Like I said before, on my first batch four years ago, I did just about everything wrong. I soaked them that first year by making a perimeter of concrete blocks and lining it with a heavy tarp. I laid all my logs (16) in it and put a sheet of plywood over them and put enough weight to sink them. I got almost no mushrooms and pretty much gave up. Then I let them get way too dry and a lot of bark let go. I wrote it off as a total loss until they just started making mushrooms on their own the next year. I had a friend over and he pointed to my logs and asked, "what the heck is that?" I looked and saw mushrooms that I'd totally missed happening. Since then, the paper thin bark has gotten worse. I have not tried again to force fruiting. I just let them do their thing when it rains.
Alder trunks small enough to be easily handled logs have way too thin bark. That is why I've shifted to big limbs from old trees. Very thick bark and sapwood, and very dense and heavy compared to young trunks. So much heavier, that I have had to go to a foot shorter logs than before.
I don't know what kind of effort I'll be up for next year as far as forcing them. I know a guy who just lets his do their own thing and he gets a lot of mushrooms without the extra effort. He'd probably get more if he did soak them, but he's busy that time of year.
Right now I just want to get as many of these heavy limbs inoculated as I can. And I want to try to do better at taking care of them than last time. For alder, it seems the best thing I've found to keep the bark in good shape is to make sure they don't get dry. It keeps the heartwood from rotting too.
I make a lot of alder firewood, and I used to think that keeping my logs cribbed up off the ground would be good for firewood. Not so. Green alder logs dry rot really quickly in just a few months. The heart goes to punk and the bark falls off. Now I lay them in one layer on the ground to keep them damp. The wood is good that way for a couple of years. I don't know about oak and places it doesn't rain all the time.
Yeah, slugs. We have these little yellow exotics that are all over the mushrooms, both wild and cultured. Durn little buggers. I just pick them off and give them a good long toss. The exercise is good for them.
