Subject: Economic Forest Fungi

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 12:01:14 -0600

ECONOMIC FOREST FUNGI
				   c. 1994, By Dan Wheeler
		Address to Clackamas County Farm Forestry Association

	Good morning and welcome. I’m Dan Wheeler.
	I’m current president of the North American Truffling Society, a non-
profit organization that identifies, collects and preserves true and false
truffles, and truffle-like fungi.
	All fungi are important to tree farmers. Growing trees require fungi
to survive. Kill symbiotic fungi and you kill host trees. Kill trees and
you kill symbiotic fungi.
	Fungi represent 52-55% of the total living cells. called biomass, of
both tree farm and forest. Trees constitute 30-35% of biomass.
	In biology you may have learned fungi spread by airborne spores. If
that were true, everyone could easily grow fungi. And desserts would not
exist.
	Fewer than 100 mushroom species have ever been cultivated. The Pacific
Northwest alone has at least 8,000 fungal species.
	This is why forests are in conflict today. Foresters by definition
grow trees. Fungi are not trees. Thus foresters manage at best 30-35% of
forest biomass.
	Who can name the five essentials to grow trees? AIR, WATER, SOIL,
LIGHT, FUNGI.
	Only two Northwest trees do not require symbiotic fungi to survive.
Who can name these two tree species? WESTERN RED CEDAR, PACIFIC YEW.
	Fungi are essential to grow most trees, and nearly all plants.
	During the past 3,000 years, history has documented the decline of
forests and a corresponding increase in desserts. In his book Tree Crops,
J. Russell Smith, an economist, notes modern agriculture is a case of
“First the saw, then fire, then the plow. Finally move on  when the soil
is lost.”
	Remember the five essentials to grow trees? What happens when soil is
gone? Dessert.
	Remember how many fungi are found in the Northwest? That number may be
80%, 60%, 40%, or 20% of the actual number. No one really knows.
	Dr. William Dennison, president of the Oregon Small Woodlands
Association, found 60 species of fungi growing inside Douglas fir needles.
He explained these fungi cause the needles to become stiff.
	The fungal-tree connection is similar to the oldest known terrestrial
plants -- lichens. Lichens are algae and fungi. The fungi provide algae
with water and nutrients. The algae provide fungi with simple sugars from
photosynthesis. Kill the algae and the fungi die. Kill the fungi and the
algae die. This relationship is called symbiosis. Symbiotic fungi help
plants grow. When they are associated with roots, they are termed
mycorrhizae, literally fungus root.
	Not all fungi are symbiotic. Some are saprophytes. Saprophytes survive
by eating wood, leaves, twigs, cones or other dead and dying vegetable and
animal matter. Saprophytic fungi are essential to life on Earth as we know
it. Orson K. Miller of Virginia Polytechnic once hypothesized a world
without saprophytic fungi. Try to imagine all land covered 65 feet deep by
wood, leaves, organic debris and excrement.
	The third and last group of fungi are parasites. As tree growers,
fungal parasites are usually considered harmful. But harmful is dependent
on what is grown. Phellinus weirii or root rot is harmful to conifers.
Bacillus thurengensis is harmful to Gypsy moths. Both are fungal
parasites. Are both harmful?
	If fungi are important to trees, how should they be managed?
Insufficient data.
	Can fungi be cultivated, and if so how? About 100 species have been
grown to date in the world. Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti in Olympia,
Washington offers a course on cultivation for only $500. You provide your
own meals, room and transportation. This short course lasts two weeks.
	What other fungal properties are there? Medicinal, food, insecticides,
soil builders, pathogenic fungal fighters are just some.
	This class can’t and won’t answer all your questions. At best it may
stimulate the formation of your questions. it will be your responsibility
to research and find answers.
	Remember this: Every forestry management practice - from cutting
branches to killing trees to planting trees - affects fungi. Some forest
practices produce healthy tree stands. Others ensure tree death. One thing
is clear: if you don’t manage fungi, fungi will manage you.
	Fungal managers must first learn fungal identification. Growing or
selling wrong fungi may kill. Some fungal toxins are as potent as cobra
venom. Others are known as health-aids: streptomyacin, myaliacin,
tetracycline,  cyclosporin, and others.
	New plant species continue to be found. This doesn’t prevent growing
or cultivating some speices. Similarly, it is better to grow fungi than
not.
	This class is my best guess where fungi are headed.
	Let me read you an article by Jeff Barnard from the Jan. 4, 1994
Oregonian. (INSERT ARTICLE)
	The following is from the Feb. 1, 1993 Oregon Grange Bulletin, page 11
(READ ARTICLE).
	Mushroom picking on federal land has a limited future, I believe.
Mushroom harvesting is now big business. The BLM and Forest Service are
being forced to deal with the issues of fungal permits, citations,
identification, safety, and management. Current citations are laughable,
compared to what pickers can expect to make.
	I believe the value of mushrooms on private timberland and tree farms
can be more valuable than trees. If proven, such value will give tree
growers increased income. That income would be necessary for fungal
management and prevention of mushroom rustling.
	Fungal management and cultivation may create many high-paying jobs.
These will be in mycology, research, medicine, harvesting, forest
management, wildlife management, marketing, transportation, packaging and
advertising. Other jobs will be created which don’t even have names today.
Fungal marketing provides a whole forest of additional products - many not
known today.
	Let’s examine 24 possibilities now. They are listed on the handout you
received when entering.
	The first 10 examples are symbiotic fungi. These fungi require trees
to exist.
	In 1986 a Vancouver, B.C. mushroom picker gathered 230 pounds of
matsutake in one day, and was paid $10 per pound. In 1992 pickers receive
$6-$40 per pound, and at least one picker received $100 per pound. On
October 11, 1993 matsutake reached $600 per pound.
	You may have recently read of a timber sale appeal near Crater Lake.
The Oregon Natural Resources Council and a member of the Oregon
Mycological Society brought the suit, contending the matsutake harvest
>from  the site is more valuable than the poor quality Lodgepole pine
scheduled for removal. Last year matsutake generated $20 million in
Oregon. The proposed sale is reportedly in the middle of a lucrative
matsutake bed.
	I found matsutake once, in July, 1979. Although it was summer, the
five-acre parcel showed more mushrooms than grass. I could have picked
several hundred pounds that day.
	Matsutake is usually found with Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine or
Lodgepole pine in sandy soils. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 may
be a blessing for matsutake hunters 20 years from now.
	The next mushroom is the most expensive fungus on Earth today. The
Italian White truffle is associated with European hazel, Ilex oak,
European willow and a few other tree species. it has not bee reported from
the U.S. One monster weighed 2.2 lbs. Had that specimen been found in
Feb., 1991 it would have sold for at least $3,000.
	The third fungus is esoteric. At the turn of the century, the French
brought French black truffles to market in wheelbarrows. During the 1930s
this truffle was cheaper than potatoes. In 1990 France produced 60,000
pounds of truffles. In 1992 production dropped to 4,000 pounds.
	Over half the current world supply of French Black truffles are
produced in Northern Spain on a single 1700-acre plantation less than 7
years old. Each 8-foot hazel is planted 20 feet apart. Truffle production
requires at least 3-4 years from inoculation. Both French Black and
Italian White truffles are found in calcareous soil. This soil is so poor
and rocky that the Spanish government said nothing would grow there.
Truffles are found by specially-trained dogs. Truffles may be half an inch
to 3 feet deep.
	The French black truffle averages one-half to 1 ounce in size,
comparable to the Oregon White truffle.
	Oregon’s claim to culinary fame is the Oregon White truffle, or Tuber
gibbosum. It was first discovered in a mixed Douglas fir-oak stand in
California during the 1800s. It is now considered species specific with
Douglas fir - that means only with Douglas fir. It now sells for $200 per
pound, down from $400 per pound in 1984.
	Recent analysis of truffles shows they contain two pheromones -
androsterol and androstenol. Pheromones are chemical sex attractants. They
are sometimes called aphrodisiacs. Over 60 species of Northwest animals
eat truffles. Dr. James Trappe has noted Mule deer eat truffles almost
exclusively during October and November, by analyzing fecal pellets. The
onset of rut and truffle eating may not be coincidence.
	Animals are essential to truffles and false truffles. When spores
mature, the truffle releases a powerful aroma which attracts animals to
dig and eat them. The spores disperse through the gut, and are gradually
expelled, up to a month after ingestion.
	The most prolific truffle eater is the California Red-backed vole.
Voles eat their weight in truffles each day. A mature vole requires at
least 16 pounds of truffles to survive each year. Voles produce 300 fecal
pellets each day. Each pellet can inoculate a new tree. According to Chris
Maser, a small mammal specialist, the California Red-backed vole is the
most common mammal of forests west of the Cascade Mountains.
	If there are 100 voles per acre, then an acre must produce 1600 pounds
of truffles and false truffles to feed the vole population. No one knows
how many voles exist per acre.
	I first hunted truffles at Paul Bishop’s Jones Creek Tree Farm in
November, 1985. The farm is three miles from here, and is our destination
this afternoon. The farm produced about 100 pounds of true and mostly
false truffles per acre in 1985. At that time, the trees were 5 to 8 feet
tall.
	Beginning in 1986, I began cultivation or enhancement studies here. In
1988 and 1989, almost every tree inoculated had truffles. By 1990 these
areas produced between 300 and 1300 pounds of Tuber species per acre per
year. This amounts of $60,000 to $260,000 per acre of fungi annually.
	One benefit of truffles is their effect on root rots. Dr. Trappe notes
that truffle and false truffles association decreased root rots. It is
presumed that truffles act as fungal prophylactics to root rots. This
hypothesis has not been proven.
	The fifth fungus is an example of hundreds of unnamed fungi. In May,
1992 Dr. Trappe indicated that the “Spring gibbosum” was in fact a
separate, distinct species. This new species typically fruits in the
spring, is relatively large, and has a different interior color from
Oregon White truffles. It appears to fruit in quantities as great or
greater than the Oregon White truffle, at least on Paul Bishop’s. Very
little data has been collected to date. Positive identification requires a
scanning electron microscope.
	The most economically important wild mushroom in the Pacific Northwest
is Cantharellus cibarius, the Golden Chanterelle. Chanterelles prefer mid-
or old-growth tree stands locally. However on the coast chanterelles have
been found 10 years after clearcuts. Northwest chanterelles are preferred
by cooks because they have few worms. Our chanterelles also tend to be
larger than elsewhere. Washington chanterelles may weigh 2 pounds each.
Average weight is 2 to 6 ounces. A commercial picker may cover 2 acres a
day, and collect 300 pounds. That translates to 150 pounds per acre, for a
retail value of $1200 per acre per year.
	As tree species replace each other leading to a climax forest there is
also a succession of fungi with individual trees. Abundant chanterelles
often mean few truffles. Removal of more than 5% of biomass at any time
adversely affects chanterelle production. The current annual value of
chanterelles is so great, it seems reasonable that ecological requirements
of chanterelles should be learned. That basic research has yet to be done.
	Since 1890, European studies indicate chanterelles are in decline. No
one knows why, although acid rain is strongly suspected.
	I have seen false truffles associate with seedling trees, followed by
true truffles when full canopy is reached. True truffles remain for about
50 years before being replaced by chanterelles.
	The sale of chanterelles overseas without additional processing is
like buying Douglas fir lumber from Japan. Both are resource drains and
continue the trade deficit. Chanterelles are now bought from pickers at
$1-$4 per pound, packed in brine in 50-gallon barrels and shipped to
Germany. In Germany the mushrooms are canned, and resold to the United
States at $16 per pound. Why are American canneries not canning
chanterelles?
	During the Winter Olympics at Sarajevo, some sportscasters mentioned
our next fungus. One said porcini mushrooms were selling for $40 per
pound. Porcini is Italian for “little pig.” These fungi may well have been
harvested in Oregon or Washington. The King bolete, as porcini is called
loally, is well-known. There are two flushes or fruitings each year in
Oregon: one in spring, one in late summer or fall.
	Pickers find up to 250 pounds per day. They receive $1-$5 per pound,
which equals $125 to $1875 per acre per flush.
	The King bolete is world-renowned. It is also called Penny-bun bolete,
ceps and Steinpiltz. Cut the King into 1/4-inch slices, and dry for future
use. I’m hard pressed to sell this mushroom. I like it too much. It is
high in protein, contains no fat and is  immuno-activating.
	At the 1992 Lincoln County Mycological Show I was asked to identify
three of the prettiest King boletes I’ve seen. I said sure, if I get the
mushrooms. He agreed. The man estimated he had another 40 mushrooms in
various stages of maturity littering his front lawn. Why is it always
someone else’s lawn?
	I told him Salishan Lodge might buy them for $10 per pound. I think he
agreed the cost of identification was worth the price.
	A single King bolete may produce 40 million spores. I believe it could
be cultivated in stands of Ponderosa pine in Central and Eastern Oregon,
and in Lodgepole pine or Sitka spruce stands of coastal Oregon.
	The Queen bolete may be found in similar conditions. While it can be
found at almost any elevation, it is more abundant on the cost. Expect $1-
$10 per pound for the Queen. It is usually 1/2 to 1 pound in size.
	The next fungus is deadly poisonous. Amanita virosa is a beautiful
white to pale green mushroom. It is seldom larger than 1/4 pound and 6
inches high. Locally it is symbiotic with chestnut tres. For that reason
it is important, as we will learn when discussing shiitake.
	Again, Amanita virosa is deadly. But is also contains muscimol, a
pain-killer  as potent as morphine but non-addictive.
	Muscimol may make Amanita virosa economic. A single mushroom can treat
a cancer patient’s pain for several hours. Unlike Amanita virosa, muscimol
is safe and non-addictive.
	Armillariella mellea is known as Honey mushroom, after the color of
the cap. It is also called Shoestring Root Rot. It’s one of the most
abundant fungi in the Northwest today. I believe that is because
clearcutting favors root-rot growth.
	The Honey is found on soil in mycorrhizal symbiosis with hardwoods, or
can be saprophytic on Bigleaf maple, Red alder, Oregon White oak,
Lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, Western hemlock, cottonwoods, willows, true
fir logs and snags. For unknown reasons this mushroom complex of several
varieties can be either symbiotic, parasitic or saprophytic. During the
Gypsy moth outbreak on the east coast several years ago, the Honey
attacked weakened trees, resulting in a profussion of mushrooms a year
after.
	Shoestring root rot derives from the strong root-like strands of
fungal threads, called rhizomorphs, found beneath the bark of infected
trees.
	The Honey is closely related to the next mushroom. It’s officially the
largest known organism on Earth today. You may have already heard of the
Humongous Fungus or Monster Mushroom, as Armilariella ostoyae is now
known. Mycologists theorized this was true for many years, but it required
DNA testing to prove. The first was a Michigan fungus that covered 36
acres. It was quickly eclipsed by a Moses Lake, Washington fungus 2.5
miles in diameter. A Crater Lake specimen is now being tested with a
radius of 15 miles. This fungus has only recently been identified. We
don’t know if it is Shoestring Root Rot or not. Let us hope not.
	The remaining fungi are saprophytes. Saprophytic fungi live by
degrading stored energy in cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin - better
known as trees. Some fungi are generalists. They’ll eat anything. Other
fungi eat specific wood parts. Some eat roots. Some cones. Some bark. Some
needles. Some parasitize living needles, then produce insecticidal
mycotoxins. Still other fungi grow on only certain species of wood.
	Regardless of tree size, the cambium is eaten within a year of tree
death. Parasitic insects such as bark and ambrosia beetles, carry fungal
spores with them. They eat the growing fungus and degraded wood. These
insects also like the cambium layer.
	One spectacular old-growth fungus is the True Fir Hericium, sometimes
called the Waterfall Hydnum. This photogenic fungi may form a mass 5 feet
across, several feet high and deep. A single specimen may reach 100
pounds. Five to ten pound specimens are more common. As it’s name implies,
it prefers true firs, and likes downed logs. Search for this fungi among
Noble, Pacific Silver and White firs.
	It’s relative, Hericium erinaceous, has strong possibilities for
cultivation. Rock Hill Shiitake of Lebanon has been selling 200 lbs. per
week in California for the past two years at $4 per pound. Hericium
erinaceous is marketed under the name Pom Pom, but is also called Lion’s
Head, Goat’s Beard, and Bear’s Head. The Chinese call it White Ghost’s
Breath, and use it as a medicinal herb. It is strongly suspected of being
immuno-activating. A few years ago, my legs would suddenly go asleep.
Sometimes while I was walking. Not every day nor every step, but it became
so frequent I was cautious of where I walked and what I did. Within a week
of eating Hericium erinaceous for the first time, this symptom stopped as
abruptly as it began.
	A third, the Coral hericium, likes Douglas fir, Western hemlock and
perhaps true firs. It is massive also, reaching 50 pounds.
	I assume most of you have already heard of shiitake, or Lentinus
edodes. But the Northwest has a relative of shiitake, called Train
Wrecker, for its affinity to eating “preserved” railroad ties. Train
Wrecker forms huge mushrooms with a diameter of 20 inches or more. It
fruits during summer and early fall in Central Oregon. I believe I saw it
once, about 50 feet high in a standing snag near Detroit, Oregon.
Southeast Asians are fond of its flavor when fresh. This indicates another
market, similar to matsutake.
	As for shiitake, it means literally “mushroom of the shiia tree.” But
what is the shiia tree? Chinese chestnut. Chestnuts are oaks that resemble
our native chinquapin. Other tree species for growing shiitake include
white oaks, maple, Red alder, birch and hickory. Maple is used mostly for
sawdust cultivation.
	The preferred shiitake bed log is 2-8 inches in diameter, lacks side
branches, and is nearly straight. Any length log can be used if inoculated
where it falls. Selection is a function of weight.
	A 4-foot, 8-inch diameter fresh-cut oak log weighs about 120 pounds.
Larger diameter logs are difficult to inoculate quickly. Shiitake will
also spread to untreated Douglas fir lumber and conifer lathes. But I know
of no fruitings on this substrate.
	Most of the world’s shiitake is produced on sterlized sawdust-bran
blocks, like this. This block conains about 1 cent  worth of sawdust. It
will produce about $10 worth of mushrooms. This block is in its first
flush. It may produce another six or seven over the next six months. The
remaining materials make wonderful soil enhancer.
	Modern tree farms are orchards.Their abundant single-species biomass
attracts parasites. Multi-species orchards provide diversity and decrease
parasites. Diversity also multiples the number of marketable crops.
	Consider the following plantation plan. It includes a ratio of 1
Douglas fir to 2 Red alder to 1 chestnut. The Red alder buffers both fir
and chestnut. All three trees are associated with trufles and false
truffles. All grow rapidly with each other. All have lumber potential. All
grow up to 8 feet per year.
	Red alder grows fastest, and increases the growth of nearby Douglas
fir. At 4 to 10 inches diameter, Red alder can be thinned or culled for
shiitake production. A cord of Red alder produces about 3,000 pounds of
shiitake worth $4 per pound locally.
	Chestnut is more valuable than Douglas fir for lumber. It produces
clear hardwood which is resistant to most fungi. Once cut, chestnut
regenerates from stumps. Chestnuts over 1,000 years old are known. The
Japanese harvest shiitake logs from shiia plantations every 8 years, but
seldom need to reforest. J. Russell Smith in Tree Crops notes chestnuts
produce more food value than a similar acreage of corn. And chestnuts like
rocky, pool soil. Deer, turkey, bear, pigs and cattle eat chestnuts; along
with squirrels, mice, goats and large birds like crows.
	Douglas fir needs no additional marketing notes. But when grown with
truffles, the value of timber is insignificant.
	Just as shiitake grown on Oregon White oak and chestnut produces
around $12,000 per cord with shiitake at $4 per pound.
	Maybe forestry for lumber alone is economically flawed. The above data
offers food for thought, at least.
	According to work in progress, at least 5% of biomass needs to remain
on the ground as woody debris more than 3 inches in diameter. This
material could grow the next mushroom,  Laetiporus sulphureus, or Chicken
of the Woods. The mushroom was featured in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood,
growing on old-growth beech. Chicken of the Woods likes oak, maple, and is
especially fond of Sitka spruce, Douglas fir and Western hemlock here. The
young growing tips are similar to chicken nuggets when slow-cooked in a
crock pot. It fruits in late summer.
	Chicken of the Woods can be utilized to control root rots. How? Root
rots are adapted to slow, constant 55 degree in-soil growth. Almost any
sparophytic fungi outgrows them. Growing Chicken of the Woods serves three
purposes. It rejects root rot on stumps. It rots stumps faster. Farmers
can harvest clumps of a mushroom up to 50 pounds apiece worth $4 per pound
retail.
	The same method can be used with Grifola frondosa, Hen of the Woods,
in hardwood stands; or Sparassis radicata, the Cauliflower mushroom, in
conifer stands. Hen of the Woods weighs up to 60 pounds, and has been
shown to reduce serum cholesterol levels.
	Recent data indicates Hen of the Woods is also effective against HIV
in vitro. However, more testing needs to be done before it can be deemed
an effective treatment.
	An elk hunter in 1983 found an 86 pound Cauliflower msuhroom, along
with 4 others weighing 20 pounds apiece. He sold them for $6 per pound. He
didn’t get an elk, but he did bag $960 bucks - not a bad day’s work in
1983.
	Morels are a real Cinderella story. Do you want to hear a fairy tale,
boys and girls? Once upon a time there was a young out-of-state college
student. He found a morel patch. There were morels as far as the eye could
see.  (Okay, he was myopic.) The struggling student knew in Minnesota,
people would pay $16 a pound for morels, at least that’s what the
newspaper article said.
	So the student took a leave of absence, rented a refrigerated U-Haul
truck, and picked morels. He picked and he picked. And picked some more.
And when he was done he sold and sold. And sold some more. And he cleared
enough money to go to college for 3 years. Unlike Cinderella, this is a
true story.
	Mushroom, the Journal reported two patents have been granted for morel
cultivation in the last five years. Neither infringes on your right to
cultivate your own morels.
	Morels are considered devastation mushrooms. They are common in
clearcuts, after forest fires, landslides and eruptions. Morels were the
first life form seen after Mt. St. Helens erupted. Within days.
	Earlier this month I talked to Mike McCrystal of Falls City. He told
me that several friends picked morels last year near Enterprise. In one
day this group collected 2200 pounds of morels. They sold them to a
mushroom broker the day after for $10,000 cash.
	Oregon has at least three species of morels. One is found under
conifers, especially Douglas fir. Another prefers oaks. The third is
associated with cottonwoods and willow. This is good news if you own a
hybrid cottonwood stand.
	In the laboratory, morel mycelium grows faster than most other fungi.
It can cross a petri dish in 3 days. Two years ago I inoculated a chipped
debris trail with morels. Last March I harvested the first crop - 17
morels weighing about 1.5 pounds.
	Oyster mushrooms are non-specific saprophytes. They are found on
cottonwood and other hardwood trees. To degrade hardwood stumps rapidly,
spread oyster spawn on the cut stump. Cover with fresh newspaper, then a
layer of plastic. Tie down. Wait two months then remove the plastic.
	Your first crop should fruit within a year.
	Oyster mushrooms have a drawback. They produce copious spores. The
spores grow on cellulose. Human cell walls are cellulose. In other words,
Oyster mushrooms can grow on your lungs. If you must grow it, cultivate it
in well-ventilated areas or outside. Oyster mushrooms sell for $5 to $10
per pound, meaning $1.25 to $2.50 to the grower. Expect one pound of
mushrooms for every dry pound of wood or other substrate. This fungus can
turn straw into a choice, easily digestible fodder for cattle, chickens,
pigs, sheep and horses. According to Paul Stamets, calves prefer it to
alfalfa hay.
	At $400 per dried pound, Ganoderma lucidum or Ling Zhi has potential.
This is an ancient medicinal, used by Chinese for at least 2300 years. It
has been shown to be an immuno-ativator, meaning it stimuatles your body’s
production of interferon. A January 14, 1993 Newsweek article claimed 50
Africans has been cured of AIDS after taking minescule doses of
interferon.
	Two scientific papers have been done on AIDS and interferon in the US.
The first indicated interferon had no effect on the AIDS virus. The second
was more specific. It shows that although interferon didn’t kill the
virus, the virus didn’t replicate when interferon was present.
	Chinese doctors often prescribe Ling Zhi. Although it may not help, it
never harms. Unlike Oyster mushroom spores which die at about 101 degrees
F., Ling Zhi spores dies at lower temperatures.
	Three species of Ganoderma are found in the U.S. Two are common in
Oregon and Washington. I have grown both. I strongly suspect, and David
Aurora agrees, that Ganoderma lucidum and our native Ganodermas are
actually the same fungus growing on different substrates in different
climates.
	Grow your own Ling Zhi from Fungi Perfecti of Olympia, WA. for about
$30. You can purchase Ling Zhi from the same source. Or your can collect
it wild from August to November on Douglas fir and Western hemlock stumps.
It is sometimes is called the Shellac Shelf for the shiny red to maroon
surface of the fungus.
	Blewitt, Washington is one of the few towns named for a mushroom. The
Blewit is a conifer needle, twig and straw degrader. Prolific, it is
relatively easy to identify and can be sold for about $4 per pound. It
fruits from late autumn to early spring. I’ve grown it on both straw and
Douglas fir needles.
	The last fungi is Stropharia rugosa-annulata, aka Giant Stropharia,
aka Gartenreisse, aka Wine-Cap Stropharia. It doesn’t last long, becomes
wormy rapidly, and may die if  temperatures drop to 20 degrees F.
	Against that, it is large, flavorful and easy to cultivate on hardwood
chips. It is especially fond of Red alder. Try selling it to specialty
markets and restaurants for around $6 per pound. Since it fruits during
the summer, it is not in competition with almost any other mushroom. It
likes to have chip beds covered with about 6 inches of soil, making it
attractive for raised-bed gardeners.
	Although every tree farmer is a mushroom grower, not everyone is
successful at either or both. When the Northwest Shiitake Association
formed in 1987, about 200 people tried growing shiitake. Of this number,
perhaps 20 were successful. Production of any fungi requires careful
planning and marketing strategies.
	To learn more about shiitake, join the Northwest Shiitake Association.
Also buy and read Growing Shiitake by Paul Przybilowitcz, and The Mushroom
Cultivator by Stamets and Chilton.
	Need to learn more about fungi? Read every mushroom book you can find.
Memorize scientific names. Join the Oregon Mycological Society, the Mid-
Willamette Mycological Society in Salem, or the Lincoln County Mycological
Society in Lincoln City. Spend time with mushroom growers. Visit farms
such as Rock Hill in Lebanon. Learn how to recognize fungi. Get involved.
Subscribe the Mushroom the Journal. David Aurora’s Mushrooms Demystified
and All The Rain Promises are excellent resources.
	To learn more about truffles, join the North American Truffling
Society. Attend the monthly forages. Send in collections. Flyers for this
organization are on the back table, or send a postcard to PO Box 296,
Corvallis, OR 97339. This afternoon you can attend a forage and find a
truffle yourself. Learn how to describe and submit truffles for free
identification.
	To learn about marketing mushrooms, contact Jerry Larson at the Oregon
Department of Agriculture in Salem. Talk to mushroom buyers and sellers.
Check want ads in your local paper to find mushroom buyers.
	One last comment before I take questions. The first person who sells a
poisonous mushroom that causes a death will a: be charged with
manslaughter or murder; b: immediate depress all mushroom markets; c:
probably be prosecuted, fined and sued to the full extent of the law. If
you are going to sell mushrooms, be positive of your identification. Here
is a simple key: Don’t sell what you wouldn’t eat yourself. There are many
look-alikes.
	Thank you for attending.
	Any questions?

Posted by Daniel B. Wheeler,
http://www.teleport.com/~dwheeler/oregonwhitetruffles.html

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