North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Stephen Sadler" <Docshiva@Docshiva.org>]

The body of a mushroom, the mycelium that lives underground, can occupy literally thousands of square miles.  They are easily the largest organisms on the planet.  The fruiting bodies will crop up at the same time over vast areas, wherever - and whenever - the conditions are right.  Weather is a very big factor, as is food availability.  Mushrooms live well on little, but only fruit when and where they are well-nourished.

 

Armillaria, although it depends on wood tissue for nourishment, still grows out in search of wood, and still has large bodies.  You can see aerial shots of Armillaria’s effects on stands of trees, generally in the same circular pattern you see in small scale in Fairy Ring mushrooms in lawns.  Most mushrooms grow out that way underground, their circumferences continuing to enlarge.  Fruiting bodies usually occur at the margins, where food has not been used up, but the body is not ring-shaped, it spans the circle.  Where food is plentiful or replenished, the fruiting bodies occur within the margins.

 

What is called Armillaria mellea is actually several species.  This giving-many-like-species one name is common in mycology.  Some species are saprophytic, and nourish themselves on dead or dying wood.  Others are parasitic, infesting living wood and killing the trees.  Yes, weaker trees probably succumb more readily; but a hungry parasitic A. mellea could, given the time and favorable conditions, bring down an otherwise healthy tree. 

 

It may be, however, that conditions that favor A. mellea do not favor trees developing as strongly.  The temperature and moisture may make the environment pathogen-rich; so the tree, before succumbing to an Armillaria infection, may have spent a lifetime warding off various root pathogens, and perhaps even insects that breed more readily in warm, wet conditions.

 

Since their one of my favorites, I have mixed feelings upon finding a patch near a desirable tree.  But there’s nothing that will save a tree at that point; I gather the mushrooms and take down the tree before it falls.

 

Stephen

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From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of kieran or donna
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 8:06 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Advice for apricot failure?

 

Armillaria mushrooms usually don't come up till fall, but another name is "shoestring fungus" as after the bark falls off the dead tree, there are long black strings underneath.  I'll tell you something weird about this mushroom though.  I ate some in England in 79, and then I just didn't really see them in the US till about 96, when they came up EVERYWHERE throughout the woods in our area, around Cookeville 20 miles to the north, and Monterey which is 12 miles east and a couple thousand feet higher.  During that time we went to a Permaculture get together at Adam and Sue Turtle's 150 miles southeast of here and there were Armillaria mushrooms everywhere there too.  I pointed to a cluster and asked Adam what they were.  He said there was a book in the house, but I said I'm sick of keying out mushrooms and I'm at a damned Permaculture meeting where someone should be able to just look at them and tell me.  (I figured I knew what it was anyway, but would like confirmation seeing as I hadn't eaten them in 15 years.)  He said ask Michael, so I did and Michael took one look and said "Honey Fungus" (its gastronomic name).  Then he said they were coming up everywhere in Virginia where he lives. 

    What are the odds of one type of mushroom appearing in huge quantities over such a large area without some driving force behind them?  Was it the weather that year?  Do they synchronize their fruiting, like pecans do, to improve pollination and reduce pests on off years?  Was there a big die off of trees in the year or two before or after that flush of  fruiting bodies?  As our property had been logged some 5 years beforehand, could it be that every place the mushrooms appeared had been logged recently enough to feed their mycelium on dead roots for years waiting for the big bloom?  Seeing as we saw no effect on trees in the years AFTER the fruiting, and we know perfectly well that the mycellium had to be spread thoughout nearly every square foot (at least in every square yard) on our property and millions of other acres to produce that many mushrooms, could it be that Armillaria is unfairly blamed for killing trees?  Maybe it infests them all a little bit, but only kills the weak ones.  Any opinions welcome.   Donna