RALEIGH, N.C. — The bad news is you lost an oak or a sweetgum in the storm, the good news is now you can grow shiitake and oyster mushrooms. While trees cut when they are dormant are optimal for mushroom cultivation, according to mushroom expert, Extension Area Agent, Richard Boylan, newly cut, fully leafed-out Oak and Sweetgum are excellent hosts for Shiitake and oyster mushrooms. The bark may slip a little sooner than winter-cut-trees but otherwise they are fine. However, you must act quickly, no more than 3 to 4 weeks after the tree came down.
You can also use chipped mixed hardwoods to grow wine cap stropharia. This would allow a little longer window of time (three to four weeks after chipping, rather from the date the tree fell). See this publication by Jeanine Davis and Jean Harrison for instructions.
Sources for spawn:
Mushroom Mountain, Easley, South Carolina
Deep Wood Mushrooms, Mills River, North Carolina
North Spore, Portland, Maine
Read more at: https://gardening.ces.ncsu.edu/2019/09/the-good-news-is/
–Lucy Bradley, N.C. State University