have some amadou/hoof fungus spores...........
- Thread starter tom.moran
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Basically you're going to kill a tree (or trees, if it spreads).
The spores need to land on dead wood, such as that surrounding torn off branches, or old splits.
It will then work inwards and eventually the mycellium 'eats' the heartwood.
"Tinder fungus is a heart rot fungus and a parasite of trees that are already weakened, for example by injury or drought. It is unable to colonise a tree’s freshly-wounded sapwood by itself, but will grow in the tree’s dead heartwood, or in sapwood that has previously been infected by bacteria or other fungi. As the fungus spreads, the tree eventually dies and the tinder fungus then becomes saprotrophic, helping with the breakdown of the tough cellulose and lignin in the wood"
from,
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/species/tinder_fungus.html
cheers,
M
The spores need to land on dead wood, such as that surrounding torn off branches, or old splits.
It will then work inwards and eventually the mycellium 'eats' the heartwood.
"Tinder fungus is a heart rot fungus and a parasite of trees that are already weakened, for example by injury or drought. It is unable to colonise a tree’s freshly-wounded sapwood by itself, but will grow in the tree’s dead heartwood, or in sapwood that has previously been infected by bacteria or other fungi. As the fungus spreads, the tree eventually dies and the tinder fungus then becomes saprotrophic, helping with the breakdown of the tough cellulose and lignin in the wood"
from,
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/species/tinder_fungus.html
cheers,
M
ok, so all these half dead wind damaged trees are what im after then. met a farmer today who seemed happy with me harvesting fungi so ill go ask him if i can find a suitable tree, i believe birch is the one im after. so are we talking a year before it grows or is this a plant the spores and come back in 5 years type thing?
found some fist sized cramp balls today, will be drying them out over the next 48 hours and trying them out.
found some fist sized cramp balls today, will be drying them out over the next 48 hours and trying them out.
They sound kind of ideal.
It's a sort of introduce the spores and come back a while later.
If it takes, then the tree will produce multiple fruiting bodies, and once it starts then those will get bigger year after year.
If the situation is ideal they can be worth harvesting within a year, but sometimes three is a better bet.
To be perfectly honest, even amongst wind damaged trees, I wouldn't introduce the fungus unless it is already in the area.
It can literally devastate a woodland. Thing is though that birch is a pioneer species and will survive despite the fungus, but the fungus will grow on other trees too. Beech, oak, cherry, lime, poplar, alder, sycamore and even on pine.
I would recommend that you be very sure you're not causing problems in the years to come by introducing it somewhere.
cheers,
It's a sort of introduce the spores and come back a while later.
If it takes, then the tree will produce multiple fruiting bodies, and once it starts then those will get bigger year after year.
If the situation is ideal they can be worth harvesting within a year, but sometimes three is a better bet.
To be perfectly honest, even amongst wind damaged trees, I wouldn't introduce the fungus unless it is already in the area.
It can literally devastate a woodland. Thing is though that birch is a pioneer species and will survive despite the fungus, but the fungus will grow on other trees too. Beech, oak, cherry, lime, poplar, alder, sycamore and even on pine.
I would recommend that you be very sure you're not causing problems in the years to come by introducing it somewhere.
cheers,
Why would you want to do this anyway, tom.moran? I don't think it's a good thing to be interfering like this, unintended consequences and all that.
They're not difficult to find, why not just harvest them as needed from where they are naturally?
They're not difficult to find, why not just harvest them as needed from where they are naturally?
just because i have some spores and id like to make some amadou, i have spent some time this evening reading up on it and its not really something i want to do to a tree/forest/woodland. i was kinda hoping i could take a big log home and do it in the garden (gravel area, nothing living within 300 meters) but after reading up i dont think this is possible. i will just have to keep looking although ive never seen any around here. maybe ill see if there are people in scotland who want something we have around here that they dont have and do some sort of swap. thanks for your input guys
I see your down here, how sure are you that it's hoof and not other bracket fungus (of which there is a range that looks similar) I know that normally you are looking to travel far further north to get the right climate. I've different types of mushrooms on impregnated logs before but not the fungus your talking about
Cramp balls are great, I love them, and thankfully have an easy and ready suppy from a friends ash woodland)
Cramp balls are great, I love them, and thankfully have an easy and ready suppy from a friends ash woodland)
yeah as usual it took me about 40 mins to find the first cramp ball, then all i could see is cramp balls everywhere lol
