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  • From: Johnathan Yelenick <yelenick AT riseup.net>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] wood chips
  • Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:34:09 -0700

Etrenne,
You are right. Mycorrhiza are obligate symbionts, generally not present if their plant associates are not present. It's true that what is breaking down the lignin and cellulose in wood are characteristically saprophitic fungi; their mycelial hyphae being the white the threads people see. Supposition #2 of yours is true as well, generally that mychorrhizae are species specific.
Regards,
Johnathan Yelenick
Blacktail Permaculture Farm

>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:44:10 -0500
> From: Etienne Goyer <etienne.goyer AT outlands.ca>
> Subject: Re: [Market-farming] wood chips
> To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <4B7A931A.7 AT outlands.ca>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> prmsdlndfrm AT aol.com wrote:
>> Wood chips being all carbon will use up available nitrogen in order to break down, but once broke down will release all the nitrogen back to the soil. Available nitrogen also regulates the speed at which the carbon material decomposes. Many fungi forming mycorrhiza roots can obtain some nitrogen from the air, but as with the tree lying in the forest it takes a long time to decompose. Chipping wood makes many more surfaces for colonization by fungi (whose roots form the mycorrhiza realationships) and thus breaks down faster. The best use for wood chips is as an ingredient for compost, one part nitrogen to two parts carbon. The resulting heat will pasteurize all weed seeds diseases and to an extent neutralize any chemical contaminants (though maybe not 100 percent so use caution) The resulting compost will be rich with the mycorrhiza and other soil organisms. Also with the proper carbon nitrogen balance, moisture, and churning the chips can break down in a matter of week
s.
>
>
> Two observations:
>
> 1. Mycorrhizal fungi grows in symbiotic association with the roots, not
> on decaying matters (such as wood chips). What's growing on your wood
> chips are saprophyte specialized in breaking down lignine; it is good
> stuff, but I doubt it colonize living plant's root mass.
>
> 2. My understanding is that mycorrhiza are species-specific; that is,
> one specific strain of fungi colonize the roots of a specific plant
> species (or a handful of related species). As such, the mycorrhizal
> fungi you would get from forest soil may not be the appropriate type for
> garden vegetables.
>
>
> I could very much be wrong: I am *far* from expert, the above is just
> stuff I picked right and left in my readings. Maybe we have someone who
> studied mycology on the list that could shed some light on the question.




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