So I blog posted a few times about Willow for Shiitake before. I discovered a grower in India who could ONLY grow Shiitake on Willow. He could find no other trees to grow Shiitake on. This is ironic since in the US the Willow tree species is not considered worthy of Shiitake. But then I consulted with the mycologist and he said YES you can grow in Willow only you don't get as many harvests since it's a softer wood. He said also that Aspen is possible as well.
So then I shared this about the Willow on another youtube upload of someone using Willow for burying for soil fertility - Hugelculture or how ever it is spelled. So then this person recommended a technique of cutting the willow ABOVE the main trunk and only at the branches - I did a blog post on this.
So I tried this technique - and I got ten Willow logs by mainly cutting off above the main trunk. Then in another part of the mini-forest I got another eight logs. I was hoping to get 20 logs total but the sun started going down and I needed to haul in stuff to the Hut - or is it a Bungalow?
So I did not bring my winter sleeping bag and so I woke up every couple hours to refill the wood stove. I forgot to fill in the door cracks once after going outside in the night to piss. So then I realized why it was so cold. Also one load of wood was punky so didn't generate much heat.
So now the question is - does ANYONE grow Shiitake on Aspen or poplar? Has it been done at all? I heard one person report that could get NO results when tried. So any successes?
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1654090/birch-tree-stump-new-growth
Often the connection between the new growth and the stump is weak. Also, the stump will rot, and although the new growth will compartmentalize against this, the scenerio is not good. To answer your question, yes, you can let ALL suckers grow for a season and pick the strongest. However, a sucker coming from a dead stump is hardly the best idea for a new tree.
Hortster
The company in Japan says ANY broadleaf tree will grow Shiitake. So it should work. I have a lot of Aspen Poplar and since it's a Clone then I know it will grow back. The Birch I cut for the first year of harvest - they do well since the Birch does not get Trichoderma mold - but the Birch does not grow back from stumps easily.
Other species such Oak, Maple, Birch, Aspen may be used, although with lower yields and management tailored to the specific requirements of that wood type.
http://www.cityfarmer.org/OysterShiitake.html
Since Oak is actually the BEST for Shiitake - this is a strange comment. I want to see documented use of Aspen just as I found for Willow.
Shiitake mushrooms are traditionally grown outdoors on seasoned hardwood logs — preferably oak, although maple, birch, poplar, aspen, beech, and other species have also been used successfully. Shiitake spawn won't do well on live or green wood, however, nor is it likely to survive on deadfall wood, or on stock contaminated by lichens or other fungi. It's necessary, therefore, to cut logs for shiitake cultivation from freshly felled trees or just-trimmed limbs.
So the Willow I cut does already have moss and some lichen on it or some other fungi maybe? I don't know. We'll see what happens. Still at the Folklore Level for Aspen.
The best logs are from hardwood trees (“shii” is “from hardwood trees” in Japanese), particularly oak and sugar maple. Avoid fruit wood such as apples, ash, soft hardwoods such as aspen, or evergreens such as pine or spruce.
https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/shiitake.html
So it is AVOID or HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL or MAY BE...
Quite the range.
However, if you inoculate trembling aspen your first harvest will be much sooner (1 year or less), but the years of production will be shorter (3 to 4 years).
Finally - some more DETAILS on the difference using Aspen - so it's the same difference as Willow. Awesome! https://www.umoncton.ca/umce-foresterie/files/umce-foresterie/wf/wf/pdf/Mushroomguide.pdf
OK So I'm definitely gonna harvest ASPEN next time I go up.
I still have quite a bit of Birch growing but like I said it doesn't grow back as easily. At least I know for sure that Aspen is a big root system underground and actually grows back FASTER when cut down!!
* Species utilized during testing
Finally - CONFIRMATION - they actually GREW Shiitake on Aspen! I wonder what kind I have...
https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/tree/quaking-aspen
Yep - common name "Trembling Aspen" or Quaking Aspen. Northern Minnesota.
So I actually cut this FIRST for inoculation but I thought I was cutting Alder (seriously that's how confused I was...!!) And so I didn't USE it and then I had some spawn left over and by then I knew it was Aspen. So then I tried inoculating it but it had already been sitting out all summer so it was contaminated by other fungi. So I didn't want to soak it with other fungi growing on it - so I would not contaminate the other logs. And so then I let it sit out and it never kept growing as Shiitake.
So now I'm burning it for fire wood...
So when was this done?
Here's some Aspen inoculated!
So this was based on an EARLIER Aspen production? Or just a book saying it could be done?
O’Breham, R. 2006. La culture de champignons sur billots. Mycoflor inc. 61 p.
https://www.umoncton.ca/umce-foresterie/files/umce-foresterie/wf/wf/pdf/8-Obreham_fr.pdf
Wow Aspen in French is Tremble.
Peuplier is Poplar tree in French.
cool. So that pdf does state Poplar trees (another name for Aspen)...
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