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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
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Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting
    #25877371 -

Hi guys,

I have been trying to cultivate shiitake for almost a year now, but I always get the same problem with my blocks: few big or good sized fruits, a few small pins and, in general, a very small pin count. I am sending a couple pictures of a typical block of mine during fruiting:





The only way I cant get them to fruit is, after they have browned (inside the bag), I put them in the fridge for 24h to 48h, then I strip the bag and put them in the grow room. I have tried putting some ice on top of the blocks (without putting them in the fridge before) and I have managed to get a few fruits doing that. I have also tried taking them out of the bag and simply watering, but I dont get any fruits that way.

Anyone has experienced that? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you!

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: vsoares]
    #25877404 -

hey . i am yet to grow shiitake.. but i have heard people knock the block to make them fruit..


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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: rams]
    #25877442 -

What is your block recipe? Over supplementation can cause shit fruiting. Also try soaking them in water 20-30F colder than ambient temps rather than fridge shocking them. This will hydrate the block and also trigger pinning.

Also maybe your fruiting chamber/conditions are not good. Have you successfully and prolifically fruited anything in your grow room/chamber?

Also you could let the block consolidate longer


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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: rams]
    #25877445 -

I would guess lack of moisture.

My routine  ( now take into account my block are almost always older than 3 months and have a few fruits in the bag)

I cut the top open. Then fill several inches of cold water over top of the blocks. Let set until soaked (up to 6 hrs). Strip the bag off in the shower and spray them off real good clean off any old fruits. Then into the fruiting chamber upside down. I point my ultrasonic right on them and have a hand sprayer that i soak them with several times a day. I continue this for about 5 days. 7-10 days they are harvested. Try to make sure fruits are semi dry, not wet to the touch before harvest.

Size of block, supplement and variety all play a large factor.

3782 is a heavy producer, i supplement it at about 30% soy hulls and blocks weigh 6-8 pounds.


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Edited by Quadman (03/16/19 08:36 AM)

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: Quadman]
    #25878390 -

Hi guys,

Yeah my grow room is probably fine, Ive grown a lot of oyster blocks in it, no problem.

My blocks are 77 to 87% sawdust, 10 to 20% wheat bran and 3% gypsum, hydratated to around 63% moisture.

I dont like the idea of using cold water (or putting in the fridge even) because those operations wouldnt be easy to scale up.

I have only managed to get one fruit a single time from a second flush, my second flush is a complete disaster. I assume i am doing something very wrong.

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: vsoares]
    #25878944 -

I would ask here check out his fruiting block and he says he just retired from aloha medicinals...

https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/25876060

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: SHROOMSISAY01]
    #25879259 -

How do you sterilize?
:frenchie:

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: frog48]
    #25879267 -

From the look of your block you might have a sterilization problem. Apart from that it can be spawn quality, water content of your sub like quad mentioned, inoculation technique and circumstances, incubation conditions and air circulation, etc....
It's not cold shocking and slapping.....It might help a bit but even without it you should have more fruits than that
:frenchie:

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: frog48]
    #25879371 -

Thanks SHROOMSISAY01, I will try talking to the man.

frog48 I autoclave the blocks for 2 hours at 121 Celsius. Concerning the water content, shouldnt it be the same as for oyster blocks? Because I hydrate them the same, and I dont think my oyster blocks have water issues at all. Does shiitake need more water them oyster?

Something else I have noticed is that I can never dunk the blocks for as long as people suggest, because I will get them so heavy with water that I believe they are water logged (I am assuming this is what ppl call a water logged block, as I have never actually seem one in real life that a knowledgeable person would point me and tell that "this is what a water logged block looks like"; all I know about this came from reading). So if I dunk them for 3 hours I will get water logged blocks. I have read some ppl say they will dunk blocks for 6 or 12 hours. If I do that, my blocks will just become a muddy mess.

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: vsoares]
    #25879399 -

Tell us which strain it is and what type of sawdust. I think it is a bad/senescent strain AND low humidity. You need to keep them in very high humidity to get a good pinset but even with lesser than optimal you should see more mushrooms. With the same recipe I get the block covered. They need better triggering too. A day in the fridge is not as good as a week around 15C. Isn't it cold outside during the night? Let some in the shade for a week.

An inexpensive ultrasonic humidifier can raise 100% humidity in a box or closet, you can start a couple of bags there to see if it is humidity you are lacking.

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: ScotTony]
    #25879508 -

ScotTony, I dont know about the strain. I live in Brazil and my spawn supplier here has different names for his strains (stuff like MB shiitake, FSSO shiitake). I have tried 3 different strains of shiitakes and the results seem to be basically the same. Where I live it never gets really cold outdoors, only by mid years will it get down to 15 degrees celsius some days, but this time of the year it goes only down to 18 degrees or so.

I do have a mist fogger. I am not setting my grow room to 100% humidity because my shitake blocks always go green on the outside, so I trimmed the humidity a little bit lower and raised the air circulation to see if they dont get so much mold on them (they still get green, but not as much as before). I am always baffled by people that can grow shiitakes without any green mold growing on the surface of the block, I guess that might be an indication of something else I am doing incorrectly.

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: vsoares]
    #25879677 -

So, you are running them on the dry side so they don't get green mold.:facepalm:

Shiitake have to have lots of moisture to produce a crop of mushrooms. It is the first requirement when it comes time to fruit them.


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Edited by Quadman (03/17/19 09:53 AM)

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: Quadman]
    #25879707 -

Fix the green mold problem by actually fixing the root of the problem not adding new problems like too little moisture.

Most people design fruiting rooms to encourage mold not mushrooms. They read books about all this humidity and air exchange and design something that doesn't work well. Designing with no practical real world experience growing mushrooms prolifically is where most people start. I mean how hard can it be. Then they find out. Thing is its not hard it's just hard if you have bad habits and misconception from the get go.


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Everything you need in one spot.

My Q&A thread. Ask me questions here rather than in Private Message
Bod's chat thread

5g a day keeps the 5g away

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: bodhisatta]
    #25879710 -

For example this block was grown indoors with no fruiting chamber/greenhouse at all. It flushed three times before getting dime sized mold patches. It went outside into a snow bank and I wouldn't be surprised if it pinned some more come spring. I sprayed it with the shower head once or twice a day. If I was gone a long time i put a plastic bag with some holes in it over the top.



--------------------
Everything you need in one spot.

My Q&A thread. Ask me questions here rather than in Private Message
Bod's chat thread

5g a day keeps the 5g away

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: Quadman]
    #25879860 -

By dry side i mean 85% humidity, while also spraying the blocks twice a day. Is that too dry? Ive read that we need only around 80% humidity to grow shitake, i figured my humidity was fine.

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: bodhisatta]
    #25879868 -

Bodhisatta i assume you realize that ur post didnt actually contribute anything to the discussion, as all you did was shit on me while bragging about your blocks. I know you are a very experienced grower and i respect you, but if you are not going to say anything i can put to test, i am not interested at all, sorry.

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: vsoares]
    #25879870 -

I watered my open air and sometimes bagged blocks once or twice a day and my house is pretty dry my block isn't the world best but it did well. You'll get a feel for the organism with some experience. Mushrooms are simple people overcomplicate them. There's block moisture and surface moisture. Regulate both of those and you'll get great flushes. Once pins are a half inch or so they can really tolerate dips in humidity too. The mycelium is very good at pumping water so if the block is hydrated the mushrooms also tolerate some air flow really well. Its all a balance. Worst case under misting is cracked caps a lot less bad than small stunted or sparse pinsets.


--------------------
Everything you need in one spot.

My Q&A thread. Ask me questions here rather than in Private Message
Bod's chat thread

5g a day keeps the 5g away

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: bodhisatta]
    #25879874 -

Welp guess comparison of my grow isn't helpful


--------------------
Everything you need in one spot.

My Q&A thread. Ask me questions here rather than in Private Message
Bod's chat thread

5g a day keeps the 5g away

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: bodhisatta]
    #25879890 -

Well that last post was much appreciated as you brought in useful information, thank you. I guess i will let my blocks mature a little longer before taking them out of the bag. Could you elaborate on your thesis that i have to remove the source of mold growth? What do you mean by that?

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Re: Help me with my bad and irregular Shiitake Block fruiting [Re: vsoares]
    #25880024 -

My block is hydrated well but exposed to far less humid condition and way more air exchange. This naturally fends off mold


--------------------
Everything you need in one spot.

My Q&A thread. Ask me questions here rather than in Private Message
Bod's chat thread

5g a day keeps the 5g away

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
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Mushrooms, Mycology and Psychedelics > Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
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