Fungus

what he means is that catalpa rely on endo mycorhizal as apposed to the more evolved ecto (macrofungi) myco which perform long evolved and specific defence actions against pathogens, or often at the very least offer enough health benifits to enable the tree to compensate for much longer than would be the case otherwise. is that about right ?

Correct if you add that on top of this Catalpa has to compete for resources provided by the endomycorrhizal symbionts with the grasses and herbs too and because it's an exotic species it doesn't effectively keep them out of its territory by producing a leaf and litter layer covering the soil.

A local powerstation wants me to plant on the top of an ash heap. The ash is apparently pretty inert, very fine particles not very porus and possibly high in ammonia. Covered with topsoil only 8 inches deep.

Any recomendations? They want instant effect, but I think the only way we are likely to get anything to establish without adding lots of top soil is to put some small whips or plugs in. They want natives. My thoughts. A mix of alder, birch, feild maple and ash.

Ben,

Checked the pH ? If the soil is very acid, it could be a site where pioneers like birch, willow and maybe scotch pine can naturally associate with an ectomycorrhizal symbiont such as Pisolithus arhizus.

And alder is a good choice too, because apart from the tree species specific Frankia alni bacteria, it has its own ectomycorrhizal symbionts of the genus Alnicola, some of which alder also shares with willows.

Maybe because the christians, (or any faith for that matter), feel an affinity towards each other,no worries there imo,also nowadays they are in a minority,as are most faiths,that will always encourage those with faith to seek out & recognise each other. Its human nature I think.

Geoff,

I think they do that for another reason : for a deeply felt insecurity and anxiety that what they have been taught to believe in and hope for - HEAVEN - will turn out to be a hoax in the end and because of that they want to be reassured over and over again that they don't stand alone as long as there are a lot of other people out there believing the same thing.

And maybe that's why atheists are not on the look out for other atheists : they have no need for confirmation of the non-existence of gods or whatever is "up there" looking down on us, because gods are made up by men and don't exist.

I have a simple question : why is it always christians asking whether there are other christians around and never atheists looking for other atheists to share their ideas with ?

Ramaria stricta

Also look for Tubaria furfuracea, Pluteus romellii, Agrocybe praecox and A. rivulosa and Volvariella gloiocephala.

A big wound is rotting, that's all.

Simultaneous white rot without the mycelium of at least one saprotrophic macrofungus causing it (without fruiting yet) ???

Yes I would imagine Catalpa sp. would have a fairly weak response.

I agree, because Catalpa is associated with cosmopolitan generalistic endomycorrhizal microfungi, that also associate with grasses and herbs and are unable to provide powerful tree root defense systems.

What I'd imagine is Perenniporia on Oak.

David,

This looks like a last years annual Inonotus dryadeus, not like a perennial Perenniporia.

i reckon David, hama, and gerrit should be banned from answering any fungi question for 3 posts to give myself and others a chance to answer so we can test ourselves....

Sean,

No problem, I'm in ... out I mean .

on separate mature sycamore The bracket one shows location and close up and is at the base of the tree.

The bracket fungus could well be Oxyporus populinus, but a microscope is needed to determine these specimen with 100 % certainty.

This is dryadeus, still quite a bit of mycelium. But there is more of a uniform failure

Gollum,

I've seen this type of failure with residues of white mycelial felts coming from Grifola frondosa.

A photo of sap on the move down the remaining stump of an old, but healthy birch that has been cut two weeks ago without any good reason at all.

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A Piptoporus betulinus to be proud of.

Matt,

Third photo to the far right : Hypocrea pulvinata fruiting from and on its white mycelium covering the pores and penetrating in the tubes.

Don't forget to take it home and get it in the pan! Tasty

Jonny,

When they're fresh, sure, but not when they're this old .

I'm surprised that the blackbird didn't go for the mouse.

Felix,

At first the mouse was accompagnied by a robin that was so afraid of the mouse that he kept quite a distance from him. While I was looking for my camera, the blackbird came and chased the robin away.

The mouse ignored the change of birds completely and the blackbird seemed to be too puzzled with this beviour to even consider attacking it while the mouse ran back and forth to its nesting hole to store the sunflower seeds available. This went on for more than ten minutes until the mouse had taken all the seeds as you can see in the first photo that was taken after the second.

In the following photo you can see how the blackbird even reacted disturbed on the sudden movements of the continuously returning mouse.

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found this fungus on a mature veteran Larix decidua yesterday ... it looks from the pores to be similar to trametes, upper colouration buff, bit like zonatum, but this is a conifer.

Tony,

Might be an Antrodia species such as A. serialis.

go on then, i will ask, tell us more, how does one deal with the risks posed by Fomes fomentarius

Guy,

And while you're at it, could you also enlighten us on the mitigation of the risk of an old birch decomposed by F. fomentarius ?

Not very exceptional, a blackbird in one's garden, but this combination of one of the wood mice living in my back garden competing for food with a male blackbird is something worthwhile sharing, I guess.

KarmaTube: Mother Trees Connect the Forest

Tony,

Although a bit oversimplified . I'm familiar with her work, which is mainly on Pseudotsuga menziesii and Betula nana, both tree species I have left out of my book on the tree species specific ecosystem concept, because they're both not indigenous in The Netherlands, i.e. the Douglas-fir not in Europe and the birch restricted to the European alpine zones.

how a Fomes can actually pro long the life of a beech ... instead of decaying the wood in patches, it is decayed in vertical segments allowing some of the crown to remain healthy?

Nick,

The effect of this Fomes strategy is not that the life of the beech is prolonged and parts of the crown remain healthy, but that the tree gets far more at risk of loosing a part to one half of the crown and stem because of a vertical split caused by a (summer) storm, especially when the tree is in full foliage and Fomes has formed mycelial sheets or felts inside the vertical split zone.

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I've been involved in managing this Eucalyptus with Ganoderma for about 15 years. It doesn't appear to be particularly aggresive in this situation.

David, Brett & Gollum,

Would it be possible to have your Gano's microscopically identified, because this far I've only found G. australe on Eucalyptus, which by the way is not that exceptional in The Netherlands.

So then there is no proof of the armillaria hypothesis? Bleeding lesions can be caused by many pathogens. Without evidence, the Arm hypothesis carries little weight; it hasn't a Leg to stand on

Guy,

So on what Leg does your hypothesis on one of the many other pathogens including Phytophthora to be responsable for the black oozing stand on then ?

Sporophores appear to be doing quite nicely at prolonged period between zero and minus ten (ish).

Pete,

The sporophores revive easily and soon restart sporulating after a frosty period, because they contain a kind of anti-freeze called trehalose.

In your honest opinion is the only realistic option for regeneration, to use existing sites as the seat of expansion, much like native pine regeneration?

I know of no in vivo experiment that has succeeded in doing that and if I thought it could be done succesfully within a life time, I would have started experimenting myself several decades ago. IMHO it's as with planting trees, we plant them four our children's grandchildren without ever knowing whether they will appreciate or follow up on what we've been trying to pass on to them.

In fact I would go so far as to say that the success of something like this, lies with the exact opposite. I don't expect to see much of what I want to create in my lifetime, but it would be nice to pass on improved soil, increased biomass and diversity ... Even on the tiny scale that I can muster. If 100yrs down the line something that I did comes to fruition of finally has a purpose, I see that as a result.

Sorry for being so pessimistic, but it has taken me half a lifetime to understand a tiny bit of what is going on in tree species specific ecosystems and soil food webs and how they are influenced by men and other factors and I'm still learning every day.

Even while writing a book on the subject, I still hesitate to claim having any real and practical knowledge of mycorrhizal fungi and the role they play in the dynamics of the life cycles of trees.