u/LouSpore

I'm going to take the time to make some posts about the incredible team members I have here at North Spore. It might give some insight into what we do, how we do it and that we're a diverse group of well-intentioned, intelligent humans just like all of you.

Taylor Wood came to us about 3 years ago through Breanna Penney (our Head of Video Production, I'll post on her next). They'd worked together in the past and we needed more help. In many ways, his job is similar to Bre's and they're constantly collaborating. He scripts videos, shoots them, takes photos, make ads, makes timelapses and more. The amount of time and effort this guy will take to get the things right is both maddening and inspiring at the same time. His official job title is Creative Asset Project Manager, but he's working on a better name that sums up his responsibilities.

I don't say this lightly: he has an incredible sense of humor and is ALWAYS bringing positivity to North Spore.

The primo technology and thoughtful angles Taylor employs even manages to make me look halfway decent (I'm the one with the chestnut mushrooms). His work is everywhere on the website, but this piece truly stands out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXkRHVWkbY8

These are so damn easy to grow, delicious and insanely cool looking. I'm on a mission to make sure the world knows about these. Let me know if you have questions!

Check them logs!

Yes, it took a year, but once you start making logs regularly, just like wine or cheese you start getting them regularly after that initial wait.

I'm pretty sure these logs came from a local arborist friend that was cutting the wood anyway!

Any questions about log cultivation? Who else has logs going?

Btw, now is a great time to start thinking about fall inoculations!

Read our guides: https://northspore.com/pages/outdoor-mushroom-growing-guides#logs

I led two Mushroom ID Walks (8/1 and 8/2) and even though it was crispy, we found quite a few great mushrooms to discuss. We had to go downhill and actually into creek beds to find the moisture. The couple pics I've shared are of An Ash Bolete (Boletinellus merulioides) and a Rooting Shank (Hymenopellis radicata). Both edible, but only the Hymenopellis is good.

My next walk is in Wells, ME on 8/15 at A beautful property called The Wells Reserve at Laudholm. I hope that if you're not too far away, you'll consider joining!

https://wellsreserve.org/.../mushroom-identification-walk

Today is my 4th wedding anniversary and to celebrate, we went on a trail run and....we got distracted.

We found some Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) and a lesser known guy that I think is a Bicolor Bolete (Boroangia bicolor). I'll take a closer look later today, but if I'm right, its one of the most beautiful and delicious mushrooms we have in the NE US. There are some lookalikes I should rule out.

Chicken is a saprobe that grows on dead wood and the bolete is mycorrhizal. Chicken can be cultivated, but it quite difficult. Probably the best method involves taking a fresh cut hardwood log section, about 1' x 8", sticking it in an XL grow bag, sterilizing it in pot or pressure cooker and then inoculating it with COW sawdust spawn. Once closed up again, that bag will sit and colonize for a couple months. After full colonization, then it can be very shallowly or only partially buried outside. Multiple other difficult species (Like Hen of the Woods (Grifola frondosa)) benefit from this method as well.

I have also seen people get some small yields inside, but it's very uncertain and slow.

I'm excited to test another species in the same genus, Laetiporus cincinnatus, more thoroughly because it might end up working better with this method. The reason I think this is because it is usually found on buried wood vs. L. sulphureus which is more of a shelf.

If you wanna try L. Cincinnatus in the name of science please reach out and I'll hook you up with a discount on the culture.

https://northspore.com/products/chicken-of-the-woods-cultures?_pos=2&_sid=967ecc8d7&_ss=r&variant=31312227336294

I soaked my Shiitake logs 8 days ago, now I have a good size harvest! Such fun the last picture is from when I soaked them.

This morning I looked at my lawn and saw the remnants of some Black Staining Polypore (Meripilus sumstinei). I ate some of this right out of my lawn last week and it is likely to come back again next year. So many people would see something like this and think it's some kind of plague, ruining the unblemished aesthetic of their lawn. Not me. I see that whether I harvested it or not, its doing a very important job.

This mushroom and many others are white-rot species and grow on buried woody material (the roots of an old silver maple in this case). The mycelium is secreting enzymes like laccase, lignin peroxidase (LiP), and manganese peroxidase (MnP) to break down the super tough lignin in plants into smaller compounds. Other brown-rot species secrete cellulases to break down cellulose (also super tough. Without these everyday mushrooms, woody stuff would sit around MUCH longer.

That broken down plant material contains important minerals like nitrogn and phosphorus, which is now usable by other organisms. A lot of it is absorbed into the fungus and is used to make its body. Mushrooms forming at the surface quickly break down, releasing those mobile nutrients at the surface. Cultivated mushrooms like Wine Cap, Oysters, Maitake and Chestnut are doing this too.

I'm literally seeing my lawn and garden get healthier. Rotting mushrooms deserve reverence!

Pink Oyster mushrooms popping up between my roma tomato plants- and the first of those are just getting colored up. Mushrooms are grown from Plant and Grow blocks, and have been handling the weather here fine. They've been in the ground for just over a week with daily watering and rain.

As anyone who's grown mushrooms long enough inside or outside knows, pests can create a lot of headaches (maybe less so for people in the desert?). Inside, with any standing water and all of that delicious myceliated substrate, fruit flies and fungus gnats can start appearing. It's definitely worse in the summer. These buggers can damage mushrooms, spread contamination and are just gross. How do you prevent them and how do you battle them once they're spotted?

• Cleanliness is king and will absolutely reduce the incidence of insects.
• Don't go for too many flushes. The longer material sits open, the more likely it is to contaminate in one way or another. I usually go for two with gourmet mushrooms.
• Sticky traps are cheap, but often pretty ineffective.
• Vinegar traps: Apple cider vinegar, a couple drops of dish soap, a small container, plastic wrap and a rubber band is all you need. These are great and with enough of them around, it goes a long way to halting pest progression.

Different traps target different species. My biggest problem right now seems to be the Spotted-Winged Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), which is a fruit fly. The latest thing I'm trying is BT or Bacillus Thuringiensis in the form of granules that I toss into the base of my Boom Room and Spore Floor. It's hard to tell if it works because you can't just count the dead flies like you can in a trap. This bacteria screws up the guts of these insects so much that they die in a few days. The best part is that it is totally safe to be around us and our food!

Anybody have experience with this stuff or other recommendations?

Hey friends, I'm wondering who has used mushrooms like Reishi, Lions Mane, Turkey Tail or others to boost the health of a pet. It could be a cat, dog, iguana, fish, horse, etc. What did you use, how much and why? What was the result?

We know a lot of people do this with our products, but we never really talk about it.

Here's a pic of my Dad's dog, Frank. he died last year.

Aren't those fuzzy chestnuts just the cutest?

I'll admit that the blues are just a bit leggy. FAE could be a little better, but I think lowering the temp by a few degree would make a big difference.

And that's one of our autoclaves, named Thing 2.

Hey guys,

Just like last year, I have some Black Staining Polypore (Meripilus sumstinei) coming up in my lawn. It’s growing on the old roots of a Silver Maple that was taken down years ago. Since I’m catching it early, I wanna eat it, but never have before. These pics are from yesterday evening. Who has experience with it? What’s the move?

I’m down to just harvest, dry it and grind it up if that’s the best use. I don’t think I’m too late for some tender edges though.

Thanks for sharing your lovely mushroom brains!

The most cultivated mushroom in the world by far is the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) and its derivatives like cremini and portobello. Alot of people are unfamiliar with this close cousin, the Almond agaricus aka Agaricus subrufescens. This beautiful almond scented (even the spawn smells amazing) mushroom deserves a lot more love, so I just made a whole MycoSphere bed of it. Hopefully, this works and I can share the whole thing with you later.

>The mushroom shown was harvested from another Almond spot and is pretty immature, but they're super cute and often better eating around this time imo.

It prefers warmer temperatures and cultures/spawn should never be refrigerated. Since it likes temps even into the 90s, it's an excellent species for summer. It's fast growing and has been known to grow in less than a month. In my experience, it still takes 2-4 months though. Since it's a secondary decomposer (meaning it likes rich, already broken down materials), it does really well in rich soil shaded by veggies.

It's another kickass species that has very promising immune system effects.

If you wanna try it, grab some sawdust spawn here.

just being cautious- im growing these outside in california in a fabric flower pot

the smaller white ones are making me question.

also when would you harvest these?? they look so beautiful lol i just don’t want to pull too soon.

also also, would you still plant into this pot or is it just a mushroom pot now lol