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AliceT - my sister had an oak tree that droppped in a storm, so I had a lot of wood - I kept a few logs covered up in the shed to protect them / degrade them (about a month). No, I didn't do anything special to sterilize them; what does that entail? I'll try that next time, if I live
I don't have any hands-on experience. Someone on another forum went to a seminar and came back full of information, stating that the logs had to be bathed/soaked in boiling water to kill any existing fungi spawn, then dried before inoculating.
I still can't find where it said to treat the logs with boiling water to sterilize them, but did finally find the info I saved from the person that went to a seminar:
Basically he said oak was best, smaller logs are better than big ones.
Don't use injured or rotting trees. Only fresh healthy trees are used. You don't want any cross contamination and sick trees may already be infected with some sort of mushroom or fungus.
The logs, once inoculated with the spawn will last between 3-6 years and produce mushrooms every year. Usually twice a year once in spring and once in fall/winter. Summer in Georgia is too hot and they dont do well.
Minor maintenance keeping them shaded and moist.
Once mushrooms appear do not water anymore. Then once season is over continue to keep log moist.
Very few pest. Slugs are sometimes a problem.
A 4"x40" log should produce about a half a pound per season. or 1 pound per year.
Mushrooms should appear as soon as 6 months and could be as long as 18 months before the first time.
I had three good sized oak logs that I innoculated, two of them sprouted Shiitakes (finally!!!). It took about 8 to 10 months of neglect (shaded but didn't water, live in Alabama with hot / dry Summer / Fall so no growth then). One of the logs got termites, so I tossed it.
I had a good batch of Shiitakes sitting on the logs ready to cook for Christmas, then we got a hard freeze that wilted them :P
If these two sprout again, I'll update.
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