I cut down a few invasive trees recently (Norway Maples). If you inoculate the branches and logs with spores of a mushroom that you want (in my case, shiitake) during the first few weeks after cutting, it will fruit with that for a few years. It's a fun DIY project, and a way to reuse trees.
To prevent unwanted mushrooms from the environment from colonizing, you seal the holes you drill, as well as the end the ends of the logs, with cheese wax - which I had heated in a crock pot, hence the need for cleaning that up.
Very cool. I regularly plug logs with various spawn (lately hericium) and have had good luck covering the plug with natural clay instead of wax, which unfortunately I have tons of in my yard. In my case, the cover is mostly to prevent rodents from eating the mushroom spawn, which they seem to love.
The traditional method of getting wax out of clothes is a hot iron and brown paper. I daresay the same principle - melt the wax and soak it up - could be applied to other surfaces.
Always been a bit suspicious of that since it contains oxalic acid, which is toxic. I assume it's water soluble enough to get rid of easily before you use the surfaces for food though.
I cut down a few invasive trees recently (Norway Maples). If you inoculate the branches and logs with spores of a mushroom that you want (in my case, shiitake) during the first few weeks after cutting, it will fruit with that for a few years. It's a fun DIY project, and a way to reuse trees.
To prevent unwanted mushrooms from the environment from colonizing, you seal the holes you drill, as well as the end the ends of the logs, with cheese wax - which I had heated in a crock pot, hence the need for cleaning that up.