6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World

[stella1751]

Moderators, delete this post if this has already been discussed. I searched and searched this morning and couldn't find this anywhere on Helpful Gardener. Okay. I know Applestar grows mushrooms and I know she or Rainbow has mentioned their role in environmental clean up, so when a friend sent me the following hyperlink, I thought one of 'em might enjoy it.

[url=https://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html]Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World[/url]

I didn't understand everything the fellow said, but I suspect most of you will

[rainbowgardener]

Fascinating! I did listen to the whole thing. Who knew that fungi could treat smallpox and flu as well as kill and repel termites, fire ants, and carpenter ants?

HG talks a lot about encouraging fungal growth in our soils, this is a lot more about why.

It's part of why we are all madly collecting leaves. When I started mulching with leaves and then turning them in to the soil the following spring, I knew I was adding nutrients to the soil, I didn't know what I was doing was encouraging all the mycorrhyzal growth. ...

[applestar]

Stella! You beat me to it I watched about halfway of this video, then got pulled away (still haven't finished watching It's still up on one the browser tabs.) so I didn't have the chance to post it yet. Thanks for thinking of me, and for sharing the video with the forum.

[gixxerific]

Great video I believe it was TopDollarBread that had this in a post a while back

[Neighborhood Gardening]

I saw this presentation a while back and was completely impressed. I ran into a gentlemen who has a weekend gardening radio show and he told me about mycorrhiza. He said that this fungus increased the root base in plants allowing for more nutrient absorption from the soil. He claimed to get 2 feet of growth from his trees per year when using it.

He also said that in 10 years almost all fertilizers will include fungus because of the incredible properties it possess for enhancing growth.

I bought some for my apple trees and I'm eager to see what a few years of use will do to the growth.

[Sage Hermit]

In the event that all the spores on earth were to grow there would be a 10 foot blanket on the entire earth's surface. True or false?

[applestar]

I've no idea, but that's where Mother Nature's BALANCE comes into play isn't it? Some are eaten by bacteria, some by insects and animals, different spores, as well as other organisms compete with each other for nutrients and growing space, and yet other spores are killed off by sunlight, lack of moisture, pH levels, and other negative influences.

[Duh_Vinci]

Thanks for the link - amazing!

Thoroughly enjoyed his presentation! Lotsa food for thought...

Regards,
D

EDIT: BTW, there are few companies that include mycorrhizae fungi into their seed starting mix - "Light Warrior Grow Media" and "Espoma Organic Seed Starter Mix".

I actually purchased a bag last week for a seed starting experiment, I figured anything to get a seeds and seedlings head start and promote root development - I'll try it...