Every mushroom lover knows how hard it is to find really good mushrooms. By find I mean actually go into the forest and pick your own. By doing this you find the freshest specimens and also the species you prefer. I've been hunting mushrooms for decades and I love every minute of it but I've recently came across a method of securing gourmet wild mushrooms any time I want. www.gmushrooms.com
Growing them! That's right I've been given the secret to growing your own mushrooms. The operation may take months and up to several years but the pay-off will be beautiful fresh gourmet mushrooms ready for the harvest at will.
Mushrooms grow by spreading mycelium underground. This is like a giant underground network of tiny spider web like strands searching out nutrients under the soil until they find a source and consume it ending in the mycelium fruiting into a mushroom at the end of its journey. The secret to unlocking the mystery is to acquire mushroom spawn. Spores are the seed that spread mycelium throughout the underground. I've found a source that can supply me with the needed spores. They come in the form of wooden dowels that are placed inside a host piece of wood allowing the mycelium to mature and produce mushrooms from the wood. www.fungiperfecti.com
To do this you need to secure viable wood. Freshly cut oak is a great wood to plug with dowels impregnated with live mushroom mycelium spawn. Then you simply drill holes in the wood placing the spawn in the hole and sealing it with cheese wax. This allows the mycelium to develop in the log. When it completely invades the entire log which can take from 6 months to a year the inoculated wood must be shocked into production. This is done by submerging the log in cold water for 24 hrs. then setting them out in a protected area in the shade and letting nature take over. After a week or so the logs will start budding little small mushrooms that will mature and can be eaten. The method described here is for Shiitake mushrooms. These are considered the easiest to grow with Hen of the woods being one of the most difficult to grow. www.fungi.com
I've recently felled a few oak trees in my woods and I've inoculated the logs with Shiitake and the stumps with Hen of the woods. I hope to have a successful flush of wild edible mushrooms in the years to come.
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