Which Species of Log is Best?

You've decided to grow mushrooms this season but now you have to figure out how you're going to do it. Maybe you've already found a place in your garden or farm where you're going to place your logs but what about choosing which species of log to use?

Mushrooms are flexible organisms and are able to grow on a variety of tree species. Most edible mushrooms, and all but one of North Spore's strains, grow on deciduous hardwood trees. Do not use coniferous wood unless you're cultivating Ganoderma tsugae (Hemlock Reishi). Poplar and other soft hardwoods will colonize faster and produce mushrooms sooner but generally don’t yield as much or produce for as many years.

While mushrooms are able to grow on most deciduous tree species, some are more suited to mushroom cultivation than others. Each mushroom species has a preferred type of wood and matching the mushroom to the correct log species will produce a higher yield. Oak and maple are the preferred wood-type for most mushroom species because they're very dense and offer a lot of nutrition for a longer, sustained fruiting period. 

That being said, don't be afraid to try a wide range of tree species or use whatever wood you have access to. You'll likely get varying results in yield but you may be surprised by the resiliency of the fungi kingdom!

Now that you've decided on the species of wood to inoculate, be sure you have access to fresh wood. Logs should be inoculated within 4 weeks of cutting. If you wait longer, your mycelium will have to outcompete the other fungi that have already started colonizing the log. 

There are different strains of mushrooms, and the suggestions for types of logs to use are based on North Spore's particular strains.