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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Danger to fruit trees from oyster mushrooms

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  • From: Andriy Palamarchuk <apa3a@yahoo.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Danger to fruit trees from oyster mushrooms
  • Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 06:33:47 -0700 (PDT)

Caren, thanks for the response.

--- On Wed, 5/12/10, Caren Kirk <quirky@videotron.ca> wrote:

> ... in a strong gust of wind, the rotten heart of the
> tree couldn't take the force and it cracked, sending 30ft
> of maple down on top of one of my apple trees!
>
> So oyster mushrooms can kill fruit trees!

:-)

> My question is will this readily spread to other trees?

>From what I read oyster mushrooms are weakly parasitic. My impression is
>that if they do attack trees, these are the injured or dying trees. Also,
>even though it can inhabit a very wide range of hosts, it grows more readily
>on some kinds than others.

I would be even less concerned if the trees you have are not in the list I
sent in the original message. For example, apple trees are not there.

> I still have about 7ft of maple trunk covered in mushrooms
> that I was actually just going to
> let sit there until nature takes its course
> (in fact I was thinking of building a tree house above it for the kids)

Destroying dead wood is what oyster mushrooms do best, so they will
definitely help you to get rid of the trunk.
Because of their efficiency I'd think twice about the tree house. Even though
now the trunk may be very strong now, the mushrooms can rot it out from
inside before you notice it.

Note that oyster mushrooms are quite tasty and one can collect and eat them
if somebody can help with identification.

> Does anyone know if the mushrooms will spread to the other
> trees? Should I get rid of the leftover trunk ASAP?

I don't think anybody can say for sure. We have spores of all kinds of
mushrooms in the air. Even though these mushrooms grow in the forest all the
time, the forests are not wiped out by them, even though the conditions in
the woods are better for the mushrooms than in a garden.

Personally, I'd leave the trunk in place, let the mushrooms eat it and eat
the mushrooms :-)

My concern with growing the mushrooms is that I will add a lot of pressure
because the cultivated mushrooms will fruit all the time, and that I'd use
their used growing medium in compost.

Andriy







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