Shiitake help needed

[crazy1]

I have been attempting to get my Shiitake blocks to fruit and not had much luck.
These were birthed yesterday. And the RH varies between 50% and 90%. The temp varies from mid 70's in the day to mid 60's at night.
The first one (the white one) was inoculated on the 5th of last month. The brown ones were inoculated about 2 months ago.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[PsychoDrogue]

the mushroom cultivator lists a 24-72 hour cold water dunk as pin initiation strategy. says you should see something 14 days after the dunk. have you tried that?

rh 95%
air temp 59-68.

[crazy1]

That dunk is for the second flush if I'm not mistaken.
These were just birthed out of grow bags and I might try dunking one of them. But they are pretty heavy right now.

[PsychoDrogue]

yeah. for cubes i've never really dunked up front. only for the second flush and beyond. but since i had the book right here when i saw your question i opened it up to the pin initation for that species and thats what it listed. also, the dunk isn't only for the water absorption, its the cold shock they need.

i've never actually grown shiitake so personal experience is nil for me. just passing the info from the text. but according to the book during pin initiation, your temps might be getting a bit high, and your humidity might be falling a little low.

hopefully someone with more experience growing these will have some advice.

[crazy1]

I really appreciate it Bro, I have that book as well and GGMM and they are like the bibles of mushroom cultivation.

[mark]

Did you make your sawdust blocks or buy them...was considering a shitake grow myself, and was wondering about the details?

[siam_jim]

i usually won't birth my log till 1/3 of the log has turn brown and show primordia(sp) the humidity can not flucuate from 50-90... try to keep it 80-90 also they need a lot of FAE and amble light. temp 60ish is ideal.. mist often too.

siam

[crazy1]

I made them myself. I've got a good recipe for the base mix let me find it for ya.

[crazy1]

thanks siam. I was trying to follow the way Stamets did it at his farm. I will get the humidity up and keep it higher from now on.

[crazy1]

I don't have the recipie right here. But I made 8 blocks out of:
12lbs sawdust
3lbs wood chips
1lb millet
1lb barley flour

This was inoculated with rye grain spawn at about 15% weight of the bulk sub.

[rip]

Originally Posted by crazy1

I have been attempting to get my Shiitake blocks to fruit and not had much luck.

Patience. I think your blocks just are not yet ready for fruiting. I had exactly the opposite problem with my first shiitake grow: bags of sterilized wood chip, wheat bran, and gypsum inoculated with a spawn plug. Shiitake is ready for fruiting when the blocks turn cocoa brown but waiting several weeks more should increase the crop and not be harmful. Apparently the pinning requirements depend of the strain: most strains used by professionals are initiated with a cold dunk but the plug kits sold to hobbyists may have a strain which will fruit if given enough time.

I did not have room to fruit mine when they turned brown so I just let them be a couple of months in room temperature... too long. Invitro shiitake were ugly but delicious anyway and the blocks produced a normal flush later.

[crazy1]

Thanx rip. all the advice here is greatly appreciated. I've got some blocks that are still bagged and 4 months old. No action in them either. Thinling it might be a temp problem.

[golly]

They can take their sweet time to begin showing those pre-shroom blisters.
Think Stamets mentioned dunking his blocks in a pond for a day when birthed..A cool period may be helpfull..

[crazy1]

Agreed Golly. I think I'll make one of the refrigerators a bit warmer and give them a cool "shock". The only thing mentioned about a dunk is after a flush and 10 days rest to initiate another flush.

[bluecat]

shitake blocks should not be birthed until you get some pins. even when multiple blocks are spawned at the same time with the same spawn, some of them will take longer than others. don't go by how brown they are. the more light they get, the more brown they will be. if kept in the dark, they will still be all white when pins form. after the first flush, let them dry for about 5 days, then soak 24 hours, and they will flush in just a few days. cold shock should not be needed. in very hot weather, they slow down. cold shock may help then. some ice in the bucket you soak in is good, but only in very hot temps. good luck, be patient.

[Quine]

Hey crazy, I just started getting some pre-pin looking stuff in my shitake bag that I brought home from the Staments' (inc 3/11/07) about 10 days ago. THe bag looked very dark brown, cocoa, and had been that way for several weeks. I decided to open the bag a bit, let in some air, and within days had real pins, I gave it a heavy rain like spray with a mister, left it in the bag and just ate 3 huge ones with my steak this weekend. Now, I am just keeping the bag in my computer room, and that is ambient air temp, so has been hot at times.

I do think the freah air followed by the "rain" did it. Mine is still in the bag, with a slit inthe top. I keep that closed except for a few minutes when I mist it.

I hope any of this helps!

The bag was really solid cocoa brown, with lots of mycro piss before I opned it to air.

[crazy1]

Thanx so much for all the info. I think I'll rebag the ones I took out and try to keep them a bit cooler and be a bit more patient.