48 replies to this topic

[Mindzpore]

Stamets even suggested aerial 'bombing' of recently-burned forest with Morel sclerotia to jump-start the area's recovery....

[From the upcoming movie "mushroom pirates of the caribeean"]

-"Sclerotia loaded into catapult, Sir!"

-"Ready to fire!"

:pirate:

[TVCasualty]

I like the sclero-pault idea, and it got me thinking about weapons in general. I think all bombs and missles (and hell, why not all projectiles) should be covered with spores appropriate to the region where they are fired.

That way, as a battle devastates an area, the spores would get a head start breaking down all the fresh wood debris and begin recovery. (Imagine .223" or 7.62mm dia. high-velocity plug spawn). Not so good for desert warfare, of course.

Hell, I wonder if spores could actually survive that impact...shooting colonized wood beads (I'm back on topic!)into stumps might speed things up quite a bit (full-auto inoculator) and actually work (though inoculation day would be kind of dangerous).

[Mindzpore]

(this is not saying that i think that high-velocity spore bullets would be a good idea, but crazy ideas sometimes lead to further developments, so here goes:)

yes, spores by themselves could probably survive as they have very little mass (like ants can survive falling from empire state building, and you cant even jump from a few meters without breaking somehting, its all about mass).

in a bullet of spores.... some would survive, but many would prolly die (i'm not going to guesstimate any percentages).

shooting a spawn plug... no, i dont think it would survive. the plug would break and expose the shocked myc which would die.

another reason for why its better to drill a hole for the plug is that it cuts the wood and this exposes the cut ends of the fibres to the myc, which can then spread along the fibres (look at a plugged log, the myc always spreads faster along the fibers).
......................................................
now what use is this rambling? well, thinking about your ("crazy") high-vel idea led me to a possible "chop-spray tek" idea for establishing wild shroom patches.

Get a big carry-along sprayer (the pressureized type you carry on your back, see attachment) fill it with sporewater or LC. Also bring a small hand-axe. With this as you are hiking along, enjoying nature, and come across a dead tree, give it a good chop with the axe, and then spray the fresh cut with your media.

This gives the myc/spores a good head start in a fresh cut, with wide acess to fiberends. Much less of a hassle than drilling and plugging, plus one could also spray piles of leaves and stuff that one comes across while walking.

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[Mindzpore]

and if we cant decide if spores or lc would be better.... why not use both?

prepare a big ol load of lc, then just before going out with the sprayer scrape in a few sporeprints (of the same strain) and give the bottle a shake.

if lc is better, then the myc will have an advantage by being ready to grow at once. if myc is too sensitive and dies... then there are spores in there as well.

if the myc

[Bobcat]

Novelty ideas are definitely cool too! You never know what might work unless you try, right?

While looking up info for another thread I read a tidbit by Stamets that says a friend of his brought up horses from florida (to Washington) and they crapped out some Pan Cyans. Not only that, but they lasted two years in that temperate climate.

I guess if you really wanted to try this with cubes you could grow out some of Captn Maxs Oh Canada or some of Lazlos (hopefully) forthcoming WV strain for printing a cold hardy variety.

[Bobcat]

You could also print on rice paper and then drop the prints directly on the grazing animal's tongue.

[Bobcat]

a little smaller scale but i have a mushroom hunting buddy that skewers morels on the anntenna of his truck during season.lol

brilliant.... doing his share every way he can.

[TVCasualty]

now what use is this rambling? well, thinking about your ("crazy") high-vel idea led me to a possible "chop-spray tek" idea for establishing wild shroom patches.

Get a big carry-along sprayer (the pressureized type you carry on your back, see attachment) fill it with sporewater or LC. Also bring a small hand-axe. With this as you are hiking along, enjoying nature, and come across a dead tree, give it a good chop with the axe, and then spray the fresh cut with your media.

This gives the myc/spores a good head start in a fresh cut, with wide acess to fiberends. Much less of a hassle than drilling and plugging, plus one could also spray piles of leaves and stuff that one comes across while walking.

I like adding the axe to the process, especially for logs/stumps that might be exposed to wind or sun more than is ideal, but most of the time just spraying the suitable habitat works (or at least has worked for me very well). I've even sprayed foxfire along a trail that gave me occasional natural landscape lighting to walk by at night.

I have actually used this method, and posted about it before. It basically consists of floating caps (gills/pores down) in a few gallons of water with a tablespoon of molasses and a pinch of salt mixed in. Soak caps ~8hrs, toss caps in woods, wait overnight, put liquid in garden sprayer and spray suitable habitat. This has worked amazingly well for me with chicken-of-the-woods and an unidentified species of foxfire (that was not an Armillaria sp., which are parasitic), among others. Seems to me that spores of multiple species could be mixed in th bucket- some hardwood and some softwood decomposers so whatever the juice lands on can potentially be colonized.