MUSHROOMS
Grow Mushrooms Using Dowel Spawn
Grow delicious mushrooms in your yard! Just follow the directions included with each package
of dowel spawn. For those of you with patience and access to fresh cut logs or firewood
from hardwood trees such as alder, oak, birch or cottonwood, you can grow lots of mushrooms at home. Using our
"dowel plug spawn" you can inoculate logs with shiitake or oyster mushroom culture. The logs are then
stacked in a cool moist and shady location where you can water them so they won't dry out. Mushrooms should begin
to appear in from 6 months to 2 years. Mushrooms will continue to appear on the logs for several years. Shiitakes
take longer to appear than the Oysters. Softer woods like alder or cottonwood will produce fewer mushrooms than
denser woods like oak, but may start producing sooner. Oak may produce more and for a longer period of time. Logs
or firewood with the bark on is necessary for shiitakes, but stumps or logs are acceptable for oyster mushrooms.
It is important that the logs are fresh cut, not dried out and are free of rot. It is best to cut the logs in winter
or early spring before the buds break and leaves appear. A 4-6" diameter and 4 foot length is convenient,
but not essential. Using a drill bit 11/32" in diameter, drill holes about 7/8" deep. Space holes 5 or
6" apart. A 4' log will need about 30 holes. More will result in faster colonization and perhaps quicker production.
Hammer a plug in each hole and seal with paraffin or a grafting compound like Doc Farwell’s tree grafting seal
(see supply section). Further directions are provided with each order of dowel spawn.
NOTE OF INTEREST
Our spawn is safe and correctly identified when we sell it. However, when you expose edible
mushroom spawn to the environment, other wild fungi already in the environment may grow too. Some of these "volunteer"
mushrooms could be poisonous. Before you eat any mushroom that appears to come from your logs, match it carefully
to the description in the package. Be Safe. If in doubt, don’t eat it. Many communities have mushroom clubs (Mycological
societies) that will gladly help you identify your mushrooms and there are many excellent field guides. You can
locate both through your local library or Agricultural Extension Service.
Click your browser's back
button
to return to the page you
came from.
| Raintree Home | Plant Catalog Index |
info@raintreenursery.com - 360.496.6400 |
