Freemotion's mushroom growing experiment....success! Pics p 1 & 3 & 4

[Henrietta23]

I ran into the grocery store with dh on the way home from the office yesterday. It was far to hot for me to wait in the car, even with the ac on, as the car hadn't cooled enough yet. I rarely go into the "regular" grocery stores, as they frustrate me too much with the garbage they sell as food and the prices. This store is called Stop 'n' Shop, and it is where I used to do almost all my grocery shopping. DH stops in for me when I need something I like to buy there, like the wonderful Alvarado Street Bakery sprouted grain breads. He is so good to me!

While he was picking up something to put on the grill, I checked out the produce department. People actually pay those prices! And those were the sale prices!!!

But....and here is my moment....they had fresh shiitakes in little 3.5 ounce boxes for.....$2.99 each! That is $13.35 per pound!!!!

I hope my logs grow lots of mushrooms!

Not a big S&S fan myself. I find Big Y's produce prices to be even higher though!

 

[freemotion]

We live literally within shouting distance of Big Y and we NEVER shop there. Overpriced and BAD produce. Bruised and battered and often pre-packaged, which makes it spoil even faster. In the frozen section, there is NO selection for veggies we will eat. Worthless store. And the "nutritionist" they hired is a major joke!!! Good thing I no longer look at their flyer. I used to yell at her picture. I'm surprised dh hasn't had me committed yet......

 

[Henrietta23]

We live literally within shouting distance of Big Y and we NEVER shop there. Overpriced and BAD produce. Bruised and battered and often pre-packaged, which makes it spoil even faster. In the frozen section, there is NO selection for veggies we will eat. Worthless store. And the "nutritionist" they hired is a major joke!!! Good thing I no longer look at their flyer. I used to yell at her picture. I'm surprised dh hasn't had me committed yet......

They actually have signs in their produce department claiming you'll never find bad produce! Ha!
Can you understand better why I drive as far as I do to WF when I can't get what I need at the farmers' market?

 

[freemotion]

Ah, mushroom growing is so exciting, I can barely keep up the dizzying pace.

We had a lot of rain lately and I've seen a lot of mushrooms growing in the fields, so I trekked into the woods to take a close look at my shiitake logs, hoping for some small signs of life. They aren't supposed to bloom until the spring, but there was a slight chance that one variety might give us a small batch if conditions were just right. Nope. Nothing yet.

But in walking the dogs, I found some puffballs that I'd missed, that had gone by. I picked eight softball-sized ones and tossed them onto my property in a cloud of greenish-black spores. Might as well seed my land. I also saw a few fresh ones that someone had either run over or kicked to pieces. Hence the need to get them onto my side of the fence.

I wish I could find morels or chantarelles. I'd need guidance, I think. Well, that is why I innoculated all those oak logs, and may do a few maple logs this winter or next as well. I love mushrooms!

 

[Henrietta23]

If I find any you can have my share....

Ah, mushroom growing is so exciting, I can barely keep up the dizzying pace.

We had a lot of rain lately and I've seen a lot of mushrooms growing in the fields, so I trekked into the woods to take a close look at my shiitake logs, hoping for some small signs of life. They aren't supposed to bloom until the spring, but there was a slight chance that one variety might give us a small batch if conditions were just right. Nope. Nothing yet.

But in walking the dogs, I found some puffballs that I'd missed, that had gone by. I picked eight softball-sized ones and tossed them onto my property in a cloud of greenish-black spores. Might as well seed my land. I also saw a few fresh ones that someone had either run over or kicked to pieces. Hence the need to get them onto my side of the fence.

I wish I could find morels or chantarelles. I'd need guidance, I think. Well, that is why I innoculated all those oak logs, and may do a few maple logs this winter or next as well. I love mushrooms!

 

[dragonlaurel]

Hope you get a good crop of mushrooms. You probably know, but always check for gills with puffballs. Death Cap mushrooms have a stage that looks almost identical, except for the gills.
My hubby spent about a week in the hospital over that mistake. He thought a bad one was a "steak puffball".

 

[saraltx]

I know this is an older thread, but I've been very interested in growing some button or portabella mushrooms, and it seems to fit here. Has anyone bought a commercial kit and found a way to extend their lifetime or reuse them with new spores? Maybe if you add a bit of your own compost to it? I can't quite figure out what exactly makes the kits stop producing, but it seems it "should" be possible to come up with a way to make them more profitable. Any experience/ideas?

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm so glad you asked that question! I've been wondering about it myself. I'd love to grow my own mushrooms.

 

[freemotion]

Check out the link in the first post. They have all kinds of stuff from kits to stuff for commercial growers and everything in between. My project is something in between....similar to what commercial growers might do but on a smaller scale.

I'd like to do button mushrooms, too, as they are my favorite, but I chose shiitake for my first try as they are much lower maintenance, it seems.

I've talked to the people at Field & Forest and they were very helpful. If you call, you might want to do it soon, before they get busy in the spring with their own mushrooms. I had a hard time getting anyone in the spring, as it is a small company, and they were all outside "planting" mushroom spawn!

 

[saraltx]

I spent a few more hours researching mushroom-related info online. I found out about options of making one's own spawn to eliminate the need to buy new kits. Most methods seem kind of complicated, but I also found a method that sounds very easy: basically just soak cardboard until the layers separate and place small pieces of a mushroom stem onto the cardboard layers, keep it covered in a container and the pieces will eventually grow into new mushrooms. It only seems to work with certain kinds of mushrooms, especially oyster.
Does anyone have experience with that? I found it repeatedly mentioned on the internet, but it almost sounds too good and easy to be true. I love button mushrooms, but maybe now I'll get a kit for oyster mushrooms instead to start with and see if the cardboard thing works.