A number of companies offer mushroom growing kits for the home hobbyist. Shiitake kits are a popular choice, because they are relatively easy to set up and maintain, and the mushrooms themselves are impressive and good tasting.
Most shiitake mushroom kits are provided as inoculated sawdust/wood chip blocks. Log kits are less common. Lost Creek Mushroom Farm seems to be the only log kit supplier in the U.S.A.
Setting Up the Lost Creek Shiitake Log
The kit arrived UPS Ground direct from the supplier. Although the company offers several versions, this was the basic single log kit ($19.95 plus $9 S&H from Lost Creek Mushroom Farm, Perkins, OK). The kit comes with an instruction sheet and, well... a log. The company offers oak (but not to California), cherry and sweet gum. This one was a sweet gum. The log was 5 in. (12.7 cm) in diameter and 9 in. (22.9 cm) tall, and contained about two dozen inoculation plugs.
Colorado can be a challenging place to grow mushrooms because of the low humidity. It is difficult to achieve a proper balance of fresh air circulation and high humidity needed to produce mushrooms. If the humidity is too low, the mushrooms will abort before fully developing. If there is not enough fresh air, mushroom formation is inhibited and mushrooms that do appear can be malformed or have thick stems. Some experimentation and experience is required to get things to work.
The kit was set up as follows:
- Upon receipt the log was soaked in cold unchlorinated water for 24 hours.
- The log was then placed on end in a plastic bin in indirect light, with a small amount of water in the bottom of the bin to provide rising humid air.
- The log was periodically misted for 17 days, during which time, the log was put outside in tall wet grass during and after rain showers — sometimes overnight.
- After 17 days the first flush was harvested.
- The temperature throughout the growing period was 10-27°C (50-80°F).
- A rest period was allowed with the log soaked for 12 hours every two weeks over an 8-week period.
- After 8 weeks, the log was once again soaked for 24 hours in cold water.
- Despite several more 24 hour soakings, and time spent outdoors in rainy weather, no more mushrooms appeared.
Results From the Lost Creek Shiitake Log Kit
Unlike a typical block kit, which is usually only good for three flushes at the most, a log can produce mushrooms for up to year or more if properly maintained. The first flush produced 87 g (about 3.1 oz) of beautiful fresh mushrooms. These mushrooms were of excellent quality. The fruit bodies were very good in appearance, texture and flavor.
The first flush was impressive, but the lack of any further production was disappointing. The reasons for this are not known. The atmosphere was dry during the rest period, but the log was kept in a cool indoor place with periodic misting so it is unlikely it dried out and killed the mycelium.
Well water was used for the first fruiting, but store-bought filtered water was used during and after the rest period, so it is possible this had some negative effect. The log also experienced some natural rainfall with night-day temperature variations to no avail. Not even primordia were produced after the rest period and attempted initiations.
If more mushrooms are produced, this review will be updated.
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