fungi farming

Hi all, a friend of mine has a medium sized birch (maybe 6-8 inches dbh) which was heavily topped a couple of years ago. It is a bit less than natural looking now, and my friend being a vegetarian hippy is thinking about fell and replant (her garden is very small hence the birch being topped in the first place).

I was thinking of several eco friendly options to suggest; leave a pole and either grow a climber up it or slice down the front, hollow bits out and re-attach the front with holes drilled in it (a kind of bird box tower block).

My other, and possibly preferred option is to leave the pole and innoculate with oyster mushroom plugs. I am after advice as to how likely this is to work, tips/tricks, or other ideas entirely...

thanks

I had one of those kits with the plugs, Mr Fothergills or similar, got a few good mushrooms from some birch logs without too much hassell

As its on a stump they may take a while to fruit as there is the whole root system for it to inhabit aswell. If the tree is still live, ring bark the tree at the base then wait 2 weeks for the polyphenols to die down then innoculate!!

I wouldnt wait, just drillit to bits with at least 200 plugs and watch em go!

Where might one get 200 plugs, and at what cost?!

try this one

Mushroom Box, Mushroom Kits, Mushroom Spawn, Fungi Growing and Gourmet Mushrooms

What's 'mushroom spawn'

Is it something you'd find on 'devils fingers'

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Where might one get 200 plugs, and at what cost?!

Be careful not to let any inoculated dowls dry out.

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They look just the ticket

Have you had luck growing from dowels David? My only previous growing experiences where from my youth and of a secretive nature, and involved corn in bags, not dowels

Only tried once with Hericium, and it didn't take.

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