Which One to Try?

[Evan]

We received a $50 gift certificate for Everything Mushrooms and I'm trying to decide what to buy. It's too cold here in PA to start logs right now. There are several discount saw dust spawn kits that I'm considering because I might be able to transplant mycelium in the spring. Or should I wait and order plug spawn when the weather is warm? Or both? Plugs are relatively inexpensive. What do you guys think? This will be a project for my daughter and I. 

[BigGameHunter]

When you say sawdust spawn kits, do you mean the actual sawdust spawn blocks or the mushroom grow kits they have listed on their website?

If you mean their grow kits, I would do both. With the grow kits you would likely see sooner results than plug spawn. Also, depending on the strain you get it may fruit well indoors but when you transfer it outdoors to a different substrate it may not yield as well and vice versa. Some shitake strains are this way although oysters don't seem be as selective. The fruiting of a grow kit may not coincide with the inoculation time of your logs if you relied on the spent grow kit to inoculate your logs.

If you mean their sawdust spawn blocks, I would just do the sawdust spawn instead of the plugs unless you want to do several strains of mushrooms then I would do the plugs for your best bang for your buck. In my experience sawdust is seems to colonize a log faster than plugs. If you do logs you'll also need wax to seal up the inoculation points so the plug or sawdust spawn doesn't dry out.

[Evan]

I had planned to use the saw dust spawn block like a grow kit. The description says most varieties will work that way. Then transfer the spawn outside in the spring. Maybe the regular kits would be better for now so we can have some growing soon. 

[BigGameHunter]

What strains were you interested in getting? The grow kits are probably set up to fruit soon after you receive them. The sawdust blocks may or may not be 100% colonized or at the fruiting stage when you receive them. In the past in our area I've inoculated most of my logs for shitake beginning in late March which would be approximately 10 weeks. So you figure you would like to get more than one flush from your kit/block which would add 1 to 3 weeks or longer for each flush depending on the type of mushroom, strain & conditions. If you're planning on using your spent grow kit for log inoculation another thing to consider is once the kit/block or parts of them are exposed to open air you run the risk of the spawn getting contaminated with mold, bacteria, etc.

[Evan]

That's a good point. There are saw dust spawn blocks and kits that are on clearance because they are not guaranteed to stay dormant due to age. According to the description they may fruit almost immediately. The saw dust blocks are 2.5 kilos and the kits are 1 kilo. And they are half price. I was going to get those so we can get mushrooms quickly  and because they have more varieties available on clearance. In think we might get some of each and see what they produce. Maybe we will order some spawn for logs when the weather is warmer. Thanks for the input. It was a great help.

[BigGameHunter]

Your welcome & good luck!!