Mycelium production technology
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Mycelium plugs are easy to use and give a very good result for any hobby grower! But how does it work?
1. Take a freshly chopped piece of wood of at least 10 cm diameter length from a deciduous tree. It needs to be freshly chopped wood of a healthy tree, as you want the log to be completely non-infected by funguses at the time of inserting the plugs.
2. Drill holes in the log, about 15 cm apart, of the same diameter of the plugs (8 mm).
3. Insert a plug in each hole.
4. Put the logs in a large plastic bag which is not hermetically closed and put it in a nice, warm and dark place at about 20°C until the mycelium has completely invaded your logs. The mushrooms will also grow if you put your log outside, but the process will be slower and in winter, growth may stop entirily. The incubation time depends on growing conditions, mushroom strain, type of wood and log thickness. Incubation for Pleurotus sp. (Oyster Mushroom), a fast grower, is between 3 and 6 months. For Lentinula edodes (Shii-take Mushroom) it is between 6 and 12 months.
5. Put the logs outside, in a damp and shady place. A shadowy corner, or in the long grass will do just fine, but make sure the snails don't get to your harvest first! Your mushrooms will start coming up as soon as the climatic conditions outdoors are right. The image on the right depicts a flush of Oyster Mushrooms, which do very well on logs, but we also produce plugs for Shii-take Mushrooms. See more details here.
