NSF

Heaps of pine plantations in the Otways, although when I visited a year or so ago it was really under performing, found next to nothing!

That is a whopping amount. Crazy cheap price for that quantity of truffle too.

Any links to the product you are talking about? So you are using LED strips rather than weatherproof LED light rope?

You've got porcini, morels and chanterelles there...WOW! Utterly mind blowing gourmet selection...can't believe they can all be present simultaneously! Those blewits sure look different to Australian blewits. They've got very gnarled stypes, nothing like aussie ones. Here's a not so great photo of some Australian ones: http://ediblemushroom.net/index.php/topic,487.msg2753.html#msg2753

I am certain in my early days of reading about mushrooms I came across an article that stated porcini will only fruit on trees that have themselves reached sexual maturity. I've never been able to find the article since. Nor have I found any information that supports or contradicts it. In leaf molds there apparently are some acids produced that prompt spore germination, or at least soften the spore casing. Again, this is something I've been told and don't have evidence to support. The very few european forest I've been hunting in are utterly different to Australian forests. Incredibly thick leaf litter and no under story. They tend also to be really silent places, no noise from birds or insects even. Quite different. Darklight...the SBS doco also talked about physical compatibility between two people. Not in a liking each other's personality sense but in an attraction that we can't describe, which may have something to do with how are biomes align or how genetically compatible we are. Sometimes we can't put our finger on why we aren't attracted to someone and it turns out it could be to bacteria on our skin not having a good time with theirs. Even stomach worms are able to alter our brain chemistry and reduce inflammation and excess immune response. So vector might not be the most appropriate name, meat puppet might be closer to the mark ;)

Try this one: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=xerula+australis&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XnyCU7SwKsf3kAWisoCgAQ&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1750&bih=913&dpr=0.9

Hahahha, mushrooms have feelings too.

Ah fair enough. I don't believe I've come across it in my travels. At first glance it resembles Tricholoma terreum.

Obtuse and Darklight...two great posts, very different but each great in their own ways. Obtuse, I totally agree that we are just scratching the surface and I also agree with your friend who says that fungi let plants live. I think that's very much true. Fungi colonised the land mass first and it was they who allowed plants onto their patch. They certainly do still exercise huge amounts of control over plants. There's a local truffle farm/nursery that has some intellectual property they guard about how they get truffle to grow on agar but from there, they simply put a wedge of it amidst the roots in the pot of the tree. Very low tek at that end. Darklight, I like to think that anyone who hunts fungi is infected by a human cordyceps. When you explain cordyceps to a lay person it's incredibly eye opening, the behaviour modification especially. I feel, like you do, that fungi modify my behaviour. They call me to the bush in my time off, I wander around, eyes down, often for hours at a time. Collecting them, then as I travel I spread their spores. I talk about them at length, informing others about them too. I long to have a 'tree change' - just buy a 40 acre hobby farm with a creek, design and build a house and turn the whole property into a fungal forest, supporting a number of different tree and mushroom species. I'm still torn as to whether I go purely european or whether I go half native, half european. Strangely enough, did you happen to catch the 2 part doco on SBS recently called 'Life on us'? Long story short, before we are born we are 100% human cells, as we exit the birth canal we are exposed to bacteria migrating through the vaginal wall from the large intestine, these bacteria colonise our skin and form a proctective barrier. Even through breast milk we gain gut flora and other immune defenses. Long story short, when we die, our cell count is only 10% human, 90% microbial. We are walking vectors.

What questions are you trying to answer?

Grrr you guys! Fry them in ghee, then when they're cooked, turn down the pan and add butter. Butter burns at the temps you need for frying, ghee is butter with the milk solids removed.

It's not uncommon for experienced mushroom people to recommend only eating store bought fungi. Alison Pouliot is another one with the same attitude.

I too thought it was very hard to germinate mycorrhizal spores on agar...apparently I'm not correct. It's very difficult to germinate the species that are very difficult to germinate. The mycelium of some species will grow ok on certain agar mixes but fruiting is another matter altogether. Tangich...what you say about a variety of mycorrhizal relationships is really interesting. I agree that there are likely lower order fungi that too make mycorrhizal relationships but one tree is able to host multiple species. From a documentary I saw recently the fungi releases a hormone so the root lets down it's defenses (willingly) and allows the mycelium to invade its cells. It's not just a matter of the mycelium wrapping around the roots, it invades the cell walls of the roots and sets up arbuscules. The relationship is beneficial not just in a water and nutrients sense, but also in an exploratory sense. Mycelium is much faster moving and can explore a greater volume of earth. It is also quite happy to grow a number of networks and kill off those which are not successful. Tree roots don't quite operate the same way. So the mycelium will seek out nutrients and when found, the tree will then focus its root growing efforts along that path to the resource. Yes, the mycelium can transport some nutrients back to the roots but some time the roots want proprietary access. It's really quite quirky for our little minds to try and understand.

Maybe those tall ones you were finding were Xerula sp?

Yeah ZPBG my hand will be up if you get that SRA culture to fruit.

Pick them now! They are ready to go. A tad more O2 and light would be handy too, should shorten those stems a little and flatten them out.

I think you'll need microscopy to sort them out. They are tough. I really battled last year (or maybe it was the year before). No real learning to pass on either sadly.

^^^^ I second that.

ZPBG are you implying that Lepista nuda is mycorrhizal?

Maybe the eucalyptus could do with a bit of sun bleaching/ageing like people do for pine?

So these cultures are no longer in your possession Electro?

Very exciting. Can we get a sneak peek at some of the inside pages? The layout? The way the information is presented please?

Sorry to be the obligatory fly in the ointment but this isn't a Hypsizygus, they don't have decurrent gills. It's a very widespread misconception, even the much worshipped Stamets has his wires crossed about this one.

That's pretty damn exciting!

I'd love some advice on how you grow your tomatoes!