Shiitake (pronounced She-taw-key) mushrooms have been favored in Japan and Korea. In Japan, where the shiitake costs twice as much as the common white mushroom, it outsells its less expensive cousin by margin of 60 to 1.
Its refrigerator shelf life two weeks and more robust taste make it very popular. The shiitake thrives on dead hardwoods, with some species providing a better environment than others. Oak is the most reliable and preferred hardwood since its lasts twice as long, but maple or ironwood is suitable as well. Shiitake mushrooms are another forest crop that can bring revenue to a woodlot owner, make use of an under utilized resource, and result in improving the woodlot through good forest management. It is an environmentally sound, no-polluting cash crop that requires little cash but a lot of hard work.
Most woodlots in southern Ontario require thinning to improve their health, vigour and productivity. This is done by removing the less desirable, defective, or crowded stems to provide more growing space and better conditions for the higher quality trees and those providing habitat for wildlife. Shiitake production requires the environment created on the forest floor of a well spaced, healthy stand with a fully leaved canopy. The material produced by the thinning operation can be cut into 4-foot logs and used in the mushroom operation.
High quality trees identified for retention at spacing of 20x20 ft can be used as an initial guide for thinning in young stands. This will allow room for the rows of logs stacked along fences placed 10 ft apart.
Residual trees make ideal fence posts but care should be taken to cushion trees from the wire that supports the shiitake logs. The scale of operations will determine the need for access roads. A good access road network will concentrate the heavy traffic in the woodlot and prevent soil rutting and compaction. Only foot access should be allowed between the rows when working with the logs or picking mushrooms. Individual logs can be expected to be productive for five years after which time the are relegated to the fuel woodpile. It is advisable to develop a plan for relocating log stacks to a new section of the woodlot when setting out new logs. This will allow the original site a recovery period or the ability to establish regeneration if the woodlot is at that stage of management.
With proper care and attention it is possible to manage your woodlot to remain healthy and vigorous providing you with the wide range of traditional forest products and wildlife habitats while providing a viable mushroom enterprise.
The Production Cycle
Log Preparation: Ideal logs are 3" to 9" x 4' long. High-density hardwoods such as oak, sugar maple, and ironwood are best. Oak is the preferred hardwood since it lasts twice as long as the other species. The bark on oak stays on the log much longer than maple or ironwood thus preventing the log from drying out and the mycelium from dying. This, in effect, will extend the fruiting life of the log and give more mushrooms. Logs should be somewhat straight, sound, and defect free, with a high percentage of sapwood. Shiitake mushrooms are an ideal crop to grow using the products of a stand improvement thinning but a terrible waste to grow on potential log quality material.
Drilling & Inoculating: Holes are drilled in rows the length of the log 6-8" apart. Rows are 2" apart and offset to created a diamond pattern. Each log requires 40-50 holes. Mushroom spawn is inoculated into the 3/8" x 1" deep holes in pre-measured amounts with a specially designed inoculating tool. A long hard day can yield 50 logs/day/person.
Spawn Run: Logs are laid out in the woodlot close to the ground in a shaded, humid environment for 6-24 months while the inoculated spawn colonize the log. The mycelium of the fungus spreads initially just under the bark and later grows into the sapwood as it begins its decomposition process.
Monitoring Moisture: Critical to health and growth, moisture content must be maintained between 35-55 percent. Below 23 percent the spawn is dead. Irrigation or soaking may be required in times of drought or extreme heat.
Fruiting: Logs are re-stacked into rows leaning 'A' frame style along fences laid out in the woodlot approximately 10' apart. This allows the logs to be lad down when required and still allows access between the rows. Beginning usually in the second season, fully colonized logs can be forced to fruit by soaking and shocking. Soaking with water stimulates the growth of the mushrooms and sharp jarring with a wooded mallet or dropping the log from a standing position causes fractures in the mushrooms, which push through the bark 3-4 days. They are ready to harvest in 7-10 days. The logs should be rested 6 weeks to 2 months or more between fruiting to a chance for the mycelium to recover. Generally you can expect 3 crops per year for 5 years.
Harvesting & Marketing: Mushrooms must be picked at the correct time (2 times daily) to produce optimum quality. They can be marketed fresh or processed into dry or powdered product. Market price and profitability of the enterprise will be a result of each grower's entrepreneurial skill.
Top of page
