So You Have a Mushroom Log... What Now?

Natural shiitake logs can provide years of delicious and nutritious mushrooms to you and your family, but only with proper care.

Maybe you recently attended a workshop or workday at or led by someone from our farm, or maybe you purchased a fruiting log from us at our market stand. Here’s a helpful guide to help you know how to care for your log and what to expect.

First- you should know the difference in fruiting logs and freshly inoculated logs:

Fruiting logs are logs that were previously inoculated and have completed their spawn run. They are ready to fruit, and have perhaps fruited one season. Freshly inoculated logs will need time and care to promote a spawn run and prepare them for fruiting.

Either way, there are some basic rules that need to be followed:

1. Stack like with like.

If you have multiple logs, be sure you know which strain(s) of shiitake you have, and only stack like strains in contact with each other. Different strains will compete with one and other and you will likely lose one or the other if they are in contact with each other. We like to stack our logs on pallets (up off the ground) in a tight crib setup: laid side by side, then alternating the direction with each new level. 

2. Keep them in the shade.
We don’t mean the dark. Just try to keep them out of the scorching direct sun. The north side of your house or a shady forest is great. Frost blankets can help regulate the sunlight, but are not necessary.

   

      3. Water them regularly.

This is especially important in freshly inoculated logs: Shiitake need about an inch of water per week. If it is not raining at that rate, you need to supplement with irrigation. The more slowly you can apply that water, the better. At Trefoil Gardens, we use misting nozzles on micro spray emitters to help. They run for 90 minutes per week. We have found that frost blankets help to regulate moisture, but they are not necessary.

Lean-to stack

   
4. Watch for signs.

When the end of your log begins to turn white, the spawn run is complete and the log will fruit as soon as environmental conditions are acceptable. In the South, most wide range varieties will produce a heavy flush in fall as soon as high temperatures start to dip into the low to mid 70's. At that point, space should created around your logs. Many folks use an open crib stack on pallets (sort of a log cabin concept) while others choose a lean-to. The most important thing is to give the fruit room to emerge. Soon, you will see "pins", the primordia, begin to push their way our of the logs and within a few days, you'll have your first buttons. You can cut at any time, but we believe shiitake are at peak fragrance and flavor right at the point where the edges begin to completely unroll.

5.  Rest the log between forcing. 
If you decide to force your log, you can soak it in water that is 20-degrees cooler than ambient temperature for 12-24 hours. Give it a whack with a hammer on the end of the log it will complete the illusion that the monsoon season has arrived, which is the natural event that encourages shiitake to fruit. Your log will fruit again and again in this manner, but it should rest between forcing for a couple weeks. We have enough logs in our rotation to do a 10-week rotation, which we believe to be a nice compromise between rapid production and log health.

Shiitake logs are wonderful additions to your home garden. Left to fruit naturally, an average log should produce up to 2lbs of mushrooms over 5-6 years. If you decide to force fruit, you'll reduce both the fruiting duration and the total weight in favor of more rapid production.