Question about the mushrooms to use. Is it better to use mushrooms native to the area OR as per my simple understanding you can use any mushroom. If the mushroom is not native to the area I am having trouble understanding how it will colonise it and make hypae?

Kindest regards
Susan  

Is it better to use mushrooms native to the area OR as per my simple understanding you can use any mushroom. If the mushroom is not native to the area I am having trouble understanding how it will colonise it and make hypae?

As far as I know you can use any mushroom, but it may be preferable to use natives, particularly if they are choice edibles.  A fungi is looking for certain materials that it breaks down to gain nutrients and water with it's hyphae.  It does not need to be native to do this, but there is no guarantee that another fungi which is likely native will not dominate the breakdown of that particular material.  Regardless, fungal spores are extremely hardy things that can last for a very long time in the soil or on open ground, and so it is likely that at some point they will find their niche as carbon layers are added, if they didn't right off the start.  From what i understand, it may take several years for a fungi to develop a large enough network before it forms fruiting bodies (mushrooms or bracket fungi).    

Thanks for that Robert. The reason I asked was I belong to a Landcare group here in Australia and National Tree Planting day is coming up. Of cos we are planting trees and grasses but they want, and are going to use,glyphosate pre-planting to get rid of the weeds. I spoke about using a mushroom slurry and that the soils are bacterial dominated and the question was asked about how I expected them to colonise and make mycorrhizal fungi, this was by a PhD in Environmental Studies. Her post name letters out weighed mine and I got laughed at, made me ask.
regards
Susan  

and the question was asked about how I expected them to colonise and make mycorrhizal fungi, this was by a PhD in Environmental Studies.

 Interesting that a PhD enviro disrespects you for suggesting mycorhyzal fungi when the alternative is glyphosate.  That said, the fungi slurry might not get rid of your weeds.  It might but it might actually increase them, or change the species selection...  Whatever Nature needs doing in that particular location, when given that addition.  You can tell your PhD associate that all soil has fungi and the vast majority of plants have a fungal partner as well as bacterial associates.  The fungi gather minerals and sometimes other things like water for the plant in exchange for sugars that are developed by the plant in photosynthesis.      

I spoke about using a mushroom slurry and that the soils are bacterial dominated and the question was asked about how I expected them to colonise and make mycorrhizal fungi, this was by a PhD in Environmental Studies. Her post name letters out weighed mine and I got laughed at, made me ask.
 

Shame on the "environmental doctor" for even thinking of using glyphosate much less encouraging it, she is not thinking correctly, especially since Australia is about to ban the product from what I understand.
Sorry for her, because your ideas are far better for the land than her wanting to use a product under testing for carcinogenic properties (which abound and are being tested by at least 20 countries at the moment).

Sadly, if they should use the glyphosate, any mycelium that was installed prior or post application will have a hard time surviving/ establishing the first six months post application.

It is well known (and the PHD should know this) that mycorrhizae are a boon to all trees and many other plants, helping with water and mineral uptake, consolidating soil to prevent moisture loss and they are part of the fungi network in the soil allowing communication and travel by and with all the microorganisms.

Redhawk  

Bryant RedHawk wrote:It is well known (and the PHD should know this) that mycorrhizae are a boon to all trees and many other plants, helping with water and mineral uptake, consolidating soil to prevent moisture loss and they are part of the fungi network in the soil allowing communication and travel by and with all the microorganisms.

Redhawk  

I've been reading up on fungi from the point of view of growing them for their own sake rather than as a soil amendment, but am also interested in the latter. Some of the texts reckon that fungi help plants particularly when soils are poor, but when soils are good the trees prefer to use their own roots and aren't bothered about giving up exudates to the fungi in return for minerals in a root friendly form. How much truth is in this?


I've also seen recommendations as to not disturbing the soil where spores are as the spores don't increase in number until fructification, and tilling etc lowers the number of spores between fructification events. Seems reasonable so far. But then what about compost teas, is there a risk that while brewing a compost tea is bound to proliferate bacteria, it will disturb/kill spores?

hau Steve,

Let us take a look at fungi and how they work for nature.
Fungi are part of the decay processor group, but when we talk about trees, shrubs, bushes and most of the vegetables we are most interested in mycorrhizae, which are divided into two groups, endotrophic (inside root cells) and arbuscular or exotrophic (out side the root cells).
So, how much sense does it make to think that plants would not want these helpers that move water into the root cells, move minerals into the root cells and are the transporters of the plant's exudates?
Anyone that would make a written statement that plants would prefer to do all the work all alone, does not understand the interconnections that nature has set up over the last billion years or so.

Many of those minerals aren't available to the root system unless the bacteria and fungi secrete the enzymes that dissolve the minerals from the rocks, thus without these helpers, the tree can not have access to those minerals.

I would have to cry bunk to anyone who thought any plant would not want all the helpers it could get.
Roots are not as efficient at up take of minerals or water on their own as they are when they have the helpers in place.

Spores are the reproduction part of the fungi fruit (mushrooms to us). Tillage cuts up the existing hyphae (strands of mycelium) and exposure to sun light dries these up and kills them.
Fungi only fruit when there is full occupation by hyphae (the white masses usually called spawn) of any medium they are growing in.
Spores are designed to "sprout" when the conditions are right for their survival (a spore starts a strand of mycelium and many strands wrap together to form hyphae).
When we brew a compost tea, there should be an almost equal number of bacteria and fungi along with a smattering of the other microorganisms we want in the soil for balance of the microbiome.

Tilling is only done to incorporate humus (organic matter that feeds all the organisms of the microbiome) in a perfect world.
Since tilling is a form of disturbance it can also be used to direct the succession mechanism.

So if i buy 100 spores of a particular fungus, i am going to get 100 mycelliae, and nurturing them is only going to make these stronger and combine into hyphae but im never going to get more than 100 until fructification?

I think you might be confusing how fungi grow with something like a tomato and seeds.
Fungi spores are like the seeds of a plant, you do not get seeds without a fruit, but the plant grows.

Once a fungi spore germinates it grows as mycelium, one singe spore will produce a long strand of mycelium (some can reach 100 yards long).
If all you had was one spore to germinate, and you carefully extracted it after just 30 days, you would have a silky looking strand around 100 feet long with several branches coming off the main "stem".
This can be compared to a single tomato seed sprouting and growing unchecked, how will it look as it grows?
This long main stem would not be growing in a straight line it would curve and curl back upon itself in some places, the longer it was left to grow the longer and higher number of branches it would have.
This one strand would continue to grow and overlap itself until it fully occupied an area, at that point it would put off fruits after a rain.
If it only put out one mushroom that one fruit would produce millions of spores if left to fully mature.

The best way to "nurture" your growing mycelium is to leave it alone except to make sure there is some moisture in the growing medium but not a huge amount, just slightly damp is what fungi prefer.