Hi all,
Does anyone know of a tree trimming service in the Triangle that allows
you to help yourself to their chipped wood?

Thanks
--
Philip Semanchuk
email: first name @ last name.com

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a tree trimming service in the Triangle that allows
you to help yourself to their chipped wood?

Thanks
Just give one of them a call Philip and ask them to dump a load of chips
at your home. I used to do that years ago with a Chatham Co tree
service...but be aware that lots of nitrogen is released by fresh
chipped wood.
Mary

In article , Marymind
wrote:

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a tree trimming service in the Triangle that allows
you to help yourself to their chipped wood?

Thanks
Just give one of them a call Philip and ask them to dump a load of chips
at your home. I used to do that years ago with a Chatham Co tree
service...but be aware that lots of nitrogen is released by fresh
chipped wood.

Thanks, Mary. I called Davey Tree in Morrisville (919-460-8733) and they
agreed to do just that next time they're in my area. BTW did you mean
that nitrogen is *consumed* by fresh wood chips rather than released?
The former has always been what I've been told. But I'll be using these
to grow mushrooms so I'm not too worried about the nitrogen anyway. =)

Cheers
--
Philip Semanchuk
email: first name @ last name.com

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
In article , Marymind
wrote:

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a tree trimming service in the Triangle that allows
you to help yourself to their chipped wood?

Thanks
Just give one of them a call Philip and ask them to dump a load of chips
at your home. I used to do that years ago with a Chatham Co tree
service...but be aware that lots of nitrogen is released by fresh
chipped wood.

Thanks, Mary. I called Davey Tree in Morrisville (919-460-8733) and they
agreed to do just that next time they're in my area. BTW did you mean
that nitrogen is *consumed* by fresh wood chips rather than released?
The former has always been what I've been told. But I'll be using these
to grow mushrooms so I'm not too worried about the nitrogen anyway. =)

Cheers
Hi, Phil,
That's great. The fresh chips release a lot of nitrogen.......but they
also break down nicely into your soil. I used them for three years in a
row instead of buying them at Lowe's and my garden soil is loaded with
earthworms ...the soil is very rich and loose.
Mushrooms!! Yum............a business or personal use?
Good luck!

On 2007-04-10, Marymind wrote:
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
In article , Marymind
wrote:

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a tree trimming service in the Triangle that allows
you to help yourself to their chipped wood?

Thanks
Just give one of them a call Philip and ask them to dump a load of chips
at your home. I used to do that years ago with a Chatham Co tree
service...but be aware that lots of nitrogen is released by fresh
chipped wood.

Thanks, Mary. I called Davey Tree in Morrisville (919-460-8733) and they
agreed to do just that next time they're in my area. BTW did you mean
that nitrogen is *consumed* by fresh wood chips rather than released?
The former has always been what I've been told. But I'll be using these
to grow mushrooms so I'm not too worried about the nitrogen anyway. =)

Cheers
Hi, Phil,
That's great. The fresh chips release a lot of nitrogen.......but they
also break down nicely into your soil. I used them for three years in a
row instead of buying them at Lowe's and my garden soil is loaded with
earthworms ...the soil is very rich and loose.
Mushrooms!! Yum............a business or personal use?
Good luck!

Actually wood chips CONSUME nitrogen until composted, then they release
it. Actually the composting bacteria use the nitrogen to decompose the
wood. The tannic acid in woodchips can present a problem to some plants.
It does not seem to affect shrubs, but I would not use it on vegetables
until it is well composted. I would not use wood chips close to a house
foundation due to the fact that the wood will also attract termites.

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

is a garbage address.

In article , Marymind
wrote:

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
In article , Marymind
wrote:

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a tree trimming service in the Triangle that allows
you to help yourself to their chipped wood?

Thanks
Just give one of them a call Philip and ask them to dump a load of chips
at your home. I used to do that years ago with a Chatham Co tree
service...but be aware that lots of nitrogen is released by fresh
chipped wood.

Thanks, Mary. I called Davey Tree in Morrisville (919-460-8733) and they
agreed to do just that next time they're in my area. BTW did you mean
that nitrogen is *consumed* by fresh wood chips rather than released?
The former has always been what I've been told. But I'll be using these
to grow mushrooms so I'm not too worried about the nitrogen anyway. =)

Cheers
Hi, Phil,
That's great. The fresh chips release a lot of nitrogen.......but they
also break down nicely into your soil. I used them for three years in a
row instead of buying them at Lowe's and my garden soil is loaded with
earthworms ...the soil is very rich and loose.
Mushrooms!! Yum............a business or personal use?

Personal, although maybe I should consider commercial. Oyster mushrooms
(which is what I'll be growing) cost $10/pound in Harris Teeter! That's
even more than shiitakes. Personally I prefer the flavor of oyster
mushrooms; I think they're relatively expensive because they don't keep
well so they're hard for a supermarket to handle.

bye
--
Philip Semanchuk
email: first name @ last name.com

wrote:
On 2007-04-10, Marymind wrote:
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
In article , Marymind
wrote:

Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Hi all,
Does anyone know of a tree trimming service in the Triangle that allows
you to help yourself to their chipped wood?

Thanks
Just give one of them a call Philip and ask them to dump a load of chips
at your home. I used to do that years ago with a Chatham Co tree
service...but be aware that lots of nitrogen is released by fresh
chipped wood.
Thanks, Mary. I called Davey Tree in Morrisville (919-460-8733) and they
agreed to do just that next time they're in my area. BTW did you mean
that nitrogen is *consumed* by fresh wood chips rather than released?
The former has always been what I've been told. But I'll be using these
to grow mushrooms so I'm not too worried about the nitrogen anyway. =)

Cheers
Hi, Phil,
That's great. The fresh chips release a lot of nitrogen.......but they
also break down nicely into your soil. I used them for three years in a
row instead of buying them at Lowe's and my garden soil is loaded with
earthworms ...the soil is very rich and loose.
Mushrooms!! Yum............a business or personal use?
Good luck!

Actually wood chips CONSUME nitrogen until composted, then they release
it. Actually the composting bacteria use the nitrogen to decompose the
wood. The tannic acid in woodchips can present a problem to some plants.
It does not seem to affect shrubs, but I would not use it on vegetables
until it is well composted. I would not use wood chips close to a house
foundation due to the fact that the wood will also attract termites.


Well, I guess I had that wrong!!! Thanks for the info...........Mary

In article ,
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Personal, although maybe I should consider commercial. Oyster mushrooms
(which is what I'll be growing) cost $10/pound in Harris Teeter!

Are you going to be growing indoors or outdoors? I've been growing some
oyster mushrooms outdoors on cut logs, but have had lots of beetle
damage. Shouldn't be in issue in a controlled environment, though.

--
Steve

Personal, although maybe I should consider commercial. Oyster mushrooms
(which is what I'll be growing) cost $10/pound in Harris Teeter! That's
even more than shiitakes. Personally I prefer the flavor of oyster
mushrooms; I think they're relatively expensive because they don't keep
well so they're hard for a supermarket to handle.

bye

FWIW- there is a guy that sells home grown shitakes off his
front porch in Raleigh. On Penny Road almost to Lake Wheeler.

Craig

In article ,
Steve wrote:

In article ,
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Personal, although maybe I should consider commercial. Oyster mushrooms
(which is what I'll be growing) cost $10/pound in Harris Teeter!

Are you going to be growing indoors or outdoors? I've been growing some
oyster mushrooms outdoors on cut logs, but have had lots of beetle
damage. Shouldn't be in issue in a controlled environment, though.

I'm going to try outdoors on wood chips. I've been trying an
indoor/outdoor combination where I instigate pinning indoors and then
set them on my screened-in porch for fruiting. I don't want them to
fruit indoors because they release so many spores and because it's too
hard to keep the humidity up. However, my indoor/porch method has only
been marginally successful. It's easy to get either enough air exchange
or enough humidity, but difficult to get both unless we get a few rainy
days in a row.

Not only that, but I've had beetle problems too. When the oysters fruit
the beetles (some sort of Triplax I think) cluster on the porch screens
and inevitably find their way inside. I solved this problem by building
a frame around my block of fruiting oysters and screening that, so the
oysters live in a porch inside a porch. Lotta work!

Since this cultivation method has only been so-so for me, I figured I'd
try outdoor since it the materials are free. (Free wood chips + spawn I
have in the fridge.) My alternative is to build an oyster fruiting box
that's got some sort of built-in humidifier, air exchanger and spore
filter. This also sounds like a lot of work but I think it will be
fairly reliable once I get the kinks worked out.

Are you growing your oysters shiitake style? By that I mean logs left
whole, cut to 3' length and then inoculated with dowel spawn?
--
Philip Semanchuk
email: first name @ last name.com

In article ,
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
Not only that, but I've had beetle problems too. When the oysters fruit
the beetles (some sort of Triplax I think) cluster on the porch screens
and inevitably find their way inside.

Sounds like the same thing I have. It's some species of Triplax
("pleasing fungus beetle").

My alternative is to build an oyster fruiting box
that's got some sort of built-in humidifier, air exchanger and spore
filter. This also sounds like a lot of work but I think it will be
fairly reliable once I get the kinks worked out.

I know someone who has a similar setup. I think he's using sawdust for
the medium, but I'm not sure. I think he sterilizes the media before
innoculation, though, to prevent other fungi from growing.

Are you growing your oysters shiitake style? By that I mean logs left
whole, cut to 3' length and then inoculated with dowel spawn?

Yes, it's a variation on that. I'm also growing shiitakes in the
traditional shiitake style, and have tried a few other species. The
shiitakes do well. The oysters have good production but yield is low
because of the beetle damage and short window for harvesting. Nothing
else has turned out too well yet.

--
Steve

In article ,
Steve wrote:

In article ,
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
My alternative is to build an oyster fruiting box
that's got some sort of built-in humidifier, air exchanger and spore
filter. This also sounds like a lot of work but I think it will be
fairly reliable once I get the kinks worked out.

I know someone who has a similar setup. I think he's using sawdust for
the medium, but I'm not sure. I think he sterilizes the media before
innoculation, though, to prevent other fungi from growing.

Just FYI, Graham Family Farm at the Carrboro Farmer's Market will sell
for about $2.50 garbage bags of pure, clean maple shavings that strike
me as excellent oyster food. They make a lot of furniture and the maple
shavings are a byproduct that they usually use to feed their stove. They
sell bags of cedar shavings at the market (they make great cat litter)
but the maple ones you'd probably do well to ask for in advance. The
business card I have for them gives me Louis Graham at 542 4571 and Dan
at 542 5973. Nice people.


Are you growing your oysters shiitake style? By that I mean logs left
whole, cut to 3' length and then inoculated with dowel spawn?

Yes, it's a variation on that. I'm also growing shiitakes in the
traditional shiitake style, and have tried a few other species. The
shiitakes do well. The oysters have good production but yield is low
because of the beetle damage and short window for harvesting. Nothing
else has turned out too well yet.

I'm curious what else you've tried. I've only tried a couple of
Pleurotus sp. and shiitakes. The latter were in logs that I inoculated
in June 2005 and didn't really know how to fruit them until this spring
when I had great success with them. Only half of my logs fruited; I'm
waiting for some decent rain in the forecast so I can fruit the rest.

Cheers
--
Philip Semanchuk
email: first name @ last name.com

In article ,
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
I'm curious what else you've tried. I've only tried a couple of
Pleurotus sp. and shiitakes.

Over the last few years, I tried oysters, shiitakes, lion's mane,
chicken of the woods, and one or two others. I'll probably do another
big batch of shiitakes next spring and probably try another new variety
or two.

when I had great success with them. Only half of my logs fruited; I'm
waiting for some decent rain in the forecast so I can fruit the rest.

Looks like my shiitakes are strarting to fruit from the recent rain.

--
Steve

In article ,
Steve wrote:

In article ,
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
when I had great success with them. Only half of my logs fruited; I'm
waiting for some decent rain in the forecast so I can fruit the rest.

Looks like my shiitakes are strarting to fruit from the recent rain.

Lucky you! I collected a bunch of rainwater in last night's gullywasher
and my logs that have not yet fruited this spring are soaking in it.

Good luck with yours

--
Philip
http://NikitaTheSpider.com/
Whole-site HTML validation, link checking and more

In article ,
Steve wrote:

In article ,
Philip Semanchuk wrote:
when I had great success with them. Only half of my logs fruited; I'm
waiting for some decent rain in the forecast so I can fruit the rest.

Looks like my shiitakes are strarting to fruit from the recent rain.

Lucky you! I collected a bunch of rainwater in last night's gullywasher
and my logs that have not yet fruited this spring are soaking in it.

Good luck with yours
--
Philip Semanchuk
email: first name @ last name.com