Last April, I got some plugs spawn from @North Spore and used it to inoculate a bunch of oak logs. Compared to cultivating mushrooms in sawdust or grain, growing mushrooms on logs takes significantly longer for the mycelium to work its way through the wood and produce mushrooms. However, logs will produce more mushrooms for longer than less dense forms of substrate. I stacked these logs in my yard and kept them on a mister that goes off four times a day for 20 minutes. It’s been a long time to pay off, but I am very excited for these beautiful shiitake mushrooms thanks to North Spore. . If you want to get your own plug spawn and inoculate logs in your yard, you can use my discount code “FASCINATEDBYFUNGI” on NorthSpore.com to save 10% on your order. Spring is a great time to inoculate logs and build mushroom beds in your yard, get started growing your own mushrooms today! . . . #spreadthespore #northspore #shiitake #Lentinulaedodes #plugspawn #growyourownmushrooms #logcultivation #mushroomcultivation

Hunting black trumpets (Craterellus calicornucopioides) in Mendocino. . . . #blacktrumpets

I have not personally found any morels yet this year, but here’s a little primer to get you excited about morel season. These are Ascomycete mushrooms that tend to fruit in the spring. True morels (Morchella) tend to fruit in association with their host tree when the soil hits 50-60F after sustained cold periods (winter). As far as I understand it, most Morchella are not ectomycorrhizal, but instead live as asexual anamorphic (1n) endophytes within the tissue of their host tree (part of the trees microbiome), while forming sclerotia on the roots. When the host tree dies the sclerotia grows out mycelium, which goes dormant over the winter. In the spring, the mycelium activates, sucking up all the available nitrogen and forming the sexual teleomorphic phase we know as morel mushrooms. This complicated life cycle is part of why it can be so difficult to cultivate morels. . There thousands of species of morels, but they fall into 3 main classes: black/grey morels, blonde morels, and landscape morels. The blacks are more common on the west coast with fire, the blondes are more common across the Midwest/east coast, while landscape morels appear to grow saprotrophically and can randomly pop up in woodchips virtually anywhere. . If you want to learn more about morels and how to hunt them, check out my “Morels On the Mind” episode 15 of the Fascinated By Fungi Podcast. . . . . #morel #morels #morelmushrooms #morchella #oddlysatisfying #opinel #morelseason #mushroomasmr #tappingasmr #asmrtapping

Deep in my banana slug era. . Banana slugs are equipped with 4 sensory stalks, 2 eye stalks, and 2 chemical receptor “taste” stalks. They eat using a set of iron imbued scrapers known as a radula. The hole in the side of the head is called a pneumostome, it is where they breathe and breed. . They glide around on a layer of water loving (hygroscopic) slime that serves not only as their way of getting around but also as a defense against predators (licking a banana slug is not a pleasant experience). The slime also carries hormones, helping slugs to track each other and find mates. Slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites and reproduce through reciprocal exchange of sperm through their exceptionally long members (the 2nd longest penis:body ratio in the animal kingdom). Occasionally after mating, one slug will consume the member of its partner is a process known as apophallation (possibly as a dominance behavior or to supplement nutrients). Hope you enjoy this hungry sluggo! . . #bananaslug #ariolimax #cottagecore #sluglove #goslugs #slugtok #cuteslug #naturevibes #mollusca #california #ucsc #ucsantacruz

#onthisday Flickin’ fungi on TikTok for well over 4 years