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Medicinal Mushrooms: The Mycelium vs. Fruiting Body Dispute (click to read the blog post)

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  • Mar 08, 2019

Which Species of Log is Best?

  1. Home
  2. The Black Trumpet
  3. 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.

Species and Difficulty (1-10)                                  

Wood to Use (preferred in bold)

*may be buried after incubation

Wood to Avoid
Chestnut Mushroom - 3
Oak, Maple, Aspen, Basswood
Coniferous trees
Chicken - 10 (very difficult to cultivate)            Large diameter Oak log or stump All other wood species
Golden Oyster - 3
Sugar Maple, Ash, Poplar, Bigtooth Aspen, Trembling Aspen, Cottonwood, Elm, Willow, Hackberry, Mulberry, Box Elder, Buckeyes or Horse Chestnuts 
Coniferous trees
Hen of the Woods* - 6
Oak only
All other wood species
Italian Oyster - 3 
Sugar Maple, Bigtooth Aspen, Trembling Aspen, Poplar, Cottonwood, Elm, Willow, Poplar, Hackberry, Mulberry, Box Elder, Buckeyes or Horse Chestnuts
Coniferous trees, Ash
Lion's Mane - 4
Sugar Maple, Beech, Hackberry, Mulberry, Blue Beech, Hornbeam, 
Oak, Aspen, Walnut
Coniferous Woods
Nameko - 6
Cherry, Jack Pine, Aspen,
Cottonwood, Box Elder, Ironwood, Sweet Gum, Buckeye, Willow, 
Sugar Maple
May grow on other wood species. Avoid Oak and Apple
Oyster - 2  
Sugar Maple, Poplar, Bigtooth Aspen, Trembling Aspen, Cottonwood,  Elm, Willow, Poplar, Hackberry, Mulberry, Box Elder, Buckeyes or Horse Chestnuts
Coniferous trees, Ash

Reishi* - 8

(North Spore sells two distinct Reishi species. Ganoderma tsugae will ONLY grow on Hemlock)

(Ganoderma Lucidum) Sugar Maple, Oak, Red Maples, Sweet Gum

(Ganoderma Tsugae) Hemlock

 

All other wood species
Shiitake - 1 (great for beginners) Red and White Oak, Ironwood, Sugar Maple, Alder, American Beech, Sassafras, Hickory, Sweetgum, Eucalyptus, Basswood, Black Birch, Butternut, Cherry, Tupelo, Paper Birch Coniferous trees, Locust, Elm, Ash, Walnut, Buckthorn
Snow Oysters - 2   Sugar Maple, Poplar, Bigtooth Aspen, Trembling Aspen, Cottonwood, Elm, Willow, Poplar, Hackberry, Mulberry, Box Elder, Buckeyes or Horse Chestnuts  Coniferous trees, Ash
Wine Cap - 1 

  DOES NOT GROW ON LOGS 

Use hardwood wood chips or straw

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  • D B
    D B

    Dec 07, 2020

    Wow I’m glad i read this before my purchase :( heartbroken I can’t grow chicken without oak, but better find out now than be disappointed in 12 months!

  • johnathan c hafner
    johnathan c hafner

    Nov 05, 2020

    Is it ok to inoculate straw beds with oysters early summer

  • Roland
    Roland

    Nov 05, 2020

    Any recommendations what species can be grown on Hornbeam logs and Hornbeam wood-chips (Carpinus betulus)
    Thanks in advance
    Roland

  • Sigrid
    Sigrid

    Nov 04, 2020

    What about west coast species of trees? Hardly any of the species you recommend for logs to use grow out here…. Do you have west coast pnw recommendations. Western Washington more specifically.

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