Cultivation of Mycorrhizal Mushrooms - class

Hello Permies!

I'm thinking about putting together a class on cultivating mycorrhizal mushrooms, and want to gauge interest in the Permie community.

Many of the most expensive, and extensively foraged mushrooms in the world are mycorrhizal. These include porcini, chanterelles, matsutake, and truffles which all have international markets valued above a billion dollars. These mushrooms grow on the roots of their hosts in a symbiotic relationship, and are essential members of forest ecosystems. Many are also medicinal, producing compounds with confirmed anti cancer and anti inflammatory properties.

When I took my PDC course, I was first blown away by how much knowledge and structure existed already for designing resilient agro-ecosystems. Then I was surprised that virtually no information was available in any materials I looked at on how to integrate these critical members of the community into the design and practice.

Fast forward almost 15 years, and I'm a soil ecologist working exactly on this type of problem in real farming systems. I'm well positioned to fill that gap.

So my question is: are folks interested in learning how to cultivate mycorrhizal mushrooms and manage their mycorrhizal fungi, or am I just a weirdo?

- Dietrich

I can't guarantee I would take your class, but this is a subject I'm very interested in. I've experimented a bit with moving oak saplings from a chanterelle patch to a new location, hoping they bring their friends along with them, but so far no fruits.

Dietrich Epp Schmidt wrote:Fast forward almost 15 years, and I'm a soil ecologist working exactly on this type of problem in real farming systems. I'm well positioned to fill that gap.

So my question is: are folks interested in learning how to cultivate mycorrhizal mushrooms and manage their mycorrhizal fungi,

Welcome to the forum!

Permies is the perfect place to share your knowledge of Mycorrhizal Mushrooms.

I have no idea what kind of class you have in mind nor how much interest this venture would draw.

My goal has been to share with folks the benefits of mushrooms so I do that right here on the forum even though I am not an expert.

Christopher G Williams wrote:I can't guarantee I would take your class, but this is a subject I'm very interested in. I've experimented a bit with moving oak saplings from a chanterelle patch to a new location, hoping they bring their friends along with them, but so far no fruits.

Can you tell me more about how you moved the tree? How long ago was it? How did the soils compare? How much of the root mass were you able to maintain?

That type of transplant is definitely feasible, but you really need to make sure you're not cutting off the fine root tip portion of the roots, and keeping them moist through the whole transplant process. And ideally the tree is being planted into an area that doesn't have an active community of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms.

Dietrich Epp Schmidt wrote:
Can you tell me more about how you moved the tree? How long ago was it? How did the soils compare? How much of the root mass were you able to maintain?

That type of transplant is definitely feasible, but you really need to make sure you're not cutting off the fine root tip portion of the roots, and keeping them moist through the whole transplant process. And ideally the tree is being planted into an area that doesn't have an active community of ectomycorrhizal mushrooms.

Sure. It was a poorly conceived, spur of the moment kind of thing. I dug a few tiny saplings, getting the great majority if not totality of the root mass. I kept them in pots for several years, and they survived year after year. The problem was I didn't have anywhere good to put them; I only have a small property and no appropriate spot for oaks to grow. They eventually got dumped...

I'd like to try it again someday if I had some habitat appropriate for chantrelles, that did not already have them present. It seems to me they only grow in a very specific soil type with very specific trees in my area.

Dietrich, I haven't done enough foraging to know where to pull stock from, but think it would be cool to have mushrooms growing on our own property like that.  I think it would also be very helpful to use mycorrhizal fungi to improve our animal grazing pasture, improve success in tree plantings, and have more nutritious garden produce.  I've tried a mycorrhizal inoculant in the garden and didn't feel successful.  I've checked for the nodules on alfalfa roots in a field we were buying from and saw nothing.  We plant a lot of trees we buy from the local resource management (a minimum of 25 per variety) and would love to feel successful there.  How much of that would your class cover?

Burton Sparks wrote:Dietrich, I haven't done enough foraging to know where to pull stock from, but think it would be cool to have mushrooms growing on our own property like that.  I think it would also be very helpful to use mycorrhizal fungi to improve our animal grazing pasture, improve success in tree plantings, and have more nutritious garden produce.  I've tried a mycorrhizal inoculant in the garden and didn't feel successful.  I've checked for the nodules on alfalfa roots in a field we were buying from and saw nothing.  We plant a lot of trees we buy from the local resource management (a minimum of 25 per variety) and would love to feel successful there.  How much of that would your class cover?

You raise some great topics here. I am planning on covering a lot of it. I had not been planning on discussing nodules, which are bacterial associations, but now that you mention it I might include it as it may be helpful. I'm not surprised you didn't find inoculants helpful - recent research shows that most commercial products are dead on arrival. My course would in part teach you how to cultivate your own from local environments to build a healthy and resilient population that is adapted to your soils.

Without knowing your system, one hint I can offer is that alliums are generally very good hosts for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi - which associate with fruit trees. Planting along with the trees can help recruit and increase the density of AMF in your system. And transplanting alliums is a great way to transplant AMF by association...

I'm curious what your planting process looks like? Do you buy the trees and plant them directly, or do you ever maintain them in a nursery environment for some time?

Dietrich, now I'm more interested.  Alliums grow wild here.  Do I just find any wild alliums and transplant them near our trees, or should I be looking for certain signs of AMF association?

Dietrich Epp Schmidt wrote:I'm curious what your planting process looks like? Do you buy the trees and plant them directly, or do you ever maintain them in a nursery environment for some time?

We've done both.  This time we're planting bare root trees into air-pots to help improve root structure for a year before planting out.  We have 50 Nanking Cherry's, 25 Caragana, and 25 Western Sand Cherry's.