Sakurai Midori

We did an overview on growing shiitakes for your home kitchen awhile back. We promised you a DIY piece on starting your own shiitake garden on oak limbs left from logging or firewood operations.

I was removing a few trees from a neighbor’s southern yard to give her better solar exposure. I’m using most of the wood for this winter’s heat, but pulled a few modest sized logs aside to inoculate with shiitake spores. My logs were 4’ long and 4-6” in diameter.

As we mentioned in the earlier piece, a shiitake log can produce a bounty of mushrooms for 3-6 years. I bought shiitake 100 plugs from Cascadia Mushrooms to get my logs started. Here’s what a single plug looks like:

Yes, it’s all moldy- those are the fungal spores you are trying to propagate. Don’t send the package back when it arrives at your door- it‘s supposed to look spoiled!

I propped my carefully selected (i.e. what was left over) red oak logs against the stone fence in my side yard. You can use other species, like maple, but red oak is best. The logs should be 1-3 months old since cutting. Notice the essentials at left: hammer and a cordless drill with a 5/15 “bit.

With the drill and 5/16” bit, drill a series of holes about 2” deep, spaced at least 4” apart, all along and around the log. I was able to put about 30 holes per 4’ log.

Then set a dowel in each hole. Some of them have a little bit of fungus on the end, and I shove that in the hole first, to get the spores deep in the log.

Next, drive them home with your hammer. Don’t’ be afraid to hit ‘em hard- if they split a little it gets more spores exposed. You want to inoculate as much wood as you can.

Your log will look like it has measles when you are done. Now stack them on end like I did against a tree, or lay them down across another log in a shady moist spot. Mine are resting under a hemlock a little ways above a stream that runs through my back lot line, but any shady spot will do. If you have a dry spell, you may want to spray the logs with a hose for time to time at first. Some folks put a little beeswax over the plugs to seal moisture, but it’s not essential.

Now wait 6- 9 months, and if all goes according to plan and nature, you should begin to harvest shiitakes for the next several years. Enjoy their flavor, medicinal benefits, and the knowledge that you grew your own ‘shrooms from a few sticks of wood! If you want to get a cord of wood, you can grow enough to sell at $17 a pound! No tilling, weeding or watering- this is easy farming! Enjoy!