So should I "shock" the Alder logs this Fall? Probably not! Need to recover from the Trichoderma!

As I posted - the response was that my Shiitake spawn has a good "hold" on the logs already - ahead of the mold. But I was never told to wipe off the GREEN MOLD!! So that stuff is gonna spread!

So now I need to wipe off that Green Mold - I'll bring up a roll of paper towels to do so as they are soft enough not to damage the bark.

 The bark of the log acts as an armor, keeping unwanted fungi out and moisture in. By waxing over the inoculation holes the sawdust spawn will not dry out as it grows into the log. Other fungi with spores floating around in the air will also not be able to get into the log to compete with the shiitake mycelium.

So from the images I've posted so far - we can see that a good percentage of the white mold has now grown into the "spreading" green phase. These are the logs that I "soaked" extra since everyone was pushing me to get mushrooms this fall. oops.

 Do not attempt to soak logs for re hydration purposes after 4 months of spawn run have occurred. Sometimes a soak can bring on a premature effort to fruit which can weaken the running mycelium and thus overall log health.

Also some of this green is "lichen" - how much of a threat that is to the shiitake? I'm not sure. As my blog image shows - I got great Shiitake growing out of the green - not lichen, not mold - but green MOSS....

Moss and Lichen live on the bark of the logs and do not affect the wood.

Overall I would say 90% of the Alder logs still don't have the Trichoderma on them.... but they also don't have enough Shiitake to "shock" them for this fall. But what about the Birch logs?

Logs that are placed directly or nearly so on the ground can suffer from green mold competitors, even here in the Midwest. If you see fresh post inoculation green molds in quantity on the bark during the first year of incubation, elevate and separate the logs to encourage more air flow. This should take care of the occasional mold problems found in shiitake logs during wet spells.

put logs on pallets

well we're not quite done yet with the Alder photos. I got every angle so I can compare any future growth...

So they are coming along pretty well over all.

And Birch yet? No not yet...

So anymore?

this is the "first" stack again.

So I'll finish these - maybe six more photos - then Part 3 will be the Birch logs...

So I need to wipe that off but it's gonna rain tomorrow or the next day! Better return tomorrow!

So amazingly the "second stack" that was still on the ground - I had flipped those logs but I did not REsoak them - and so they did not have much Trichoderma on them. The first batch had dried off.

This is still the first batch that I had re-Soaked - so there is more Trichoderma.

Finally - that's the LAST close up of the Alder logs. So between this post and the previous one then I can compare the green parts, etc.

Now onto the Birch - which up till now had NO Trichoderma on it!