#GROWING MUSHROOMS FROM SPORE PRINT HOW TO#

N his book, Mycelium Running, Paul Stammets describes several methods on how to reproduce wild mushrooms using simple aseptic techniques. Hopefully, the mycelial mats that develop with excel at retaining moisture and making tons of natural bio-available nutrients for plants to grow in. The ultimate goal to my experiment is to try and fabricate outdoor raised vegetable patches by innoculating large beds of wood chips and straw with locally adapted, wild edible mushrooms. Famous examples of this include the whole truffle family and all legumes.Įxperiments have been done with Douglas fir plantations, showing that seedlings planted with fungus innoculated woodchips around the base grow faster, and produce a bushier more healthy tree than seedlings without. In exchange for this protection, the plant provides nutrients for the fungus to eat. The mycorhyzae surround, and permeate root systems of plants, protecting them from bacterial invasion, as well as making more nutrients available for the plant to absorb. In latin, this literally means fungus-roots. Mycelium, in some cases, form symbiotic relationships with plants and tree's called mycorhyzae. An interesting strategy, ensuring that the mycelium doesn't lose one of its hosts! Mycelium can act like a nutrient highway between plants. The mycelium was shown to move the nutrients from the over-producer, to the under producer. One tree is producing too much, another doesn't have enough. In other words, two trees of different species are connected by a common mycelial mat. Experiments have been conducted using radiotagged nutrients showing mycelium moving the nutrients between tree's as demand for nutrients change. Mycelial mats can spread out over several square kilometers, stabilizing soil, increasing water content and even transporting nutrients around. As these organic molecules and minerals are broken down into simpler substances, they become more bioavailable for bacteria and plants to use. As mycelium travels through a substrate, they produce complex enzymes that are very efficient at breaking down organic matter. This is a form of sexual reproduction, as each spore only contains half of the genetic material (similar to gametes) required to make a viable offspring.įungi are responsible for breaking down all kinds of difficult to digest long chain carbohydrates like lignin, that mammals and most bacteria struggle with. When two spores of the same species land close together in a favorable environment, they combine and make mycelium. Spores are distributed by wind, water, insects, birds and animals. Fungi produce fruiting bodies, so as to distribute spores over a large geographic area. You can think of mycelium like an apple tree, and the mushroom is akin to an apple. Mushroom's are the fruiting bodies (reproductive structures) of mycelium. Life on earth, as we know it, wouldn't exist without mushrooms.

Growing mushrooms from spore print