GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

NATURAL CULTURE: CREATING MYCOLOGICAL LA.NDSCAPES 29
Figure 17. Healthy Stropharia rugoso-annulata
mycelium tenaciously gripping alder chips and sawdust.
Note rhizomorphs.
The mycelium of saprophytic mushrooms
must move to remain healthy. When the mycehum
reaches the borders of a geographically or
nutritionally defined habitat, a resting period
ensues. If not soon triggered into fruiting, overincubation
is likely, with the danger of
"die-back. "Only very cold temperatures will
keep the patch viable for a prolonged period.
Typically, die-back is seen as the drastic decline
in vigor of the mycehium. Once the window of
opportunity has passed for fruiting, the mushroom
patch might be salvaged by the
re-introduction of more undecomposed organic
matter, or by violent disturbance. The mycehum
soon becomes a site for contamination
with secondary decomposers (weed fungi) and
predators (insects) coming into play. It is far
better to keep the mycelium running until
fruitings can be triggered. Mushroom patches
are, by definition, temporary communities.
King Stropharia lasts three to four years on
a hardwood chip base. After the second year
more material should be added. However, if the
health of the patch has declined and new material
is mixed in, then the mushroom patch may
not recover to its original state of vigor. Mycehum
that is healthy tends to be tenacious,
holding the substrate particles together. This is
especially true with Stropharia and Oyster
mushrooms. (Hericium erinaceus and
Morchella spp. are exceptions.) Over-incubation
results in a weakened mycelial network
which is incapable of holding various substrate
particles together. As mycelial integrity declines,
other decomposers are activated. Often,
when mixing in new material at this stage, weed
fungi proliferate, to the decided disadvantage
of the selected gourmet species. To the eye, the
colony no longer looks like a continuous sheet
Figure 18. From the same patch, three years later, the
wood chips have decomposed into a rich soil-loam.
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