Due to some unfortunate weather, I have access to a lot of dead wood.
And I have been helping my sister clean up my parents yard, which she inherited. The yard is mostly shady, with a high water table and damp soil. It seems like anything that touches the ground rots or corrodes. And everything ends up touching the ground because the things they were sitting up on rot out from underneath them. At home I struggle to make compost, but there I was raking it off the roof and wading through it under the trees.
We were trying to decide if there was anything different we could do - then a catalog from Fungi Perfecti arrives and my sister and I thought "Aha!"
But we have never tried growing Mushrooms, and we were thinking more than just a kit.
Has anyone tried growing Mushrooms?
We grow mushrooms but not intentionally. Lots of chanterelles, oyster and wood ear grow naturally here. I use them in my cooking throughout their season.
So maybe I should try a local mushroom (like Western Puffball or Oyster) and an "easy" starter kit? See if any of them take to relocation?
It appears you have a number of natives and even a book on Colorado mushrooms. You can't be too careful though. If you don't know a trusted mushroom expert look around for a local mycology club and go out with an experienced forager. We started slowly with chanterelles because there is nothing toxic here that resembles them. There is one called false chanterelle that won't kill you but might give you an upset stomach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrophoropsis_aurantiaca Even when learning to forage there is a "best picked by" date. The last oysters I picked were large but chewy. Family thought that added to their rustic charm but I disagreed. I picked and cooked both varieties in a cream reduction until thick and used them to fill homemade ravioli. We had fun discussing the merits of each type during a mushroom tasting dinner. We saw chanterelles in two markets the following week. At one they were $49 and the other they were $65. Those are my very favorites besides morells.
Not sure why my photos didn't attach. Creative playtime at DG?
That is the reason I like Western Puffball - you can't mistake them for anything but a soccer ball. I guess I need more information on which ones grow on dead wood and which ones need a live host. The giant puffballs are associated with oak and aspen, but I am not sure whether live or dead.
We have edible and non edible puff balls. I don't know the difference yet. The big cloud of spores that lets loose when they meet up with the lawn mower is a little off putting. Jelly fungi are also prevalent but I have not learned to identify the edibles. What's really great about wild mushrooms is you don't have to plant, weed, feed or worry about the weather!
Well, here we do have to watch the weather. Colorado is dry enough that we usually only get mushrooms after a heavy summer thunderstorm. And a puff ball that puffs spores is way over-ripe. They should be white and solid. I have never tried to ID the small ones - but the large ones are distinctive and I know where there is a patch.
I have grown shiitake and oyster mushrooms from indoor kits that I have purchased. I placed some morel spores outside but they have not produced yet. I did not grow any indoor this year because I had such an awful time with fungus gnats this year. I see our Home Depot has small mushroom kits that I might try this fall.
Oh dear - I forgot about fungus gnats. I have had some luck with bottom watering and using Bti for Mosquitos in the water trays for house plants. But if growing mushrooms indoors, I guess I had better shop around for some mesh that is gnat-tight. I wanted some thing to cover the kitchen scraps anyway - the lid on my little compost bucket is too tight, the coffee grounds are causing condensation all over everything else.
Bt takes care of fungus gnat larva.