Mushrooms are the fruit part of underground fungi and may be the strangest items we see on dinner plates, because they are neither plants nor animals. The largest organism on earth is a fungus nearly 4 miles long, and the underground line of mycelium may act as a kind of internet between plants.

For thousands of years, shiitake mushrooms and other delicious mushrooms have been foraging in the woods, and until recently, they have become the second most cultivated mushrooms. It is now possible to buy a set of tools for growing mushrooms at home-this is a good starting point-but if you have a shady place and a few logs in your home, you can harvest your own delicious shiitake mushrooms.

Growing mushrooms is very different from growing vegetables. Commercial shiitake mushrooms can be "grown" indoors in plastic tubes filled with straw or sawdust, but this requires ventilation, temperature and humidity control. Creating a growth room is not a trivial matter. Small growers tend to use the outdoor method, inoculating logs with "plugs" or a mixture of sawdust inoculants.

Your outdoor location should be almost completely shaded, windproof and fairly humid. You will need a working space to drill holes in the logs with an electric drill, a space for inoculating the logs, and a place for them to rest and bloom. You need to use water (such as a hose or sprinkler) for maintenance, and a bathtub to soak the logs when needed. And, of course, there must be some way to transport logs and equipment to your site, and a way to take your harvest home.

Whether you are buying pre-cut wood, making friends with a local arborist, or cutting fresh logs yourself, similar standards apply; the wood should be recently cut, cleaned, with good bark, and come from hardwood trees such as oak and maple Wood, beech, hickory or black walnut. Do not use evergreen trees, cork or fruit trees. Try to cut wood about 3-6 inches wide and 3-4 feet long, preferably in late winter or early spring. Store them on the ground to avoid rot and pests, and keep them from drying out in a cool place. The logs must be fresh enough to contain the nutrients and moisture needed for the reproduction of mushrooms.

The loose shiitake mushroom inoculant consists of sawdust and a sticky thread of fungus called "hypha". More commonly, shiitake mushrooms start with "plugs" or "nails", and these woods have been completely colonized. Loose inoculant mixtures are cheaper and can plant wood more quickly, but plugs are easier to handle. If they arrive before your logs are ready, you can store the plugs in the refrigerator.

This process should start in early spring, allowing shiitake mushrooms to spread throughout the wood before dormant in cold weather. 

Use a drill of the same size as the plug and make a hole every three inches and one inch deep. Drill out 2 inches in the next row to offset the holes to form a diamond pattern. The number of rows on the log is equal to its diameter, so a 5-inch log should have 5 rows. For the sawdust inoculant, use a 7/16 inch drill bit to drill a 1.25 inch deep hole.

Fill each hole with a stopper and hit it with a mallet until it is slightly deeper than flush with the surface. If using sawdust, it is best to use a vaccination tool.

Use a spreader (such as a wooden tongue depressor or sponge paintbrush) to cover each hole with melted, edible wax (such as paraffin, beeswax, or cheese wax) to seal and protect the inoculant. The wax should seal well but not stick out. Check carefully to make sure that no pinholes or cracks are formed after drying, as these will allow pests or competing spores to enter.

Logs should be kept in a cool place and stacked in a cabin style or leaned on a support to form an A-frame. Check often to make sure that the logs have not dried out, and if so, rinse them with a hose. In winter, the inoculated logs can be covered with breathable burlap or straw to insulate them, until warmth and humidity suggest the fungus as fruit.

According to Dr. Perry, the spawning and colonization of logs takes 8 to 18 months. Shiitake mushrooms should bear fruit in time, because the weather is warm in spring, but you can "shock" them, soak them in cold water for 12-24 hours, and then tilt them into an A-frame shape to speed up or lean against a building until Small white bumps appeared after a few days. Shiitake mushrooms can be harvested about 7-10 days after the shock. At the same time, protect them from wind, frost and slugs.

According to Danny Lee Rinker of the University of Guelph, fungal gnats are particularly problematic for indoor mushrooms because their larvae eat mushrooms from the inside and cause great damage to the mycelium, especially after laying eggs. sky. Sticky traps will help monitor and catch adult mosquitoes. Outdoors, slugs may be annoying, but they can be "trapped" in wet newspaper and removed. Diatomaceous earth can deter ants, and hairy rodents such as squirrels, chipmunks or deer can be deterred by lightweight fabrics such as Agribon.

Shiitake mushrooms should be harvested when the cap part is curled down, because their texture is better than those that have flattened or curled edges. Use scissors or a sharp knife to cut above the log or substrate surface to prevent debris from leaving the stem and gills. Once harvested, Fungi Ally recommends that the mushrooms be cooled immediately and kept at 36 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mushrooms can be dried in a dehydrator-or in an oven at the lowest temperature-until they are dry but still tough and elastic. To cook with dried shiitake mushrooms, just soak them in warm water for 20 minutes before use.

Babikova, Zdenka, etc. "Underground signals transmitted through the common hyphae network warn neighboring plants of aphids attack." Ecological Express, Vol. 16, no. 7, 2013, pp. 835-843., doi:10.1111/ele.12115

Perry, Leonard. "Growing Shiitake Mushrooms." University of Vermont Extension-Department of Plant and Soil Science.

Link, Danny Lee. "Insects, mites and nematode pests of commercial mushroom production." Edible and medicinal mushrooms, 2017, pages 221-237, doi:10.1002/9781119149446.ch11

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