Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within greening the desert Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
organic pools package deal: video, manual, and World Domination Gardening Living Woods Magazine Woodcarving free 1st issue permaculture bootcamp sketch with tools Better Wood Heat DIY Rocket Mass Heater DVD Building a Better World Book with earth bricks
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
Better Wood Heat DIY Rocket Mass Heater DVD benefits of pie IC.org GMC website SKIP Paul in a cast iron skillet
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

Mushrooms in a desert swale

 
Neal Spackman
Posts: 108
Location: around
36
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator



One of the results of our rainfall from 6 weeks ago in Makkah.

People are the keystone species of the planet.

 
Miles Flansburg
pollinator
Posts: 4715
Location: Zones 2-4 Wyoming and 4-5 Colorado
492
3
I like...
hugelkultur forest garden fungi books bee greening the desert
posted 10 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Neal , that is wild!

Looks like they came up in compacted disturbed soil.

Would there have been organic material underneath?

How common is that fungus in the area around you?

how permies.com works
real sounding name policy

 
Neal Spackman
Posts: 108
Location: around
36
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hey Miles,

it is disturbed--it's sitting on about a foot of silted up swale that would have had a little bit of compost underneath, but not more than a couple inches. It's not really compacted though--i was the first one walking on it. The fungus has a local name but it's very rare to see.

People are the keystone species of the planet.

 
Jennifer Wadsworth
Posts: 2679
Location: Phoenix, AZ (9b)
201
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Wow!! Neal, thanks as always for posting. That's a pretty positive feedback loop for your project.

Fungus is so rare in desert climates, at least on the surface. Every once in awhile I'll get some "dog vomit slime mold" on my woodchip mulch. And sometimes in a shady, cool spot I'll get a few above ground fungi.

Subtropical desert (Köppen: BWh)
Elevation: 1090 ft Annual rainfall: 7"

 
Michael Cox
pollinator
Posts: 3859
Location: Kent, UK - Zone 8
705
I like...
books composting toilet bee rocket stoves wood heat homestead
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Oooh Jen,

That's pretty

Moderator, Treatment Free Beekeepers group on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/treatmentfreebeekeepers/

 
Jennifer Wadsworth
Posts: 2679
Location: Phoenix, AZ (9b)
201
posted 10 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
It's attractive in both name and form, no?

What's funny is that these often occur near where my drip irrigation is and usually it is in a smallish disc shape. Inevitably these dry up here in our high-evap conditions and they form a kind of natural Frisbee! Next time this occurs, I'll take a pic.

Subtropical desert (Köppen: BWh)
Elevation: 1090 ft Annual rainfall: 7"

 
Neal Spackman
Posts: 108
Location: around
36
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
On second thought, yes this was somewhat compacted by a Bobcat we had moving some rocks to some other earthworks--you can see the tracks in the video.

People are the keystone species of the planet.

 
John Elliott
pollinator
Posts: 2392
104
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Neal Spackman wrote: The fungus has a local name but it's very rare to see.



Then you are doing something right! I would just add that when you see mushrooms, that means that the hyphal network wanst to propagate to new places. Take those mushrooms, even if they are dried, and whiz them up with some water and get them started on new piles of dead biomass. Let's not be lazy permaculturalists and wait for the wind to disperse the spores; let's do some active spore propagation!
 
Neal Spackman
Posts: 108
Location: around
36
posted 10 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hey John...

Dead piles of biomass are pretty rare in these parts! When I tested the soil for organic content they told me it was 95% sand and 5% silicates...

People are the keystone species of the planet.

 
John Elliott
pollinator
Posts: 2392
104
posted 10 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Paper and cardboard will do in a pinch. Do they have paper shredders in Saudi Arabia? Surely they must have upgraded from the old clay tablet technology.....
 
Philip Durso
Posts: 142
Location: Missoula, Montana (zone 4)
9
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm wondering if these are related to the fungus Geoff Lawton speaks of in the video I'm linking below (02:30) This fungus seems to be desalinating the soil around it.

 
Neal Spackman
Posts: 108
Location: around
36
posted 10 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

John Elliott wrote:Paper and cardboard will do in a pinch. Do they have paper shredders in Saudi Arabia? Surely they must have upgraded from the old clay tablet technology.....



I actually have a compost pile where i'll put it--it becomes part of the soil i plant our saplings with so it can provide some innoculation.

People are the keystone species of the planet.

 
What are you doing in my house? Get 'em tiny ad!
A rocket mass heater is the most sustainable way to heat a conventional home
http://woodheat.net
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...