In this article, we’ll share everything you need to grow mushrooms on logs. Including what types of mushrooms you can grow, what type of logs to use, and a step-by-step guide.

Growing Mushrooms on Logs

There are lots of reasons to consider growing mushrooms on logs. It’s a cost-effective way to produce fresh and healthy mushrooms. You don’t need a lot of space. A few logs are enough to experiment with so that you can get started growing mushrooms on logs.

Most hardwood species are good for growing both shiitake and oyster mushrooms. This means that you can choose your logs based on what type of hardwood is available on your land or in your area locally.

Depending on the strain you want to grow it’s good to know which types of wood different strains prefer. Shiitake prefer oak and maple whereas oyster mushrooms grow well on birch, beech, elm, and poplars.

How Long Does it Take to Grow Mushrooms on Logs?

Most mushrooms will take a minimum of one year to grow on logs and it’s not unusual for it to take up to two years after inoculation for logs to produce their first harvest. This is a test of patience but once logs begin to fruit they should provide mushrooms for around 6 or 7 years so it’s worth the wait!

What Kind Of Logs To Use?

Logs are best if harvested during the autumn or winter months. This is because in these seasons trees go into a period of dormancy. During this time their sugar concentration increases and bark stays attached better than it would in spring or summer.

Larger diameter wood is difficult to carry as well as being bulky which makes moving logs a difficult task. Consider the size of logs required and strike a balance between larger logs for higher yields and ease of managing the logs over a period of many years once they begin to fruit.

Where to Store Logs Following Inoculation

Following inoculation, keep logs somewhere shady, humid, and warm. Maintaining good air circulation is important to prevent the occurrence of mould. You will need access to a water supply close to where you choose to store your logs after inoculation because you will need to rinse them to keep them moist throughout the incubation and fruiting stages. It is likely that you’ll need to do this 2 to 3 times per week depending on the climate and time of year.

Any location that is accessible and in a relatively shaded area is fine for storing mushroom logs following inoculation. This could include against a wall or building to create some shade, under shade netting, or under the canopy of trees so that direct sunlight is reduced.

When Should You Inoculate Logs?

The best time of year to inoculate logs is in Spring after the last frosts have passed. Most wild mushrooms fruit during the autumn months so it’s best to inoculate your logs early to mid springtime so that your mushrooms have a chance to colonise the logs before indigenous strains take hold and compete with the mycelium you have inoculated your logs with.

How Many Spawn Plugs Will I Need?

A 4-foot log typically requires about 35 to 50 plugs for full coverage. Drill holes approximately every 6 inches along the length of the log. Holes should be a few millimetres deeper than the length of the spawn plugs that you have selected. This allows room for the plugs to be sealed into the log.

When your first row of holes is complete, position the next row of holes staggered diagonally to the first row. Start the next row of holes about 2.5 inches (6 cm) away from your first row of holes, and stagger the row to create a triangle pattern.

Next, insert the plugs into the logs. Plug spawn dowels should be easy to get started in the hole. Gently tap them with a hammer to get them fully inserted.

Plugs should be below the surface of the bark and flush with the actual wood of the log. That way you’ll be able to seal the hole up with wax.

Sealing The Plugged Holes

It’s important to seal the plugged holes to protect the mycelium and allow it to colonise the log. Non-toxic wax such as cheese wax, candle wax, or beeswax is effective to seal the plugs into the log. Heat the wax following the manufacturer’s instructions and apply wax to the holes using a wax dauber, with a light coating to completely seal each plug.

Harvesting Mushrooms Grown on Logs

Most mushrooms grown on logs will fruit once or twice per year. The best time to harvest mushrooms is whilst they are still quite young, within the first couple of weeks. Beyond this time, and particularly after around 3 weeks, mushrooms will become brittle and inedible. The caps begin to deteriorate and become prone to being infested by parasites and pests.

Shiitake mushrooms should be harvested when their caps are only just starting to open and are around 5 cm in diameter. This usually only takes 2 to 7 days after they begin growing. Check regularly once fruiting begins as they can grow very quickly.

Oyster mushrooms should be harvested while there is still a bit of a downward curl in their shape before the rim of the cap becomes completely straight and stretched out.

If you’re interested in growing mushrooms outdoors in a mushroom bed, you can find our guide here.

Keep in touch by joining the Wild Wood Community here.

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If you want to try your hand at growing some fresh mushrooms but don’t like the idea of doing it indoors, choosing to grow mushrooms outdoors is a good alternative. This article explains how to build your own mushroom bed outdoors. Growing mushrooms on logs is also a great way to add some fungi-filled fun into your garden. If you want more information about how to grow mushrooms on logs, you can read our guide here.

How To Create An Outdoor Mushroom Bed

The King Stropharia mushroom is a great choice for growing mushrooms outdoors. We’ll discuss how they’re grown, and what kind of conditions are best with this type of mushroom. It’s a lovely mushroom that grows really well on wood chip beds, so it’s excellent for beginners.

Decide Where To Set Up Your Bed

Your mushrooms need a designated place to grow. A raised garden bed is ideal but you can improvise and find a shaded patch in your garden or allotment and set this up as your new mushroom bed. Once you’ve decided where to set up your bed the first step is to line it with cardboard. This helps the bed retain moisture and prevents weeds from invading your bed.

Layer Your Bed With Wood Chips and Mushroom Spawn

To start building your mushroom bed, you’ll need to create the first layer of wood chips on top of the cardboard. You can use any type or size of shreds for this; just make sure they are all-natural and untreated woods. On top of your first layer of wood chips, start creating alternating layers of mushroom spawn and wood chips. Put down about half of your mushroom spawn on top of your first layer of wood chips. Add more layers of wood chip and spawn until you have 3 or 4 layers sandwiched on top of each other. The spawn will use the wood chips as food to help it to grow and colonise the wood chip bed.

Cover The Mushroom Bed In Straw

Now that your wood chip and spawn layers are complete, it’s time to cover the whole bed in straw. The straw acts as a mulch so that your bed retains moisture and prevents the bed underneath from drying out. This helps to hold rainwater and draw more moisture into the bed and this can also reduce the amount of watering you need to do manually to keep your bed moist. The straw acts as an insulation barrier during the colder months too.

Maintaining The Mushroom Bed In The First Weeks

Make sure your mushroom bed has enough water by giving it ample soaking with fresh water. It’s also important not to let the straw become too dry as this is often one of the reasons that a new mushroom bed doesn’t thrive because it lost too much moisture. The bed needs to have enough moisture so the mycelium underneath the wood chips can grow, feed, and eventually produce mushrooms.

Maintaining Your Mushroom Bed

Now your mushroom bed is complete. From here on in, soak the bed with water at least once a week. Obviously, if it’s raining, as it often is here in the UK, you won’t need to do this as frequently. Just keep an eye on your bed and water as often as you feel is needed. After a couple of months, you can dig into the bed to see how things are looking under the mulch layer. At this stage, you could already expect to see significant signs of life. You should be able to see white filaments of life growing through the entire bed. That’s the mycelium of the spawn eating its way through the wood chips and straw layers of the bed. You should expect to see mushrooms starting to fruit after around 6 months.

Harvesting Your Mushrooms

Time to harvest the fruits of your labour! It’s key to harvest your mushrooms before the caps become too large and over-mature. This is when caps start to disintegrate quite rapidly and become much more prone to infestation from parasites and pests. If you get them at just the right time, these mushrooms are absolutely delicious! You can cook them up and enjoy them the same way you would many other types of cultivated mushrooms. Please do be sure to correctly identify that the mushrooms you’re harvesting are the right variety that you intended to grow. As you have less control over the growing conditions when growing outdoors it gives an opportunity for unexpected or rogue varieties to pop up in a mushroom bed. It’s unlikely to be anything harmful but it’s always better to be safe than sorry! If you’re growing King Stropharia mushrooms, they should have distinct red caps that are difficult to confuse with most other types of mushrooms that are commonly found in a wood chip mushroom bed so this helps to feel confident about what you are harvesting.

Annual Feeding

To keep a mushroom bed like this in good health requires little maintenance. You just need to feed it with a fresh new layer of wood chips every year to replenish the bed for the mycelium to thrive. Pour enough wood chips on to cover the entire bed, and then rake the bed so that the fresh wood chips are mixed in with the established mycelium. If you follow these steps you should continue to get mushrooms for years to come. Will you grow mushrooms outdoors? We’d love to hear your stories 🙂

Keep in touch by joining the Wild Wood Community here.

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