Hi

I'm reading out of a lunar calendar book, that in this period is useful to burn the resets of the old crops to reduce the risk of fungi's plant diseases.
Is not explained what's the origin of this fungi.
Now I'm thinking about the way I use to build the rised beds. Isnt this a perfect envoirment for fungi? Did you have experience of such kind of diseases?

cheers
Roberto

There are many different kinds of fungi, living in many different kinds of environments, filling different ecological niches. To lump them all together as being the same is like comparing a giraffe to a carrot.

Saprophytic fungi eat only dead matter. Without these kinds of fungi, wood and leaves would never break down.

Mycorrhizal fungi live on the roots of plants and supply plants with nutrients in exchange for different nutrients. Some of these fungi live on the roots, some of them actually live inside the roots. Recent research suggests that the majority of green plants exist symbiotically with fungal allies, in much the same way bacteria live inside human beings.

Fungal pathogens that attack crops are highly specialized. Each pathogen typically only attacks a particular kind of plant. If a fungal pathogen becomes a problem, it might be because one is growing too much of a particular kind of crop, or because one is not rotating annual crops enough. The loss of beneficial fungi by farming methods such as tilling and synthetic fertilization may encourage the growth of disease causing organisms. (Like how taking antibiotics kills the good bacteria in the human intestine, allowing bad bacteria to bloom and cause sickness.)

Thanks for the reply Frank

what to you think about fighting parasitic fungi using not parasitic? I read in the petri dish one is able to overgrow another. What do you think?

I don't see any real need to fight any one fungus with another if one's system is in balance. And sometimes the difference between what is a parasite and what is a beneficial organism is a matter of perspective or opinion. (Take corn smut, for example - we consider it a parasite in the U.S., but in Mexico it is a delicacy.)

That said, fungi-fighting fungi are going to be used on real-world industrial crops very soon. Scientists have bred Aspergillus species of fungi to NOT produce aflatoxins - spores from these specially bred fungi will be sprayed on crops, where they will (hopefully) outproduce the species that do produce the deadly toxins.

filling up as many of those different ecological niches with beneficial fungi can help (and certainly wont hurt)since they will produce enzymes, antibacterials, and alcohols that can help to balance the microbial life in your soil you can  even put in a few kinds of spawn like say Shaggy mane, wine cap and garden oysters at the same time and will work out a natural succession and as you keep adding new layers of organic matter it will keep the colonies alive and producing mushrooms for years to come while speeding decomposition and releasing nutrients to your plant