hello chaps,was just thinking about how hard it is to come by some chaga around here,now what i was wondering is is it possible to grow it on a tree? i mean i have a silver birch that is due to come down next year and i was thinking of making a slit in the bark and introducing chaga dust/shavings,recon itd work?
growing chaga fungi?
- Thread starter fishfish
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All of the above, and do you 'really' want to introduce a tree killing fungi into your neighbourhood when it's not part of the present ecosystem ?
cheers,
Toddy
cheers,
Toddy
It's a very human thing to do; to move something useful nearer to hand 
or to propagate it to make it more available.
The world's getting too small for us to do some of it though
cheers,
M
or to propagate it to make it more available.The world's getting too small for us to do some of it though
cheers,
M
And remember that the black conks is not the spore bearing fruit of the fungus. The spore bearing fruit does not appear before after the tree has actually died, and it is very fragile and deteriorate in a few days. It is very rarely seen, and you would need one to collect spores to infect the tree.
I know there are places that sell different mushroom spores, but I have not seen chaga spores for sale (but it might be foe all I know).
I know there are places that sell different mushroom spores, but I have not seen chaga spores for sale (but it might be foe all I know).
I suppose the very short spore bearing stage compared to the lifespan of the fungus goes a long way to explaining its rarity.
1 in every 1000 Birch being infected on average springs to mind and even this seems very high for the UK.
although we had 2 trees within 10m of eachother in oandu. 1 in 1000 is what i understood to be typical. ive got 2kg in the airing cupboard
...... ive got 2kg in the airing cupboard
Stick the kettle on chap I'll never forget the football sized one I saw coming back to the airport.
Yes, I think you are right. I've read everything from 1/1000 to 1/15000, and it takes up to 20 years from the tree is infected til it is dead and the spore bearing stage develops. Very often the tree is felled or dies of other things before the fungus reaches its reproduction stage.
And I guess there are great regional differences in how common it is. Where I live now, just north of Oslo it can be found quite often, but Where I grew up in the woods and mountains north-aest from here it is very rare.
I more or less stumbeled into this old birch on a hike earlier this summer in the area where Igrew up. There was only one little twig with leaves on it, the rest was dead, and it actually hadd two conkers on it. Maybe the chaga will reach it's spore bearing phase on this one in a couple of years.
Concker number one.
And number two.
The conckers wasn't to big, but I got two nice pieces of it (I didn't realize that that ant was crawling on my thumb before I saw the pictures).
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Nice pics Skaukraft
Two conks (sp?) on one tree and very low too. I find it fascinating stuff.
The one Pete spotted was a little higher lol
Nice pics Skaukraft
Two conks (sp?) on one tree and very low too. I find it fascinating stuff.
This was at some altitude (approx 700 masl), and the tree was the mountain variety of the betula pubescens, meaning short and twisted trunk. The total hight of the tree was not more than 4 meters high, but my guess is that it is 40+ years old.
It is the tree to the right of the ant hill. I was just down in the stream to fill my water bottle when something caught my eye.
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Found these wonderfull pictures of the spore bearing fruit of the chaga fungus: http://www.mushroomhunter.net/091208.htm
Thsi is the stuff you need if you want to infect other trees.
Thsi is the stuff you need if you want to infect other trees.
Nice find Skaukraft, that looks familiar. I've seen that before I'm sure of it.
Wondering if any other species have similar fruiting bodies?
Thanks guys. Always fun to learn something new.
Sorry for highjacking your thread a bit Fishfish. I get a bit carried away sometimes. But I guess it answered your question in the end.
And if I'm not mistaken there are a few peoples on here that have a slight interest in the secrets of the chaga.
Found som more pics of it. The 5 pictures at the bottom shows the spore bearing fruit parts: http://www.rolv.no/bilder/galleri/medplant/inon_obl.htm#fertil
Sorry for highjacking your thread a bit Fishfish. I get a bit carried away sometimes. But I guess it answered your question in the end.
And if I'm not mistaken there are a few peoples on here that have a slight interest in the secrets of the chaga.
Found som more pics of it. The 5 pictures at the bottom shows the spore bearing fruit parts: http://www.rolv.no/bilder/galleri/medplant/inon_obl.htm#fertil
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