FOR-79: Shiitake Production: Log Selection and Preparation

Deborah Hill | Mar. 12, 2013 (New)

Shiitake mushrooms grow well on many species of hardwood tree. The Shii tree, native to Japan where these mushrooms originate, is in the same family as our oak trees, so all kinds of oaks are useful for shiitake production.

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FOR-90: Shiitake Production: Production Options

Deborah Hill | Mar. 12, 2013 (New)

This series of publications emphasizes growing shiitake mushrooms on natural hardwood logs. The denser hardwoods (oaks, hickories, chestnut) seem to produce better over the long run, and other hardwoods (maples, sweetgum) may begin to produce more quickly but will exhaust more quickly also.

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FOR-84: Shiitake Production: Pest Control

Deborah Hill | Mar. 12, 2013 (New)

Shiitake mushrooms do not have many pests. Many problems with insects and competitive fungi can be avoided by timely cutting and inoculating of shiitake logs, and by good hygiene and maintenance practices.

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FOR-83: Shiitake Production: Incubation and Stacking

Deborah Hill | Mar. 12, 2013 (New)

Monitor your logs for shade, moisture, and pest and disease problems while they are incubating. If firewood- or teepee-stacked logs are losing too much moisture, you may need to rearrange the stacks. (The bottom logs will always retain more moisture). Lean-to stacked logs should be more even in their moisture content, but they too can be reversed if necessary.

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FOR-119: Uneven-aged Management in Mixed Species, Southern Hardwoods: Is it Feasible and Sustainable?

Jeff Stringer | Apr. 7, 2011 (New)

For uneven-age stands to develop, both young and old trees need to be developing in the same stand, where younger trees are naturally smaller in diameter than older trees. Thus, guidelines and graphs used by foresters to help establish uneven-age stands use diameter as a surrogate for age and assume that age and diameter are related.

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FOR-120: Site Preparation for Natural Regeneration of Hardwoods

Jeff Stringer | Apr. 7, 2011 (New)

One aspect of forest sustainability is regenerating the stand to desired species once the stand is harvested. Usually the species present in the overstory are more desirable than those in the understory and midstory. If management is not performed to adjust the regenerating species composition prior to the harvest, these understory and midstory species likely will be the composition of the future stand.

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FOR-81: Kentucky Shiitake Production Workbook: Inoculation

Deborah Hill | Mar. 23, 2011 (Minor Revision)

To begin the process of shiitake mushroom production, you must "sow the seed" just as you would with any other agronomic crop. For shiitake, the "seed" is called spawn and consists of the mushroom spores mixed with sawdust (for sawdust spawn) or wood (for dowel spawn) and a little grain to add a higher level of carbohydrate for the organism to feed on.

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FOR-85: Shiitake Production: Harvesting

Deborah Hill | Mar. 23, 2011 (Minor Revision)

If you started with live spawn from a reputable supplier and freshly cut logs from living hardwood trees, your logs should be ready to produce shiitake mushrooms after 6 to 18 months of incubation.

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FOR-80: Shiitake Production: Spawn Selection

Deborah Hill | Feb. 3, 2011 (Minor Revision)

Shiitake mushrooms are like any other plant crop--they must be started from "seed." For mushrooms, this process begins when the mushroom's spores (normally located in the cap on the underside between the gills) are mixed with nutrients and a cellulose source, usually hardwood sawdust.

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FOR-82: Shiitake Production: Monitoring Moisture Content of Logs

Deborah Hill | Feb. 3, 2011 (Minor Revision)

Shiitake spawn cannot survive in logs that have a moisture content of less than 23%. Ideal moisture conditions for shiitake growth are log moisture content of 35% or more. If logs are left in the open air and are not monitored for moisture content, and climatic conditions are dry, the moisture content of the logs can fall to 20% to 25%.