close to home, an inside kitchen can be used.  Otherwise, a small campstove or propane burner works well.

Method 

1. Drill holes in logs or stumps.  We drill holes spaced 6-8” apart, and to a depth of about 1 ¼” (a stopper on your drill bit can be helpful).  After drilling a row of holes along the length of a log, rotate the log and start a new row 6-8’ from the first, but offset, to form a diamond pattern of drill holes.  Repeat until the log is covered evenly in holes.  If using a stump, drill first around the circumference at 68” intervals, then repeat with an offset pattern.  Drill holes in top surface of stump as well.
2. Open bag of dowels.  Position a single dowel directly over a hole and tap gently with a hammer until the top of the dowel is flush with the surface of the bark.  Repeat until all drilled holes are filled.
3. Heat up wax until fully melted.  Dip paintbrush or dauber in wax and paint over each filled hole.  Paint the filled holes on top of the log, then rotate until a new row of holes is facing upwards.  This stops the wax from dripping.

Caring For Your Log 

1. Place inoculated logs in a well-shaded location, preferably close to a water source.  Keep logs close to the ground, but slightly elevated (on a pallet or raised on timbers), as you wait for the mycelium to colonize the log.
2. Periodically check on your log.  If it seems dry (lift it up to check weight if you are unsure), it can be watered.  Either set up hose or sprinkler or immerse log in water to hydrate.  Check for signs of white mycelium on ends of log.  If you see white patches, the log may be colonized and ready to fruit!
3. Most shiitake logs will take at least a year from inoculation to fruiting.  The time it takes is influenced by the species of mushroom, the species of wood, and the size of the log relative to the spacing of the drilled holes.  If it has been over a year and your log has not fruited, try a 24 hour soak in water to provoke fruiting. If properly cared for, shiitake logs may fruit for 4+ years.
4. Fruit your mushrooms! Shiitake is unique in that it can be ‘force fruited’ several times per growing season. To force fruit shiitake mushrooms (after a year-long incubation period has passed), immerse your log in cold water for 12-24 hours. Remove log from water and place in a shady location and keep moist (by means of a sprinkler or drip line running for an hour per day if the weather is hot and dry). Mushrooms will begin to form within one week. Shiitake mushrooms should be picked when the caps are starting to flatten but are still slightly convex and the veil on the underside of the cap has just broken, exposing the gills. Picking early is advised for a superior texture and to prevent insect damage. 
5. Rest your log. After force fruiting, your log will need to sit for 8-10 weeks before being force fruited again. As always, keep log is shady location and run a sprinkler periodically if the weather is hot and dry (not more than once per week; the logs should be allowed to dry slightly). After the resting period has passed, immerse in cold water again to initiate your next force-fruiting. Shiitake mushrooms can only be force fruited when the average daytime high is 20C (68f) or higher. Ensuring your soak water is cold will simulate natural Fall conditions with a sudden drop in temperature and increase in moisture, causing your logs to fruit. 

Tips 

• Covering your log with burlap or another porous material will keep the log moist and shady while letting it breathe. 
• We use either our backyard creek or an outdoor bathtub for soaking logs. If a large vessel isn’t available to you, try deep watering with a hose or sprinkler to force fruit. 
• The traditional method of force fruiting logs also involves hitting the logs with a mallet after soaking to help initiate fruiting. Whether or not this is totally necessary, it’s a good way to relieve stress! 
• Experiment! There are many other techniques for log and stump growing, such as creating log “rafts”, “totem poles” or buried logs.  

Shiitake mushrooms ready to harvest!

Blue Oyster 

Here’s what you need to know 

• Each bag of Mr. Mercy’s Blue Oyster Dowel Spawn contains hardwood dowels inoculated with the mycelium (mushroom “roots”) of the Blue Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus var. columbinus), a fast-growing and productive species of gourmet wood-loving mushroom.  

• Bags of spawn come in three sizes: 40 Dowel, 200 Dowel and 1000 Dowel. Each bag of spawn is used to inoculate fresh hardwood logs (not included). The standard size for cut mushroom logs is between 3’-4’ (1-1.25m) long and 4”-8” (10-20cm) diameter. A bag of 40 dowels will inoculate one log, a bag of 200 dowels will inoculate 5 logs, and a bag of 1000 dowels will inoculate approximately 25 logs. The precise number of dowels per log depends on the spacing of the drilled holes (see below).  

• For more information, including videos of the inoculation process, please visit www.mrmercysmushrooms.com/growing-mushrooms/growing-methods.  

Materials Needed 

• Freshly cut Hardwood logs or stumps. Blue Oyster mushrooms are quite versatile and will grow on several different tree species, but some of the best choices are cottonwood, aspen, and willow, and other suitable woods include maple, oak, birch, and alder. Conifers (pine, cedar, spruce) are not generally suitable for use as mushroom logs. Ideally, logs should be cut in the colder half of the year when the leaves have fallen and should be from healthy trees with intact bark and no evidence of insect or fungal damage.

• A drill and 5/16” bit.  A stopper on the bit set to 1 ¼” will ensure that all holes are drilled to the same depth.  Corded drills work much better than cordless, as batteries will drain quickly.

• A hammer.

• Wax for sealing inoculation points.  We prefer a food-grade and environmentally friendly wax such as beeswax.  Soy wax or paraffin waxes can also be used.  

• A paintbrush or wax dauber (included with spawn purchase) for spreading wax.

• Heat source and pot for melting wax.  If doing inoculations close to home, an inside kitchen can be used.  Otherwise, a small campstove or propane burner works well.

Method 

1. Drill holes in logs or stumps.  We drill holes spaced 6-8” apart, and to a depth of about 1 ¼” (a stopper on your drill bit can be helpful).  After drilling a row of holes along the length of a log, rotate the log and start a new row 6-8’ from the first, but offset, to form a diamond pattern of drill holes.  Repeat until the log is covered evenly in holes.  If using a stump, drill first around the circumference at 68” intervals, then repeat with an offset pattern.  Drill holes in top surface of stump as well.
2. Open bag of dowels.  Position a single dowel directly over a hole and tap gently with a hammer until the top of the dowel is flush with the surface of the bark.  Repeat until all drilled holes are filled.
3. Heat up wax until fully melted.  Dip paintbrush or dauber in wax and paint over each filled hole.  Paint the filled holes on top of the log, then rotate until a new row of holes is facing upwards.  This stops the wax from dripping.

Caring For Your Log 

1. Place inoculated logs in a well-shaded location, preferably close to a water source.  Keep logs close to the ground, but slightly elevated (on a pallet or raised on timbers), as you wait for the mycelium to colonize the log.
2. Periodically check on your log.  If it seems dry (lift it up to check weight if you are unsure), it can be watered.  Either set up hose or sprinkler, or immerse log in water to hydrate.  Check for signs of white mycelium on ends of log.  If you see white patches, the log may be colonized and ready to fruit!
3. Most logs will need to sit for up to a year before producing mushrooms, though oyster mushrooms fruit quickly and can fruit in the fall if created in the early spring. The time it takes is influenced by the species of mushroom, the species of wood, and the size of the log relative to the spacing of the drilled holes.  If it has been over a year and your log has not fruited, try a 24 hour soak in water to provoke fruiting. In the wild, oyster mushrooms typically produce a flush in mid to late spring, and then another flush in early to mid fall. These are good times to check on your log!
4. Pick your mushrooms!  Once mushrooms are ready to fruit, they may continue to produce periodically for several years to come.  Logs should be located somewhere that is visited often, so that spontaneous fruitings aren’t missed (some mushrooms will appear, ripen, and rot in just a few weeks).  Multiple logs can be stacked “log cabin” style for easy harvest. Oyster mushrooms should be picked when the caps are starting to flatten but are still slightly convex. Picking early is advised for a superior texture and to prevent insect damage.
5. Experiment!  There are many other techniques for log and stump growing, such as creating log “rafts”, “totem poles” or buried logs.  

Blue Oyster mushrooms ready to harvest!

Please email robin@mrmercysmushrooms.com for many more tips, suggestions, and links to helpful resources.  Happy growing!