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helen99From Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets:
"The powerful enzymes secreted by certain fungi digest lignin and cellulose, the primary structural components of wood. These digestive enzymes can also break down a surprisingly wide range of toxins that have chemical bonds like those in wood. Such mushrooms can be classified into 2 subgroups: brown rotters and white rotters. Only about 7 percent of mushrooms are brown rot fungi; of those, about 70 percent are polypors. Brown rot fungi's extracellular enzymes break down the white, pulpy cellulose, leaving behind the brownish lignin (hence the name. These fungi cause checkered cubical cracking and shrinking in wood, which is commonly seen on downed conifer trees. Examples of brown rot mushrooms are:...
(insert long list of mushrooms along with their Latin names here)
...and dry rot house wreckers (such as Serpula lacrymans and Serpula himantiodes)."
One of the astounding things I noticed when I first removed the bathroom wall was that all the fiberglass insulation had turned to dirt. Not just crumbled insulation - dirt. I think they may be onto something here in terms of bioremediation.
How to decommission a logging road using mushrooms, from p79-81 of Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets::
"We set up 3 zones for our mycoremediation experiement. The lower section of the road, with the greatest slope, was most at risk for erosion. The middle section was fairly wide, over 30 feet, with a gentler grade. The upper portion of the road, the third zone, had the gentlest slope. Our intent was to prevent bank erosion and filter the silt-saturated runoff from rain.
We arranged for the delivery of 3 loads of waste wood - a crude mixture of bark, wood chips, and fir needles. North Mason Fiber, a local supplier to the pulp paper industry, donated these loads, and 7 Fungi Perfecti employees donated their time to spread the wood chip matrix 6 inches deep over the length of the road. Then we tossed handfuls of spawn of the native oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus on top. After the chips were distriubuted, we spread 6 bales of wheat straw over the top to help hold in moisture for the spawn's benefit.
On top of the straw, we spread 20 pounds of Regreen, a nonseeding wheat approved for erosion control, using a broadcast seeder stocked with 1 pound of Mycogrow, a pocorrhizal inoculum. (I recommend using native grasses over commercial varieties, but the simple fact is that native grass seed is difficult and expensive to acquire.).
We completed the work in mid-April, when rainfall was intermittently heavy. A week later we returned to the site and found the habitat in its first stages of restoration with seeds sprouting.
The reason we selected Pleurotos ostreatus as our keystone species is that this primary saprophyte is indigenous, aggressive, and adaptable to growing under a variety of conditions and temperatures. Future trials will use a matrix of white rot, brown rot, and other mycorrhizal species. No parasite species are contemplated.
Once a micofiltration habitat is constructed, ecological recovery unfolds and nature guides the course. Spores are released as mushrooms grow to maturity, giving rise to more micelium, which further colonizes the substrate. As the micelium infiltrates the wood chips, more moisture is retained. The new mushrooms also attract native insects and the rotting mushrooms become breeding grounds for fly larvae and grubs, subsequently attracting animals from lizards to birds.
As the wheat grass climaxes and dies and the wood chips decompose, a rich soil is created, further nurturing recovering native species. For every 12 inches of wood chips, we estimate that 1 to 2 inches of soil are created after 4 years of decomposition by oyster mushrooms. After several years, a mantle of mycelium forms where the wood chips and gravelly sandy soil meet. This sheath of mycelium overlays and holds the gravel together -- gravel that ends up actually being beneficial in that it adds structural resilence to the roads subsurface and provides porosity and microcavities that flourish with microbial life.
Through this simple, direct, and practical approach, ugly roads, the source of numerous ecological problems, are transformed into green, foot-friendly pathways for hikers and other fauna. Mycorestoration practices also offer a complementary management strategy for long-term sustainability of our forestlands in general. Wood chips are the ecological currency that we should bank for preventing erosion."
"The powerful enzymes secreted by certain fungi digest lignin and cellulose, the primary structural components of wood. These digestive enzymes can also break down a surprisingly wide range of toxins that have chemical bonds like those in wood. Such mushrooms can be classified into 2 subgroups: brown rotters and white rotters. Only about 7 percent of mushrooms are brown rot fungi; of those, about 70 percent are polypors. Brown rot fungi's extracellular enzymes break down the white, pulpy cellulose, leaving behind the brownish lignin (hence the name. These fungi cause checkered cubical cracking and shrinking in wood, which is commonly seen on downed conifer trees. Examples of brown rot mushrooms are:...
(insert long list of mushrooms along with their Latin names here)
...and dry rot house wreckers (such as Serpula lacrymans and Serpula himantiodes)."
One of the astounding things I noticed when I first removed the bathroom wall was that all the fiberglass insulation had turned to dirt. Not just crumbled insulation - dirt. I think they may be onto something here in terms of bioremediation.
How to decommission a logging road using mushrooms, from p79-81 of Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets::
"We set up 3 zones for our mycoremediation experiement. The lower section of the road, with the greatest slope, was most at risk for erosion. The middle section was fairly wide, over 30 feet, with a gentler grade. The upper portion of the road, the third zone, had the gentlest slope. Our intent was to prevent bank erosion and filter the silt-saturated runoff from rain.
We arranged for the delivery of 3 loads of waste wood - a crude mixture of bark, wood chips, and fir needles. North Mason Fiber, a local supplier to the pulp paper industry, donated these loads, and 7 Fungi Perfecti employees donated their time to spread the wood chip matrix 6 inches deep over the length of the road. Then we tossed handfuls of spawn of the native oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus on top. After the chips were distriubuted, we spread 6 bales of wheat straw over the top to help hold in moisture for the spawn's benefit.
On top of the straw, we spread 20 pounds of Regreen, a nonseeding wheat approved for erosion control, using a broadcast seeder stocked with 1 pound of Mycogrow, a pocorrhizal inoculum. (I recommend using native grasses over commercial varieties, but the simple fact is that native grass seed is difficult and expensive to acquire.).
We completed the work in mid-April, when rainfall was intermittently heavy. A week later we returned to the site and found the habitat in its first stages of restoration with seeds sprouting.
The reason we selected Pleurotos ostreatus as our keystone species is that this primary saprophyte is indigenous, aggressive, and adaptable to growing under a variety of conditions and temperatures. Future trials will use a matrix of white rot, brown rot, and other mycorrhizal species. No parasite species are contemplated.
Once a micofiltration habitat is constructed, ecological recovery unfolds and nature guides the course. Spores are released as mushrooms grow to maturity, giving rise to more micelium, which further colonizes the substrate. As the micelium infiltrates the wood chips, more moisture is retained. The new mushrooms also attract native insects and the rotting mushrooms become breeding grounds for fly larvae and grubs, subsequently attracting animals from lizards to birds.
As the wheat grass climaxes and dies and the wood chips decompose, a rich soil is created, further nurturing recovering native species. For every 12 inches of wood chips, we estimate that 1 to 2 inches of soil are created after 4 years of decomposition by oyster mushrooms. After several years, a mantle of mycelium forms where the wood chips and gravelly sandy soil meet. This sheath of mycelium overlays and holds the gravel together -- gravel that ends up actually being beneficial in that it adds structural resilence to the roads subsurface and provides porosity and microcavities that flourish with microbial life.
Through this simple, direct, and practical approach, ugly roads, the source of numerous ecological problems, are transformed into green, foot-friendly pathways for hikers and other fauna. Mycorestoration practices also offer a complementary management strategy for long-term sustainability of our forestlands in general. Wood chips are the ecological currency that we should bank for preventing erosion."
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-06 12:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-06 10:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-06 01:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-06 10:20 pm (UTC)Stamets bought some clearcut land in British Columbia and is doing experiments with using mycelium to restore parts of it and not using mycelium on other parts. He's already shown that the myceliated portion is growing about twice as rapidly and the soil is richer. He intends to keep going with the experiment for the next 100 years (he is probably taking apprentices, since he offers a couple of intensive seminars..
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-06 05:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-06 05:36 am (UTC)Mushrooms
Date: 2006-03-06 05:58 pm (UTC)Re: Mushrooms
Date: 2006-03-06 06:03 pm (UTC)http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Mushrooms.Folder/Oyster.html
Rialian just inoculated some coffee groiunds with some dried oyster mushrooms he found, and he's hoping to grow some. I don't plan to eat any mushrooms that weren't grown in a sterile environment from spores that were purchased from a reputable grower though. The reason is, a lot of them look alike, or the growing medium could get contaminated with additional spores that I don't know about.
Re: Mushrooms
Date: 2006-03-06 11:39 pm (UTC)Other mushrooms involved may or may not be.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-06 10:13 pm (UTC)There's an interesting anecdote that goes along with how he became a botanist, forest preservationist, and mycologist.
He made his start in life working as a clear-cutter/logger for a lumber company. One day after a particularly profitable run, there was an explosion involving a tree that apparently was rotten in its core, and the pressure of felling it caused the stump to burst out with a bunch of 800-pound wood shrapnel in all directions. To escape death, he and two other guys ran for it, only to find out that the trunk fell in the exact direction of their panicked running.
To further escape death, they hid behind... a tree, which proceeded to save their lives. After that he quit logging and went to botany school...