Fungus

1. Without valid evidence, you claim P. arhizus, one of the very few ectomycorrhizal Gasteromycetes, to be the active "agent", while just as well or even more probable plenty of saprotrophic macrofungi can be responsible for preparing the woodchips and the soil for the tree roots colonized by other mycorrhizal symbionts to grow, so it does matter what species grew into the organic matter and on lawns if your claims are to be taken serious. And how could the ectomycorrhizal P. arhizus be "helping" trees associated with endomycorrhizal microfungi, i.e. with the majority of all tree species ? 2. Again, read Mycorrhiza.

1. I already reacted on this poorly documented "research", of which the suggested outcomes have not been aknowledged, nor confirmed by the international mycological society with this answer to David's before asked question and have posted this short list of tree species associated with endo- and/or ectomycorrhizal micro- and macrofungi at his request. 2. Quote : "plant succession is not an immutably fixed pattern; plants do not follow in lock step, but can be introduced - through interference of forest "managers" - elswhere in the progression", but not as "adolescent", half grown or old trees by themselves, that is as long as they don't develop legs and feet or wings to relocate with, thus breaking the "laws" of natural succession in forests and other habitats. And why is a species with FB's with such distinct and easy recognizable features as P. arhizus listed as very rare and only associated with highly acid soils all over Europe ? 3. Apart from "turfgrass", grass is part of all natural ecosystems and food chains, without grasses none of the "grazing" animals could survive and all predators of these animals would die, disrupting the entire food chain and turning our world into chaos. And tree species such as Castanea and Acer associated with endomycorrhizal microfungi, already have developed strategies to keep grasses highly competitive for endomycorrhizae off their tree species specific ecosystem territories. 4. Not as long as we keep uprooting trees grown under artificial conditions in "nurseries" and replant them with damaged roots and mycorrhizae in hostile environments. Your view on "managing" trees and forests seems to be more associated with short term focussed "gardening" of "nature" by and with all means and at high as possible speed, then with arboriculture based on knowledge of the dynamics of natural tree species specific ecosystems, their soil food webs, including mycorrhizae, and the tree species specific life cycles and on what mankind does to make their lifes miserable and cause an early death. 5. You could start with reacting to my earlier post by aswering my before asked questions and make that a consistent aspect of your "psychology".

Ben, Which is completely opposite to my experiences with (rhizomorphs of) Armillaria mellea and/or A. ostoyae and the above mentioned tree species associated with endomycorrhizal microfungi, which because of this have poorly developed defense possibilities of their root systems, on the Western European continent.

It is, you can order the English CD-rom through ETI BioInformatics, University of Amsterdam. And if you want to have a look at the species list, see my Dutch ETI website.

Nick, No, Marasmius species have white spores, this is Panaeolus (= Panaeolina) foenisecii with brownish black spores.

I asked, because I think I already see a vertical lesion or crack rising up next to and in between the old and fresh annual brackets.

For insiders maybe needless to say, but Marx's lecture was organised and financed by the Dutch distributor of his product, an arborist, who is "famous" for his sole interest in short term profit, i.e. making a fast buck and not in the long term health of trees.

The castle was built in the 14th century, the grafted beeches were planted 12 decades ago.

Gollum, Nice documentation . What about the visible effects on the tree (Fraxinus) and the prognosis ?

Ben, In combination with the two newly and rapidly formed bulbous brackets, I would assume the latter two to be panic fruitings, which implies, that the tree must be intensively monitored for signs of delamination or sheer cracking of the trunk or major branches by the mycelial felts of F. fomentarius.

Sloth, On top of the 770 species in the encyclopaedia, you'll find another 330 depicted and described species on my recently updated interactive CD-rom (see ETI products catalogue : Search Mushrooms), including Polypores such as I. dryadeus and I. cuticularis, and more textpages on several subjects.

1. In spite of all the field and scientific reseach proving the opposite, you still believe short term beneficial results are a guarantee for a healthy and thriving tree on the long run ? 2. Can you explain, why a picture of P. arhizus, an ectomycorrhizal macrofungus, is included in an article on laurels, which are trees associated with endomycorrhizal microfungi ?

Guy, 1. I attended Marx's Dutch seminar on reforestation of coniferous trees on mining rubble with the "help" of Treesaver ®, a very expensive commercial product, of which he refused to "give away" the constituents, which I later "unveiled" publically in a series of articles (in Dutch) on the subject. In the discussion afterwards he had to admit, that there was no evidence of his product being effective in soils with a pH 3 or higher and/or with other tree species then the species he planted in his field experiment as a result of the spores and hyphae of endo- and ectomycorrhizal fungi he included in the mixture. For the ingredients of Treesaver and research on its ineffectiveness on the long run, see Mycorrhiza. And yes, Pisolithus arhizus (= P. tinctorius) also grows in landscapes, but as I said before, (in The Netherlands) very rare, i.e. seldom fruiting and only associating as a pioneer successor with seedlings and young trees of indigenous Betula and Pinus species (see my Dutch website) growing in/on mining rubble hills with a pH 1-2. So how did you determine that P. arhizus actually colonized the roots of older white oaks and that the mycelia in the rotten wood chips belonged to this ectomycorrhizal Gasteromycete and not to one or several of many other possibly present saprotrophic species decomposing and mulching the "raw" material, of which the oaks benefited by mediation of other ectomycorrhizal macrofungi (already) present in the soil ? 2. As thousands of (reviews of) field experiments have shown, short turn positive results have no predictive value for long term results and are almost always followed by detrimental results for the tree on the long run, which mostly is the outcome of our interfering with natural succession within tree species specific ecosystems and soil food webs, we are only beginning to understand.

Looking at the picture of a hamadryad and Pan, I must reconsider my notion of Tony being a man .

And how old do you think the other brackets higher up the tree are ?

Ben, What tree species ?

Guy, See Mycorrhiza and learn about the ingredients and claimed "effects" of products such as Treesaver. And note, that Pisolitus is a pioneer symbiont with young trees rooting in soils with a pH 1-2.

Good point , though in a small country like The Netherlands, urban trees are much closer to woodlands and forests then in the U.K., resulting in that the flat foot fly is quite often found on G. lipsiense in urban environments too.

Which probably are caused by one of the parasitic Nectria species.

No, the nipple-shaped galls of Agathomyia wankowiczi on the pores and tube layers of G. lipsiense.

Tony, All true and in this case agreed upon, although in doubt and without Agathomyia galls present, one always has to make a 100 % positive identification of the Ganoderma species being either G. australe or G. lipsiense. So I confine myself to making some remarks to add to the post. * : G. lipsiense also can panic fruit on a recently died and fallen tree, if its mycelium has decomposed most of the energy rich cellulose of the colonized wood beforehand. ** : with regard to the MTA-concept, one would have mentioned Aesculus being an endomycorrhizae associated tree species with a very poor tree species specific eco- and root defense system, which makes the tree extra vulnerable for parasites (leaf mining insects, perennial biotrophic parasitic bracket fungi such as G. australe, Horse chestnut bleeding canker) and especially for root invading (rhizomorphs of) parasitic Armillaria species reacting to drought and stress by other causes.

Unless the white and soft rotted part of the root of the waning sub order tree was colonized by the mycelium of Paxillus involutus, Scleroderma citrinum or Thelephora terrestris (see this post), there will not have been above ground/soil "communication" possible through ectomycorrhizal structures, so in this case the "tap" root coming from the other tree probably just was "attracted" by water and available nutrients in the natural "bowl". And also see this beech root bridge.

You're right , my mistake, not as a nutrient and without using the energy stored in the radioactive material for new mycelial structures while uptaking and transporting cesium 137. My poor recollection of the published facts misconstrued the conclusions of the following research, in which is stated, that melanine covered rhizomorphs are the structures most capable of uptaking, temporarely storing, transporting and (re)distributing cesium 137 in the soil over long distances, a subject, that has become current again after the recent nuclear disaster in Japan. On radio-active food poisening by air, also see this article on mushrooms and radioactive cesium.

So one "primitive" parasitic oomycete interacts with or kills other "primitive" plants within these depleted systems in arid environments and there is not one parasitic macrofungus known from these plant species ?

And documentation of different tree species only capable of partially "merging" with one another without making a cambium-cambium connection. Photo 1 : oak and ash. Photo 2 : birch and beech.