Growing mushrooms

[Sniper-T]

Does anyone grow their own? I tried to get into it this summer , but having the hottest/driest summer in history isn't condusive to growing mushrooms. My indoor kits did well (Oysters), but both outdoor ones failed miserably. :(

I am setting up a watering system near them, to collect rainwater, and then seep it onto them through a soaker hose. Hopefully I'll have that in place for next year


Oysters:
http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/moose%20hunt%202010/PIC00013.jpg


Morels: in an ash bed:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/moose%20hunt%202010/Copy2ofPIC00001.jpg

Stitake in Oak logs:

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt140/Sniper-T/moose%20hunt%202010/PIC00003.jpg[/quote]


This is where I get my stuff: FUNGUYMUSHROOM.COM — Welcome (http://funguymushroomspores.myshopify.com/)

And a friend gets his from here: Fungi Perfecti: the finest mushroom products for home and garden, farm and forest, people and planet (http://www.fungi.com/)

[Sparrow]

Oh wow, that is cool! I am so not at the stage to figure out how to grow them, it is on the to-do list. Here is some information from a really cool center about harvesting wild chanterells which I believe grow all over Canada?:

http://www.fallsbrookcentre.ca/fbc/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Sustainable-harvesting_chanterelles.pdf

They grow their own mushrooms at this center ... I cannot find the doc right now about it, I will look for it in a bit. :)

[ravensgrove]

Chantrelles grow like crazy here too. I have the perfect climate for growing mushrooms in the PNW..its on my short list of "to trys".

[Sparrow]

What did you think Raven about 'sustainable' harvesting of them in the doc? I thought the spoors are in the organic material and the more you pick the more they grow?

[ravensgrove]

That is my understanding also, but again its a rough understanding I haven't grown any mushrooms. I am sort of lazy about growing them because chantrelles grow wild here and are all over my place.

[Sniper-T]

Some kinds in some locations yes, you can sustain harvest. But from my reading, planted beds seem to 'expire after time. The Shitake logs will essentially fall apart to nothing in 4-5 years, and you may be able to re-locate some substrate into new ones. If you continue to spread ash on the ground you can prolong the life of a morel bed, but otherwise they seem to use-up the nutrients and just stop growing.

My parents had papanke growing in their yard, and we harvested multiple 5 gallon pails each year. We have a place to go for Lobsters (mushrooms) that my dad picked at when he was a child (70 years ago).