Been eyeballing these #mushroom logs up at Snow Goose farms for, probably, over a year.

Today, on our weekend day trippin', we swung by to pick up some greens & stuff. In a moment of vulnerability, my partner opened the door, I gave in, and finally picked up a Blue Oyster log.

Here's to hoping I can stuff this into a dark, damp place & make #food happen.🤞

Day 1 (20240527) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:
#fungi

Day 3 (20240529) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

So it begins...

#fungi

Day 4 (20240530) pic of my Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

These 'lil buggers are coming up fast. I'm only peeking in the closet every two hours or so.😄

#fungi

Day 5 (20240531) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

The left side seems to be zippin along, growing rapidly. Not sure why the right side of the log appears to be lagging behind. Both sides are getting spritzed, lightly, with water evenly. *shrug* Watch & wonder...

#fungi

Day 6 (20240601) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

Not too much change from yesterday. Neat to see the different parts of the log with varied stages of growth. Reminding me a bit of sea anemone.

#fungi

Day 7 (20240602) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

Nice amount of overnight growth. A bit of a close up on the more active left side of the log. The color of the caps is much paler, to the eye, than the picture implies. The longest stem is
about three inches off the face of the log.

I'm still checking it every few hours & staring at the growth.😄 Fascinating to watch.

#fungi

Day 8 (20240603) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

Not too much change since yesterday. Began reading Mushrooms Demystified & chasing down some Blue Oyster specific resources. Apparently, oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) are carniverous. Their mycelia can kill and digest nematodes(roundworms) to obtain nitrogen.

If I am understanding correctly, the mushroom I am growing are Pleurotus ostreatus var. Columbinus (Please correct me if I start spouting mushroom nonsense!)

#fungi

Day 9 (20240604) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

Another uneventful night for growth. Last night, I made an impulsive, excutive decision and made some shallow scores with a knife on right side of the log in the hopes that it would faciliate some growth there. So far, that hasn't borne any fruit yet. We shall see.

#fungi

Day 10 (20240605) pic of Blue Oyster #mushroom log:

A couple small spurts of growth continue around the top right & lower right are emerging. I'm worried the log doesn't like me very much. May need to consider singing to it, or yelling.

#fungi

@kevinbowen maybe it needs more water (given that mushrooms are 90%+ water)?

@mjambon

I definitely think so as well.

As of two & a half days ago, I've been increasing the spritzing and checking that the log is damp. It seems to be drying out _very_ quickly.

Last night, I gave it even more water. Haven't seen much improvement as of this morning. Hopefully, it's recoverable.

@kevinbowen what about the temperature?
Quoting from https://grocycle.com/blue-oyster-mushroom/ :

Temperature
Another factor that differentiates blue oyster mushrooms from other oyster varieties is their preferred temperature.

Blue oyster mushrooms are a cold weather strain that prefers temperatures between 12 to 17 C (54 to 63 F) for fruiting.

When you grow blue oysters within this temperature range, they’ll properly form and their caps will have a nice blue color.

While you can grow blue oysters at higher temperatures, their color becomes a lighter blue or grey color which may be less desirable.

They may also grow a bit misshapen at higher temperatures.