FOR-80: Shiitake Production: Spawn Selection

Deborah Hill | February 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.

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

Deborah Hill | February 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%.

FOR-78: Introduction to Shiitake: The Forest Mushroom

Deborah Hill | February 3, 2011 (Minor Revision)

Shiitake mushrooms may prove to be a new commodity that will provide some economic return on small diameter wood from private woodlands that otherwise would be used only for firewood.

FOR-77: Shiitake Production on Logs: Step by Step in Pictures

Deborah Hill | June 17, 2010 (Minor Revision)

FOR-118: Have Maples Will Sugar

Deborah Hill | May 20, 2010 (New)

Woodland owners may find that they have many maple trees in their woodlots. If these trees are larger than 10 inches in diameter, and if there are 25 to 40 maple trees per acre, woodland owners might want to think about making maple syrup as a possibility for increased income from their woodlots.

FOR-96: Forest Water Quality Plan: Preparing an Agriculture Water Quality Plan for Your Woodlands

Jeff Stringer | May 18, 2010 (Reprinted)

All parties involved in woodland operations are responsible for water quality protection. One of the most effective methods of protecting water quality during forestry operations is to use BMPs. BMPs are guidelines and techniques that, when used properly, can help reduce impact to our waters. They do this by decreasing erosion and the creation of muddy water, keeping chemicals and fluids out of streams, and limiting changes in the woods next to streams.

FOR-107: Site Preparation and Competition Control Guidelines for Hardwood Tree Plantings

Jeff Stringer | August 13, 2009 (New)

This publication presents recommendations for key factors associated with hardwood planting success. The publication also provides competition control and site preparation alternatives for a number of common planting sites and conditions. For each site and condition, several alternatives provide a range of options, allowing users to select the alternative that best fits their objectives and timetables.

FOR-111: Agroforestry: Alley Cropping

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

Alley cropping is probably the most commonly used technique of agroforestry. It simply involves planting single or double lines of trees and/or shrubs intercropped with a wide "alley" of either row crops or pasture grasses. The width of the alley is determined by the size of the harvesting equipment needed for the crop grown in the alley.

FOR-114: Agroforestry: Windbreaks

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

Windbreaks were first used extensively in the United States in the 1930s, after the Dust Bowl days made it clear that certain agricultural practices tended to facilitate the loss of topsoil by wind erosion. They are also a practical agroforestry technique in any location where there are significant prevailing winds. Windbreaks are used to manage snow, improve irrigation efficiency, screen views and reduce noise, protect farm crops and farm buildings, protect free-ranging livestock, provide wildlife habitat, and provide non-timber forest products (e.g., berries, woody florals).

FOR-117: Medicinal Plants

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

People have harvested and processed forest plants for medicinal purposes since the beginning of recorded history. Ginseng is perhaps the one best known in Kentucky because it is easily the most commercially valuable. However, if you read health supplement labels in all the "big box" stores or other similar locations, you will find goldenseal, blue cohosh, black cohosh, bloodroot, wild ginger, slippery elm, witch-hazel, mayapple, and many other forest plant-derived substances. There are established markets for these plants, although not as obvious as corn, soybean, or cattle markets.