Safely Harvesting Mushroom Logs with the Notch and Hinge Technique
Friday, January 2, 2015 at 1:48PM
You’re ready to cultivate your own gourmet mushrooms. The plug spawn has arrived. The drill is charged The cheese wax is ready.
All that stands between you and a shiitake omelet are some hardwood logs and about 6-9 months.
Of course, for successful spawn run and eventual fruiting of mushrooms, this can’t just be any old wood you found on the ground. Nope, those tired logs on your neighbor’s firewood stack, or that dead tree in the woods have about as likely to grow mushrooms as a lumberjack hosting a tea ceremony.
Indeed, success in cultivating mushrooms on hardwood logs depends greatly on the high levels of moisture and nutrients found in the wood tissue of living trees, which is why logs harvesting from a living tree during its dormant phase ( winter) are highly preferred.
Since the ideal log size for mushroom cultivation is about 4”-6” x 3’ long, and it would be wise to get acquainted with your friend the chainsaw, and while it’s certainly possible to cut limbs this size from a large hardwood tree, it is often easier and safer for the novice to instead fell a small tree with a single main truck that will yield mushroom logs within the desired size range.
Mushroom Log Harvesting - Cutting the Notch from Microfarm Organic Gardens on Vimeo.
The Directional Open Face Notch and Hinge method is a simple, proven technique for safely felling a tree, which uses a notched cut to establish the direction the tree will fall, followed by a felling cut from the other side of the truck.
Mushroom Log Harvesting - Felling the Tree from Microfarm Organic Gardens on Vimeo.
Ready to try the Notch and Hinge directional felling technique yourself?
Click here for detailed step by step guide and video tutorial from chainsaw maker Husqvarna USA. Happy Harvesting, and remember - SAFETY FIRST, ALWAYS!
Reader Comments (1)
First, properly notching to fell a tree is the finishing touch to safely harvesting wood. Having been in the tree care and removal business for over 40 years, I can't overemphasize the need to secure a strong rope in the tree to provide pressure to ensure the direction of the fall. It's a rule in our company no matter how obvious the lean of the tree. You can find plenty of videos on youtube of properly notched trees going the wrong way either because of misjudging weight or lean, sudden gusts of wind or cutting through the hinge into the notch. Removing perfectly healthy trees solely to provide mushrooms seems such a waste when there are so many trees coming down for more pressing needs in town anyway that make the wood available. Felling trees professionally has been deemed the single most dangerous profession by the government and the insurance industry. I'm not trying to be negative, I know the lives changed and lost felling trees. If that video were viewed by OSHA and it was one of our guys, we'd be in for some very hefty fines. I dig what you're doing but please be careful about what you motivate folks to do. Thanks. Pg