Hi all. I could have sworn I posted about this but when I came back here I saw no post.

anyway about 6-8 months ago I bought two shiitake mushroom logs online. They came with a few pages of instruction that were a bit confusing/overwhelming...talking about soaking them in ice water 24 hours, putting in a plastic bag in fridge, then taking them out...banging them on bottom of log to release/stimulate the spores (or whatever they are called for mushrooms)...that you need to try to mimic the natural environment of a dead log in a forest...constantly damp, but getting some sun during the day (never direct sun) and dark at night...that they should produce mushrooms...then you let the log 'rest' and try to make the other log 'fruit'.

anyway i have tried this many different ways...I finally got the start of some mushrooms but then they never came to fruition...they just remained sorta stubby and dried out...though I was misting the log daily at that point.

Is it really this difficult? I didn't think this process would be so bloody complicated. Clearly the logs have the potential for mushrooms as I saw them start to come up, but clearly I'm not doing something right.

I've called the company so many times for help that it's sort of embarrassing to call again. I think their directions are just too much...too overwhelming..they talk about myellia and pins and green mold that is there because of white hard mold?...they also say it needs indirect indoor light but I'm not sure if that means that all indoor light (through a glass window) is by default INDIRECT light, or are they saying that if you have a sunny apartment that the log shouldn't be sitting in a bright window...that it should be moved away from the window?

Ugh....I'm so confused.

Thanks!!