Developing Lucidums

[Jesse]

The Cedrus deodaras looked to be in fair condition but soundings with a mallet indecated extensive decay around the base of the trees, Resistor Graph was used and proved decay was exstensive on two of the three trees. I submitted my report and findings but as the trees were TPOd and local objections were made a second report was commissioned by the LPA. Forrest Research produced the second report and in it agreed with my findings and recommendations, it still went to an apeal with the LPA I had my 3 mins in front of every one and his dog and a few days later section felled the trees. On futher investigationsto the root ball of two of the trees you could just pull the stumps and roots apart like a biscuite. the trees were well past there sell by date and do still produce fruitng bodies.It was my sighting of the fruiting bodies Sparassis crispa at the base of the trees which led to my further investigations, (Brown cubical rot) when cut into also smells like Turps and the fruit is yummy

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

The Cedrus deodaras looked to be in fair condition but soundings with a mallet indecated extensive decay around the base of the trees, Resistor Graph was used and proved decay was exstensive on two of the three trees. I submitted my report and findings but as the trees were TPOd and local objections were made a second report was commissioned by the LPA. Forrest Research produced the second report and in it agreed with my findings and recommendations, it still went to an apeal with the LPA I had my 3 mins in front of every one and his dog and a few days later section felled the trees. On futher investigationsto the root ball of two of the trees you could just pull the stumps and roots apart like a biscuite. the trees were well past there sell by date and do still produce fruitng bodies.It was my sighting of the fruiting bodies Sparassis crispa at the base of the trees which led to my further investigations, (Brown cubical rot) when cut into also smells like Turps and the fruit is yummy

 

Im suprised they still fruit five years on, would have to assume they are very good combatants and able to stop succession of decay species. Good info.

[Fungus]

Im suprised they still fruit five years on, would have to assume they are very good combatants and able to stop succession of decay species.

 

Sparassis crispa is a necrotrophic parasite, which not only lives on living coniferous trees, but also fruits on dead stumps. And all brown rotters are capable of "keeping out" saprotrophic competitors, because they consume almost all of the cellulose and just leave lignine behind, of which degradation is difficult, because it costs energy (no longer present sugar polymeres) to further break it down.

[sean freeman]

It might be of some tangental interest that Paul Stamets has in the past put up the idea of using an innoculum of Sparassis crispa along the edge of forestry lots as a means to halt the advance of other more damaging decay fungi into the valued timber.

[Fungus]

It might be of some tangental interest that Paul Stamets has in the past put up the idea of using an innoculum of Sparassis crispa along the edge of forestry lots as a means to halt the advance of other more damaging decay fungi into the valued timber.

 

Sean,

Any in situ experiments done to prove the effectiveness of his suggestion ? And how to prevent wind spread spores of other decay fungi, which do not need wood along the edge of the forest as "stepping stones", passing the "barrier" of S. crispa inoculated wood ?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Whilst I like Stamets and in particular his inoculatiuon oil for use in saws to put less harmfull saprobic fungi onto the cuts before principle decay fungi can invade this sparasis idea is a bad one IMO

[Jesse]

My personal feelings on this are that apart from educational research which is always usefull to know, how, why and what could happen if, or generally in the pursuit of knowledge, that we should not try to alter the course of naturally occuring ecology. In an ideal world it would be nice not to have to plant single sp woods and only plant native sp to suit the soil and site. Basidiomycetous, ascomycetons and mycrrhizal development all have there place within our woods and play an important role, I think Schwarze calls it Haptomorphosis. The only time we do need to excersize our knowledge is within the urban environment where a proactive approach, IMO, should always be taken. At the same time those who survey trees must be able to distinguish between hazardous and less hazardous forms of decay. good eg being Inonotus hispidus on L.Plane or on Ash on Ash its more of a problem. The dilemma for the surveyer is the growing culture in this country for insurance claims. The surveyer must have no doubts in making recommendations regarding less hazardous defects assotiated with wood decays. Widespread media coverage of freak accidents/acts of god are largely responsible for this growing Frenzy

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

My personal feelings on this are that apart from educational research which is always usefull to know, how, why and what could happen if, or generally in the pursuit of knowledge, that we should not try to alter the course of naturally occuring ecology. In an ideal world it would be nice not to have to plant single sp woods and only plant native sp to suit the soil and site. Basidiomycetous, ascomycetons and mycrrhizal development all have there place within our woods and play an important role, I think Schwarze calls it Haptomorphosis. The only time we do need to excersize our knowledge is within the urban environment where a proactive approach, IMO, should always be taken. At the same time those who survey trees must be able to distinguish between hazardous and less hazardous forms of decay. good eg being Inonotus hispidus on L.Plane or on Ash on Ash its more of a problem. The dilemma for the surveyer is the growing culture in this country for insurance claims. The surveyer must have no doubts in making recommendations regarding less hazardous defects assotiated with wood decays. Widespread media coverage of freak accidents/acts of god are largely responsible for this growing Frenzy

 

on the contrary, it is a stipulation within the law (shall dig it out) that a balanced approach that considers the environment as well as the risks MUST be applied, and to do what is reasonable. A good consultant will be more than able to argue in his defence.