Pavel314 wrote:
On Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 9:41:03 AM UTC-4, songbird wrote:
Pavel314 wrote:
...
I planted a morel bed a few weeks ago, using a kit I got from Amazon. I tried planting one several years ago but nothing ever came up. Hopefully, this one will grow.

that is why i used the scatter approach and put the
rinse water in a half dozen locations. never know what
really takes, and because of the variety of places we
get stuff from it could be coming in from those too and
not the rinse water.


I also inoculated some oak logs with mushroom spawn plugs. Those are on a shelf in the basement and I water them every morning.

did you start with green wood? that is the
recommendation i most often come across when it
comes down to growing mushrooms in wood from
known spawn.

Yes, we cut down six or seven trees every winter for firewood, so I save a few logs for the mushroom garden. I read that you should let them settle out for 30 days after cutting before putting in the plugs so that the natural fungicides in the wood are depleted.

sound good.

about the only thing different that strikes me in what you
write is that you say you keep them in the basement, while
most people have them outdoors (some mention putting them
halfway in the dirt so the fungi can draw moisture and
nutrients from the soil). i hope that won't make much of a
difference for the fungi you are trying to grow.

as for how long the colony lasts some references have said
depending upon type of wood, size of log and mushroom three to
ten years.


The problem with mushroom gardening is that they grow underground or inside wood, so you don't know if there's really anything growing there or not. Potatoes grow underground, but at least they send up leaves to let you know they're still alive.

patience... it may take several years for the spores
to decide they have the right conditions for fruiting...

as of my recent readings it sounds like a mix of sand,
and some fireplace ashes topped by partially decayed
wood chips is good.


songbird

I mixed sand into the soil in the morel bed and put in some wood chips from a big pile out back.

we found another morel out back so that makes it three places.
the last place was on the berm which is a sand heap covered by
black plastic or landscaping fabric (i wasn't here when it was
done so i dunno) which gets cedar tree and white pine needles
down in between large rocks.

we ate all of them yesterday. yum!


songbird