How to choose backyard mushroom varieties

When we started our shiitake logs two years ago, I didn't do my usual exhaustive research. Some friends were buying plugs and asked us if we wanted half of the batch, so we simply followed along in their wake. Luckily, it all worked out, but now we want to expand our mushroom production and need to put a bit more thought into it.

The first choice you hit when you enter the world of backyard mushroom production is species. We tried one of those box kits of button mushrooms a couple of years ago, with bad results --- our house was too cold, so we didn't get many, and it only lasted a few weeks. Since we don't have scads of free straw, wood chips, or manure, for now we've decided to stick to growing mushrooms in logs. We have plenty of logs. Read more....

This post is part of our Innoculating Mushroom Logs series. Read all of the entries:

How to choose backyard mushroom varieties
Preparing for your mushrooms --- cutting logs
Shiitake innoculation
Useful tool: Spade drill bit
How to melt the wax
Recording mushroom logs
And don't miss the related series How to Cultivate Edible Mushrooms for Free

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