GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Truffles and James Beard and Psilocybe mushrooms: Oh my!

13-11-2002, 01:40 AM

(Daniel B. Wheeler) wrote in message . com...
(Scott Murphy) wrote in message . com...

As for your prophylactics, I've a friend who has taken that up as her
undergrad thesis this year. She is using an increment bore to take
samples from different tree species and putting this into some sort of
medium in a petri dish. I think that she is trying to isolate these
fungi to innoculate both standing timber and maybe even log decks, as
these fungi are known to attack decay organisms. I love forestry...
it blows my mind, the kinds of things that are going on in the forest!

The problem with inoculating log decks is the logs are already dying
or dead. The mycorrhizal fungi that provide protection from root rots
are associated only with living trees. Still...any research into
mycorrhizal cultivation is likely going to be a positive thing (though
I don't hold much hope for mycorrhizal fungi cultivation with
non-living tissue). The most recent research strongly supports a
succession of mycorrhizal fungi with individual trees over time. But
there are darn few long-term mycological studies, and such must be
considered more anecdotal than convincing at this time.

I checked in with her, and she said the fungi they are trying isolate
have been found in telephone poles across the country; this of course
would be in poles pre-dating pressure-treating or creosote. That
apparently is what piqued their interest in the application to log
decks. Having said that, she said her final goal is not log decks,
but the inoculation of seedlings before they are planted. So there
you go! g

Scott

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com