mushroom raised beds

[steve bossie]

i know that mycology isn't exactly gardening but I'm still growing something so i thought i would share. 2 yrs. ago i ordered some king stropharia sawdust mushroom spawn. i mixed it into a 6in. deep 4 by 4 bed of hardwood sawdust i made under my norway spruces. covered it in straw and kept it watered. the next spring the bed was all white with mycelium. instead of letting it fruit , i built 3 more beds , dug up the 1st bed and divided it up into the other beds. last summer i got probably 30lbs. of king stropharia or wine cap mushrooms from those patches. i also bought 2 bags of oyster mycelium on hardwood dowels. i mixed them w/ sawdust and made piles under my spruces. covered them w/ straw and watered them. by august i got about 10lbs . of shrooms from them. I'm going to renew them this spring by adding more fresh sawdust. maybe try a few more species. between this and the 4 more raised beds for vegtables I'm building , its going to be a busy summer! maybe ill post some pics if i can figure out how. little tech. challenged! lol!

 

[Durgan]

Would love to see many pictures Sounds very interesting.

 

[steve bossie]

ill take some once the snow melts .just got 18in. of the white stuff and its still coming down!

 

[Nancy]

Oh yes, pictures please, when you can! We have a large garden and orchard. We add something new each year. Last year I grew water chestnuts. It was a fun project, but they are too hard to peel!! This year we are adding a mushroom bed. We are now trying to decide exactly where to do it.

 

[steve bossie]

Oh yes, pictures please, when you can! We have a large garden and orchard. We add something new each year. Last year I grew water chestnuts. It was a fun project, but they are too hard to peel!! This year we are adding a mushroom bed. We are now trying to decide exactly where to do it.

best place is the north side of a building , wall or line of trees in the shade protected from the wind somewhat. its best to dig down into the soil 4-5in. and and mix in one 5lb. sawdust spawn block to a 4 by4' bed of wet fresh hardwood chips, sawdust or shredded straw. then add 2-3in. of straw to keep in moisture. that should fruit in 6 mo. w/ king stropharia. sooner if you use elm oyster or other oyster spawn as its more aggressive. elm oysters are my fav. and very easy to grow . i also like to mix in a little bit of worm castings or powdered milk to give a little nitrogen. a cup mixed in will give you better flushes. good luck!

 

[Nancy]

Great advice, thank you! The spot we are considering is on the north side of our house. We first have to fix a leaky gutter and level the ground out as it runs downhill right now. I love the powdered milk idea - how clever you are. Luckily we have plenty of woodchips available. We live on the forest and have several tree crews that dump them here.

 

[steve bossie]

everything i learned i researched on here so i can't take the credit. i too have a firewood business down the road that i get sawdust for free. just make sure theres no conifer sawdust or walnut mixed in. these shrooms don't like those. also the fresher the chips the better. if it sits around too long other fungus will colonize it. especially in your area thats warmer. then your mycelium will have a hard time establishing itself. let me know how it goes. happy shrooming!