Growing Turkey Tail Mushrooms

Article Quicklinks hide

L-Theanine and Lion’s Mane: the Synergistic Mental Effects

Mushroom Coffee Recipe for Enhancing Your Morning Well-being

Growing Turkey Tail Mushroom at Home

Turkey Tail Mushrooms are pretty easy to grow in your backyard. The easiest way to try growing them is by purchasing them in kits. That way, all you need to do is open up the bags and keep them moist, and turkey tail mushrooms will begin to grow. Alternatively, you can purchase a spawn plug of wood chips or a spherule, and use that to inoculate logs.

The process is pretty much like growing Shiitake mushrooms on logs. Hardwood logs like oak or maple would be best suited to growing turkey tails. But we have also heard that folks are having a lot of success growing turkey tails on recycled Christmas trees.

You will want to begin your grow late in winter or early spring, just before you might see natural turkey tail appearing in your backyard. To grow turkey tail mushrooms, you can start by looking for a stump from a hardwood like oak, maple, or pine tree in your backyard. Choosing a stump to grow on will make this whole process a lot easier as roots will supply the wood with moisture and decrease watering needs.

If your yard does not have a stump, that does not mean that you cannot grow turkey tail. It just means that you have to try and find a log, about 3-to-8 inches long, that is either Oak, Maple, or Pine at a local park or somewhere near your home, with permission.

When choosing where you want to grow your turkey tail mushrooms, you want to make sure that it is located in an area with some shade, because this will help your mushrooms to flourish.

Clean up the area before starting to cultivate, as this will lessen the chance that any other mushrooms may be able to live in the area afterward. Once you have a stub that is located in an ideal spot, you will want to start inoculating this stump with Turkey Tail Spawn Plugs.

To do so, grab a 5/16-inch drill bit, disinfect it with rub alcohol, and place it into your drill. Drill a hole approximately 2 inches off of the edge on the side that is on the top side of the stump, as well as making it approximately 1 1/4 inches deep. When done, you will then poke a spawn plug in the hole.

You can find turkey tail spawn plugs online. But always try to find a local seller in your city or community to help support local businesses.

Continue drilling a series of holes in the stump, spaced at 4-inch intervals, and insertion and hammering in your plugin spawns as you go. Now, you will need to drill a new row of holes, three inches away from the last one, while inserting the spawn plugs the same way you did previously.

You will want to keep doing this process until the top of the stump is covered in spawn plugs. Now, you are going to grab some cheese wax and heat it up two about 145° F. With the help of a paint brush, you want to coat each spawn plug hole as it melts. This will seal the spawn plugs to the wood.

How Do You Cook Turkey Tail Mushrooms?

However, making tea with turkey tail mushrooms is not as simple as simply dumping warm water on the mushroom powder and leaving it there for several minutes. To get the most benefits, you will want to simmer turkey tails for at least an hour.

This will help extract as many of the beneficial compounds as possible.