Shiitake Porn

[waterboy 2.0]

I tried a limb of E.sieberi (tas ironbark) once, thought it would be great with a deep textured bark that holds on well

and VERY dense timber. Originally thought it might have had "oak" like properties, and give a longer productive life.

Fckd two cheap drill bits putting the plug holes in a single log...lol... It colonised very slowly, and only would put out the occasional fruit body. I am wondering if its higher in residual anti-fungal compounds (?), or the sapwood has more heartwood properties in structure (?).

Aged sawdust of ironbark also showed slow colonisation of a few woodlovers, and lack lustre performance.

Thats it so far, but I need to try some others when the opportunity presents itself. That said I am dubious about the very hard grown alpine eucalypts as well.

My next targets are E.regnans and E.delegatensis, both have non-persistant bark, but I am thinking a nice sapwood structure.

Also want to give blue gum (e.globulus) another go, was one of the first I tried years back, and now know I didnt let the log sit for long enough before innoculating.

[NSF]

When are you harvesting your logs waterboy? I remember reading that for deciduous trees the best time to gather the logs is in Autumn as the wood is storing as much sugar as possible for the winter.

Maybe the same is true for Australian hard woods? Then again, maybe spring when growth is greatest?

[waterboy 2.0]

generally I've been autumn cut, over winter them for the first run through the sapwood.

Cut em let them sit for near 2 weeks, then plug and stack.

That said I've snuck in a few at times when the timber was available (nice bits in a windblown stag), with no real difference IMO.

Spring/summer logs I have found however leak a lot more kino out of them but, which can be a pain in the arse....not such an issue with E.nitens though.

My logs never touch the ground once picked for a substrate and innoculated, and this has helped keep competitor fungi at bay.

Its a cardinal sin to let them touch the ground once they have become choosen ones.....

I keep them stacked up on old hospital beds with shadecloth over each stack . I use a 200L plastic drum for soaking the logs prior to fruiting (colder gives a better response), then during my daily wanders hit them with the hose on mist when the bark appears a bit dry by my eye.....lol...not always done to the optimum schedule that way but..