Should I stop watering my mushroom bed before frost? Yes, it’s a good idea to stop watering your mushroom bed when you stop watering your plants. When temperatures dip below freezing, the mycelium will do dormant. So, they won’t need that extra water input until it warms up, and they are active again.
What kinds of mulch will work for my mushrooms? Mushrooms can grow on a wide array of materials and mulches. Different types of mushrooms sometimes have specific preferences, while others are generalists. Here’s a breakdown:
Straw, other agricultural waste, hardwood leaves: Oyster varieties and wine caps
Hardwood chips: Wine caps, nameko
Composted manure mixed with straw: Almond agaricus
What about conifers / softwoods?
If you’re making beds, wine caps can tolerate some softwood chips and needles. Nameko can be grown on the wood from 2-needled pines. If you've grown mushrooms on pine straw or pine needle mulch, we'd love to hear about it!
For inoculating logs, Ganoderma tsugae grows only on hemlocks. And Italian Oyster can grow on pine.
Which types of mushroom beds are perennial in New England?
Wine cap mushrooms grown in the bed style are cold-hardy and resilient. As long as they have adequate moisture and growing material, wine caps should come back year after year. Blue oysters and snow oysters may also return the next year, with the right conditions. In the spring, after your first season growing in beds, gently dig into the bed to check on the mycelium. If you see it still thriving, you can add more chips or straw to give it more food to keep on growing.
What time of year can I grow mushrooms?
Wow, is this a big topic! Depending on your climate, the method of growing, and mushroom species, there’s a lot of different options. Mushrooms can easily be grown indoors at any time of year! Grab a Spray and Grow Kit to use on your kitchen counter, or start a monotub.
You can grow oyster mushrooms in containers like buckets nearly any time of year, too. Bring them outside as it warms up in the spring or take them inside when winter chill hits.
Other outdoor grows require a bit more mindfulness to climate and season.
Logs can be inoculated nearly any time of year except in the spring between budding and full leaf out - since all of the tree's energy is being expended in the formation of flowers and foliage, not much food for the fungi! That being said, higher yields and longevity can be achieved by timing inoculation around tree dormancy. Shoot for inoculation after 30% of a tree’s leaves have turned color through winter before bud break, to maximize nutrients in the wood.
For growing zones 7 and lower: Insulate your logs from freezing temperatures if you inoculate in the fall. More information on that here
For growing zones 8 and higher: you can keep on growing
Why grow on straw instead of hay?
The difference between straw and hay is that hay is a grass grown for feeding animals, and thus is usually greener, contains more nitrogen, and has seedheads, all of which provides more nutrition for livestock. None of these is ideal for growing mushrooms. Straw should only be the stalk of a harvested grain, like wheat, and its lower nitrogen content is more suitable for mushrooms. Hay can also be a source of weeds if you’re mulching in a garden.
Is my spawn moldy?
Mushroom spawn will naturally develop a white (or yellow for Chicken of the Woods), mold-like layer called mycelium. This branching network of threads is the primary body of fungi, the vegetative structure. A good analogy is if a mushroom is like an apple, then mycelium is like an apple tree. Seeing mycelium grow through your bag is normal and indicates healthy mushroom spawn. If your spawn looks green or black, the culture may be contaminated and should be discarded. You can reach out to us for confirmation.
Often, mycelium is broken up in shipping, so it can appear less myceliated. Let it sit for a few days, and it should bounce back.
What are the little dots?
Millet! We grow out our mushroom cultures on a mix of nutrient-rich grains to help them transfer onto wood. They are totally normal and can be ignored in your inoculation process.