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Gardening

In reply to the discussion: anyone here grow mushrooms? [View all]

Denninmi

(6,581 posts)
5. Are you growing these for your own use, or to try to sell.
Tue Mar 13, 2012, 04:28 PM
Mar 2012

Two really different beasts. If its just for fun, you won't be crushed if it doesn't work out. If you're trying to sell them, you might have a hard time getting many people to try anything "unusual", probably beyond a shitake or oyster.

I've tried most of the kinds that Fungi Perfecti sells for outdoor use in my region. I had the most success with the King Stropharia and Shitake. Both produced well and in quantities that more than justified the expense, time, and materials. I also had success growing Shaggy Manes, but I consider them kind of a kitchen failure BECAUSE they seem to literally absorb sand and grit into their tissue as they grow, and no amount of cleaning, washing, peeling, etc. has ever yielded an edible product that didn't have some "grit" when I ate it -- flavor was fine, but who likes to eat sand? I had margin success with a couple of kinds of oysters, lions mane, and sulfur shelf -- small quantities grew, but not really enough to make it worthwhile. I never did get a maitake to grow.

I had "success" with morels that I tried to propagate myself from a couple of wild mushrooms in the sense that they at least grew -- I blended a couple of wild morels in a blender with water, and spread this around in likely looking spots in my yard. In the next year or two, I found a tiny handful, like 2-5 mushrooms, growing in those spots. Worked with both white and black morels to the extent that some at least grew, but I couldn't ever break the "more than 5 mushrooms" barrier, nor did they seem to live for more than a couple of years.

Right now, the only kind I have left in my yard would be the King Stropharia, maybe, didn't see any last year even though it was wet, I'm hoping maybe this year, because they can be fickle. The logs I did oysters and shitakes on have rotten away. If I were to lose another tree of the right kind, I would try again with shitakes, I got quite a few pounds from those over the 2-3-4 years the logs were good for. I would also consider doing another King Stropharia patch if I don't see any come up in the old one this year.

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