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One bad thing I could see about putting in my lovely new raised beds was that I would lose useful garden space for growing things in the ground. Although the raised beds give me more room to plant, they also cut in half my growing space, which was about 200 square feet. Now it’s only 96 square feet, with the arches adding more vertical space.
I knew I wanted to use this space, but it is very shady most of the day, and I didn’t want to plant something that would need a lot of weeding or maintenance during the season because I’d have to bend down to get to it. When I was trying to solve two problems—one, how to make the most of my growing space—I came up with the idea of growing mushrooms in wood chips. I also wanted to grow mushrooms without having to inoculate heavy logs, which would be a lot of work.
Log inoculation is by far the most famous way to grow mushrooms, but the process of setting it up (drilling holes, hammering spawn into the holes, and covering each one with wax) and keeping it going (stacking and restacking as the seasons change, keeping it damp) made it seem impossible for me to do. There are a lot of different ways to grow mushrooms in your backyard. Because I have chronic pain, I needed to find a method that would be easy on my joints. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money or get any special tools for this experiment. One of the cheapest things you can buy in the mushroom growing business is a bag of sawdust spawn. I thought I could make the most of my garden space by planting my mushroom spawn in wood chips.
So easy to grow mushrooms in wood chips, I thought it was too good to be true. I’m still waiting for the final results, but I’m sure the process will work. The main idea is to put mushrooms on wood chips so that they can grow, multiply, and produce fruit in a somewhat controlled way. But what do all these terms mean?.
Mushroom spawn is a material that has been inoculated with mushroom spores or mycelium. It’s kind of like mushroom seeds. If you give the spores something to live on, like sawdust, they can be used to inoculate a bigger surface, like wood chips. Spawn can be made from a variety of materials, including grains like rye or wheat, or sawdust.
Mushroom substrate is the material that mushrooms grow on. The substrate can be made from a variety of materials, including straw, sawdust, wood chips, and coffee grounds. The substrate gives the mushrooms the food they need to grow, and spawn or mushroom spores can be added to start the growing process. The choice of substrate depends on the type of mushroom being grown and the resources available.
Mushroom inoculation is the process of putting mushroom spawn on a substrate, which is what the mushrooms will hang out on. The inoculation process can be done using spore syringes, liquid cultures, or spawn.
Growing mushrooms on wood chips is an easy, low-cost way to produce edible mushrooms at home. It takes advantage of waste materials like wood chips and provides a value-added crop from your garden beds. Best of all, it requires minimal labor compared to other mushroom growing techniques.
While specialty mushrooms are now available at many grocery stores, growing your own allows you to experience ultra-fresh mushrooms bursting with flavor. You can also grow gourmet mushroom varieties that are rarely found commercially. With just a bit of guidance on materials and methods, producing mushrooms on wood chips is simple for any gardener.
Why Grow Mushrooms on Wood Chips?
There are many advantages to using wood chips as a mushroom substrate
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Wood chips are inexpensive and widely available from arborists and utility companies.
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They are long-lasting, providing food for mushrooms over multiple seasons.
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Wood chips keep moisture well, limiting watering duties.
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No special tools are needed – just wood chips, spawn and water.
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Little maintenance is required once the bed is established.
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Wood chips utilize garden space that is often unplanted.
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Hardwood chips provide nutrients mushrooms need to thrive.
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You can produce edible mushrooms out of waste materials.
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It allows you to grow gourmet mushrooms not found in stores.
Overall, wood chips create an ideal environment for mushroom growth with very little work required by the gardener.
Choosing a Mushroom Variety for Wood Chips
Certain varieties of mushrooms are better suited for growing on wood chips. Great options include:
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Oyster mushrooms – Fast-growing with excellent flavor. Prefer hardwoods like oak, maple and poplar.
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Winecap mushrooms – Hardy, huge caps. Tolerates some softwoods like pine.
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Shiitake mushrooms – Require hardwoods only but produce nicely on chips.
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Lion’s mane mushrooms – Unique texture. Grow on hardwoods and some conifers.
Avoid finicky mushrooms like morels, chanterelles and porcini that require specific tree associations. Start with easy wood lovers like oysters for the best chance of success.
Choosing and Preparing Wood Chips for Mushrooms
You can grow gourmet mushrooms on plain wood chips, but a few considerations will boost your chances of success:
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Use hardwoods like oak, maple, poplar, alder and fruit woods. Softwoods have compounds that inhibit some mushrooms.
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Fresh wood chips are ideal as they have less competition from other established fungi and molds. Aged mulch may not fruit well.
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Chips should be coarse, ranging from 1/2 to 2 inches in size. Avoid fine wood dust or large chunks.
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Pasturizing chips by soaking in hot water kills other organisms that may compete with your mushrooms.
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Mixing in a small amount of straw gives mushrooms added nutrients.
With the right wood source and preparation, you’ll provide the ideal substrate for your mushrooms to colonize.
Inoculating Wood Chips Using Mushroom Spawn
Mushroom spawn contains the mycelium (roots) of your mushroom variety that will spread through the wood chips to produce mushrooms. To inoculate chips:
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Purchase spawn suited to your climate from a reputable grower. Buy enough to heavily seed your bed.
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Moisten wood chips thoroughly before inoculating so the mycelium can spread easier.
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Break up spawn into small pieces and mix into moist chips, or sprinkle over layers as you build up the bed.
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Cover bed with damp cardboard or an old rug to retain moisture while mycelium grows.
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Wait 4-12 weeks for mycelium to fully colonize the wood chips before expecting mushrooms.
The mycelium will first work to decompose the wood chips before fruiting mushrooms. Be patient waiting for fruits!
Growing Bed Set-Up and Care
Follow these tips for a successful wood chip mushroom patch:
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Locate bed in partial or full shade. Morning sun is acceptable. Avoid windy spots.
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Build an open-bottomed box, or mound chips over soil, cardboard or weed cloth to contain the bed.
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Make beds at least 10-12 inches deep to retain moisture and allow rooting.
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Initially water beds daily to keep moist. Reduce watering only after mycelium is established.
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Remove cardboard or cover once mycelium has spread. Retain some moisture but avoid soggy chips.
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Supplement with straw, manure or nitrogen if you see poor growth to boost nutrients.
With the right growing conditions, your spawn will spread quickly through the wood chips and fruit prolifically once established.
Harvesting Wood Chip Grown Mushrooms
In as little as 2 months after inoculating, your mushrooms will begin to form! Pick mushrooms when the caps first start to flatten out. Use scissors or a knife to cut mushrooms off cleanly at the base. Don’t yank and damage the mycelium.
Harvest frequently, as mushrooms mature and deteriorate rapidly. Brush off any debris but don’t wash until ready to cook. Refrigerate promptly after picking. Expect continued flushes of mushrooms for many seasons by maintaining your wood chip bed.
Troubleshooting Common Mushroom Growing Problems
Even with ideal preparation, you may encounter issues like:
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No growth from spawn – Old, expired spawn; growing conditions too cold/hot; competing molds present
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Mushrooms diseased or rotting – Excess moisture; poor air circulation
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Few or no mushrooms – Insufficient moisture; lack of nutrients; needs more shade
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Mushrooms growing but small – Needs more nitrogen; density of wood chips too high
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Contamination by other fungi – Use new, sterile potting soil in beds; disinfect tools
Don’t hesitate to restart your bed with new spawn and wood chips if you suspect contamination or lack of nutrients. Mushroom growing often involves some trial and error.
Expanding Your Wood Chip Mushroom Operation
Once you have the basic process down, there are many ways to increase your wood-grown mushroom production:
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Experiment with growing different gourmet mushroom varieties on chips.
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Construct tiered growing racks to multiply your mushroom beds.
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Use mushroom totems – inoculated wood blocks that sit atop chips – for higher yields.
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Chop your own mushroom logs and supplement with nutrient mixes.
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Learn to make your own mushroom spawn from colonized sawdust or plugs.
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Grow mushrooms like shiitakes on pure, supplemented hardwood sawdust.
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Develop products like mushroom powders, teas or tinctures from your harvests.
The world of mushroom growing is vast! Wood chips are the perfect starting point that can spur a lifetime hobby or side business.
Growing nutrient-dense, flavorful mushrooms at home is incredibly rewarding. Wood chips offer an easy substrate that requires minimal work to produce an abundant harvest. With a shady spot, quality spawn, moisture and patience, you’ll be harvesting ultra-fresh mushrooms to enjoy for months or even years to come. Soon you’ll discover the vast potential and benefits of becoming a mushroom grower!
Harvesting mushrooms from your garden
The most exciting part of growing your own mushrooms is of course harvesting and eating them. But you’ll need to act quickly because mushrooms grow quickly and can go bad before you can pick them! After a couple of months, keep a close eye on your bed, especially after it rains or the temperature changes. You can pick them when they are young and in the button shape, or you can wait a day or two until the cap opens. After you plant your bed, the mushrooms may produce fruit at any time from May to October the following year.
If you have more mushrooms than you can eat at once, you can easily dry them out and use them later. You could also give your extras to friends who have never had fresh mushrooms from the garden before.
Maintaining your mushroom bed
It’s important that you keep your mushroom bed damp, especially in the first few weeks. Wood chips hold moisture well, so you won’t need to water every day. To check if your beds need watering, stick a finger into the wood chips about one inch down. If it feels dry, water the bed. The beds should need about one inch of water per week. During this initial phase, you can also cover the bed with a tarp or plastic sheeting as well. Over time as the bed establishes you should only need to water during dry spells.
If you plant your mushrooms in the spring, you should see your first harvest in 2-3 months. If you plant in the fall, mushrooms won’t fruit until the following spring. This method of growing mushrooms in wood chips is also good because the mushrooms will keep producing fruit for three years before you need to add more wood chips and sawdust spawn to the bed. This truly is a low maintenance, high value crop that everyone should add to their garden!.
Grow Mushrooms in Woodchip | How To Make a Garden Mushroom Bed
Are wood chips good for mushrooms?
Wood chips provide an ideal environment for certain types of mushrooms to thrive, such as oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, and lion’s mane mushrooms. These species prefer the moist and nutrient-rich environment provided by wood chips, which also helps them spread their spores more easily.
Can mushrooms grow in woodchip?
It is also one that particularly likes growing in woodchip. The first thing is to find the best site in your garden or farm for cultivating mushrooms. They like shade, so north-facing areas, or those directly under bigger trees, are the most obvious opportunity.
How do you grow mushrooms in Minecraft?
All you need is some wood chips, a container or bag to hold them, and spores or spawn of your desired species of mushroom. The setup process takes only minutes, as all you have to do is mix the spawn into the wood chips before sealing them inside the container or bag. Once that’s done, just wait for your mushrooms to grow.
Can wine cap mushrooms grow on woodchips?
Woodchips are often assorted and unidentifiable wood, and wine cap mushrooms tend to grow easily on any pile of chips. Some types of wood, however, make better substrates for wine caps than others. Deciduous soft hardwoods, such as willow, poplar, basswood, and paper birch, are ideal for establishing wine cap mushrooms in beds.