Shiitake log compost

Contact them and ask them what "greens" or amendments to it besides the shiitake logs themselves. Most things that people add to compost to help it decompose are generally safe though, like banana peels and other fruit scraps. Even manure is often cited to be used in adventurous Japanese flake soil. Shiitake logs are almost always hardwood, and they will detoxify most unfriendly substances found in any odd hardwoods anyways. The addition of composting should make it relatively safe. Since it is essentially composted white rot wood, I would say it would be okay to use for most Dynastes or Lucanid beetles as long as you are sure of what else they add besides the shiitake log to it. Honestly I am pretty jealous you are able to get it for free. If you find out it is ideal,  you have the potential to easily breed beetles in large numbers. Also, since you seem to live so close to the farm, if you have any difficult to breed Lucanids or Lucanids that need rotted wood to ovisposit, their shiitake or oyster log would be suitable breeding material. Rotted wood that is completely myceliated tends to be the gold standard for breeding difficult species.

 
Its been a couple of years since I picked up any from them.  At the time I was using it as soil amendment.  It appears to be mostly spent oak sawdust, pretty clean actually.  I don't believe they compost it, as you'll see lots of full sawdust logs. My suggestion is to get a bunch of it and compost it for a couple months.  Good luck getting an email response from them, you just need to show up.  Depending on timing, their pile might be huge or mostly gone, but plenty for larvae use.

 
Its been a couple of years since I picked up any from them.  At the time I was using it as soil amendment.  It appears to be mostly spent oak sawdust, pretty clean actually.  I don't believe they compost it, as you'll see lots of full sawdust logs. My suggestion is to get a bunch of it and compost it for a couple months.  Good luck getting an email response from them, you just need to show up.  Depending on timing, their pile might be huge or mostly gone, but plenty for larvae use.
So I'm guessing it's not suitable for use right away?

 
So I'm guessing it's not suitable for use right away?
If the shiitake log has been completely spent by the mycellium it is by definition already ready for most species of stag beetle once ground up. This is essentially white rot wood. This is how the breeding logs they sell in Japan are sold. These logs are capable for rearing most stag beetless. This is also how the mushroom substrate they sell is created, it is a byproduct of shiitake log production. In Japan they sometimes it without being composted further, and it is suitable substrate for several stag beetle species. For rhino beetles, you will definitely have to compost it further. It would not hurt for you tor ferment it further for your stag beetles either. A word of note though, not all stag beetles can survive on a white rot wood only substrate... but that should only really matter if you happen to keep exotics somehow. Think of it like kinshi that has been accidently fruited. It isn't as good as kinshi for stag beetles, but the lignin has been nearly completely broken down though.

 
If the shiitake log has been completely spent by the mycellium it is by definition already ready for most species of stag beetle once ground up. This is essentially white rot wood. This is how the breeding logs they sell in Japan are sold. These logs are capable for rearing most stag beetless. This is also how the mushroom substrate they sell is created, it is a byproduct of shiitake log production. In Japan they sometimes it without being composted further, and it is suitable substrate for several stag beetle species. For rhino beetles, you will definitely have to compost it further. It would not hurt for you tor ferment it further for your stag beetles either. A word of note though, not all stag beetles can survive on a white rot wood only substrate... but that should only really matter if you happen to keep exotics somehow. Think of it like kinshi that has been accidently fruited. It isn't as good as kinshi for stag beetles, but the lignin has been nearly completely broken down though.
Thanks for the info! :)   

 
Have you had a chance to pick any up yet? Curious what your thoughts were on it.  I was thinking about heading over next week to pick up a couple bag fulls.

 
No. I won't be able to pick it up anytime soon. I was just exploring my options for now. Let me know how it goes though. 

 
I decided to head over to CCD this morning.  Quick summary: there's a lot of potential grub food, composting isn't currently happening, and you can take all you want.  The pile is at least 9 feet tall.  Its is 98% dried sawdust logs, with some shiitake and oyster mushrooms thrown in.  The "logs" are very dry and won't crush easily.  I came home with 4-32 gallon trash bags full.  I'll start soaking them this weekend and see where I can go with this.  Does anyone have thoughts on how to process for use with granti?

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I decided to head over to CCD this morning.  Quick summary: there's a lot of potential grub food, composting isn't currently happening, and you can take all you want.  The pile is at least 9 feet tall.  Its is 98% dried sawdust logs, with some shiitake and oyster mushrooms thrown in.  The "logs" are very dry and won't crush easily.  I came home with 4-32 gallon trash bags full.  I'll start soaking them this weekend and see where I can go with this.  Does anyone have thoughts on how to process for use with granti?
I got some logs a couple months ago and breaking down all of them by hand was a pain in the ass. Not to mention the amount of mold it grow if you keep it wet even for like 2 days. I've tried giving the wet logs directly to both rhino/stag larvae and it seemed like there was little to no nutrition left in it considering the fact that they took forever to grow/molt but to be honest it's probably because it's not composted enough to the point where the larvae can get all the available nutrients. I think the best way to use these is to crush them into fine pieces and then adding it to your flake soil mix for fermentation. In my experience, the flake soil that was fermenting generated a lot more heat and was able to finish faster. If you happen to ferment large amount of logs, let me know how it goes. I'm interested to see if the oak logs are worth the hassle.  

 
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Just so you know... mushroom logs that has been inoculated with mushroom spores and cultivated has NO NUTRITION LEFT OVER in log (compared to more regularly used substrate base: BBQ wood pellets), and that's why they throw it away... Unless you ferment it with additives, it's no good for your scarab larvae.. You can't use it as it is.

 
Just so you know... mushroom logs that has been inoculated with mushroom spores and cultivated has NO NUTRITION LEFT OVER in log (compared to more regularly used substrate base: BBQ wood pellets), and that's why they throw it away... Unless you ferment it with additives, it's no good for your scarab larvae.. You can't use it as it is.
Does the nutrition come from the additives added or the fermentation process? I know the larvae of Trypoxylus dichotoma are sometimes found in broken down shiitake logs in Korea and Japan and surely there aren't any additives added. 

 
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Does the nutrition come from the additives added or the fermentation process? I know the larvae of Trypoxylus dichotoma are sometimes found in broken down shiitake logs in Korea and Japan and surely there aren't any additives added. 
Yes, in fermentation process. If the compost left outside for a while, fermentation may occur naturally. T. dichotomus and some other scarab larvae are found in such compost simply because females lay eggs here and there wherever she can. Adult beetles can't really tell whether it is actually nutritious or not..😅

 
The leftover wood fermented over time, so beetle larvae can be found in them. T. dichotomus larvae are not picky eaters so they eat whatever substrate they are in. I heard that in korea they find them in random piles of soil. 

Does the nutrition come from the additives added or the fermentation process? I know the larvae of Trypoxylus dichotoma are sometimes found in broken down shiitake logs in Korea and Japan and surely there aren't any additives added. 


 
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