First flush of shiitake mushrooms. 1.4kg in the box below. Currently drying the 770 grams I didn't give away, came out to 74 grams dry weight.

I'd like to note that I'm very new to growing mushrooms. When I started, I very much thought it was like putting a plant in dirt, and that all soils were the same, and that the same process and substrates would work for all varieties of mushrooms. I sort of scoffed at the idea that certain mushrooms "can't be cultivated". How very wrong I was.

Now I'd like to share with you the serendipitous adventure of my first harvest of the lovely shiitake mushroom.

You might want to check out this post, where I accuse the colonizing shiitake of being contaminated. I'm wondering now if that's just the first place it decided to dump its metabolic fluid. Or perhaps there was a small competitor that was stomped out by the shiitake mycelium.

Every step of the way was failure. If you have a look at the North Spore substrate compatibility guide, you might notice that, for indoor growing, shiitake need a filter bag (not a monotub), and sawdust substrate, (not Wood Lovr). I used Wood Lovr substrate in a monotub because I only found the compatibility guide after I deployed the grain spawn into its substrate.

I also never switched from the colonizer lid to a fruiting chamber lid. I had pretty much given up on the possibility of success altogether. The only reason I still had the tubs when they fruited is because throwing them out, which I fully intended on doing, just wasn't very high on my priority list. I only noticed they had fruited by complete accident. I hadn't checked on them in probably three weeks. They were dead to me. I mean, look at them. All the metabolic fluid, the weird growths, is the crust supposed to look like that? I knew they turned brown when ready to fruit, but... there's no way these were healthy, right?

The only FAE these mushrooms had were the tiny air holes in the tub. In the beginning, they got air about once per week, but like I said, on harvest day, they had been closed for 3 weeks, totally neglected.

The growth timeline was as follows:

• May 21st: Innoculated 3 jars of red wheat berries, and a 3 lb bag of millet with shiitake liquid culture.
• July 20th: Mixed grain spawns with substrates in monotub bins.
• October 23rd: Harvested (a few days late)
• [Update] Oct 31st: Spooky second flush, harvested on time!
• [Update] Nov 10th: Yet another flush, the gift that keeps on giving
• [Update] Nov 20th: 540 more grams from one tub

Here's tub 1 and tub 2 on August 11th. What on earth are the fuzzy dome looking things? I still don't know. Notice the alien trying to stick its arms out the windows to get fresh air.

And again on August 22nd, when things were still interesting and hopeful, but also kind of gross.

By September 1st, all hope is lost. I stopped taking pictures here.

But then one day, after forgetting all about them, I noticed shapes in the lids... Could it be???

By the end of it, the metabolic fluid was just a puddle sitting on top. I was certain the mounds were mushroom cancer or a competing fungus. Somehow, life finds a way.

I eventually used all 770g (78g after drying) for a chicken-mushroom stock. It resulted in the best chicken noodle soup I've ever made.

Update: Oct 31st

A week later, we have another flush! This time, they were harvested at peak ripeness. 255 grams.

Update: Nov 10th

Another flush, 793 grams

Update: Nov 20th

540 grams, given to friend to make risotto