Shiitake Growing On Logs

[Short Game]

Did log number 150 today!

I have 16 logs left to do yet. I want to design and build some kind of hot wax applicator that will work on vertical bark. I want this so I can inoculate some stumps and some trees that the snow broke off ten or fifteen feet up.

 

[Short Game]

I had some more mushroom log sized trees come down. I'm up to over 180 logs now. Time flies when your having fun.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Shorts... What size alder are you working with? I am taking down hundreds of trees and was pondering what size was good for inocukation

 

[Short Game]

I've settled into logs 42" in length and 5" to 10" in diameter. I have also started looking for the straightest and smoothest ones, as they are easier to work with. My speeds of inoculating have gotten much faster with practice.

What's slowing me down now is waiting for the wax to get stiff so I can go onto the next row of holes. I am going to try drilling the next row on an angle while the wax has time to harden up. I tried this before and gave up, as I had a hard time getting the rows to come up vertical when the log was rotated up for waxing. It's been hard for me to judge it right when I tried it before. If the rims of the filled holes are not horizontal, the wax pours out the low side. I try to get a nice neat seal on each hole.

 

[forgeblast]

Would keeping the wax around 140 degrees help? thats about the temp that they use when filling lip balm beeswax products. (think of those chapstick tubes).

 

[Short Game]

My book calls for the wax to be between 240 and 300 degrees. At lower temperatures the wax doesn't bond well to the sides of the drill hole and forms a little wax pill that easily falls out when solidified. I've seen this myself.

So, I had been using 300 degree wax until I built the waxing tool from a turkey baster. 300 melted it. I have been getting away with 275 degrees with the cheap turkey baster from the supermarket, but the tube cracked after a week or so. I see there are glass or stainless ones available online. I will be upgrading to one of those.

The tool is made by cutting off a nail so that the end sticks out of the baster about a 1/4" and the head inside the baster acts as a valve. It works really well.

 

[forgeblast]

Thanks wasnt sure if a lower temp would speed up production. Cool way to make that tool.

 

[Short Game]

Cool way to make that tool.

Yeah, that tool idea came from Northwest Mycological Consultants where I got my spawn and the handbook.

Well, to speed up today, I found that in the time it takes me to drill the first three or four holes of the next line, the wax is solid enough to rotate the log for the rest of the line. I can keep a few holes lined up pretty well, so this is working out and speeding me up just that much. With practice, and a trained eye, I'll get better at this technique.

Well then, back at it. Lunch break is over.

 

[Short Game]

Here's a pic of the wax tool. I used a stainless screw with the threads ground off instead of a nail.

 

[forgeblast]

Thats a real nice set up. How long does the wax stay liquid in the tube?