Many of us add things to our orchards and gardens fungi like such as cow manure and wood chips. Some fungi are poisonous but are generally considered extremely beneficial to the soil. If your not familiar with the fungi/soil/plant relationship here are some links to help http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/soils/health/biology/?cid=nrcs142p2_053864 and http://bugs.bio.usyd.edu.au/learning/resources/Mycology/Habitats/soilFungi.shtml and http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungi.html. What are your thoughts on the subject? Some people consider poisonous fungi growing in with their fruit and vegetables dangerous. The growers most concerned might be strawberry or tomato growers as examples because the foods come in contact with fungi and plants can be negatively impacted. Strawberry growers frequently use fungicides to prevent loss of plants and berries. Strawberries frequently are grown in wood chips or straw, require heat, and large amounts of water which are the perfect conditions to encourage fungi. The relationships of the soil web are complexed and I see fungi as both friend and foe depending on the specific fungi Iām dealing with. Here is an example of a few fungi growing in a field very close to a pear tree.
My goal is to bring attention to fungicides we use and their relationships with good soil fungus http://mycorrhizae.com/wp-content/uploads/Effects-of-Fungicides-on-Mycorrhizal-Fungi-PDF.pdf . I need to control fungus that attack fruit trees and other plants that are food sources. I need to encourage the right type of soil fungus that improves food plants production and nutrient uptake. There is much about the relationships not widely understood.
Itās hard to say without knowing which fungus is fruiting (mushrooming) there whether it is a good or bad sign. I tend to agree, that in general fruit trees want a fungal based soil (forest floor like) instead of a bacterial based soil (annual crop based). Michael Philips in āThe Holistic Orchardā goes into a bunch of detail on how and why one wants fungal based soils for fruit trees and berries and how to create it. The more we can do to encourage fungal based organic decomposition in our orchards, the better our trees will be.
As for your mushrooms there, the second pic looks like they may be coming up in a āfairy ringā. If that is the case, that might identify which fungus it is; but I am not a mushroom expert (I donāt eat any wild mushrooms that someone I trust hasnāt IDās).
I would agree, that we are likely unknowingly disrupting the balance of micro organisms when we spray our various -cides to protect our trees. Even relatively safe sprays like copper tend to kill earthworms along with bacteria and fungii. It gets more complex in that there are now some effective pro-biotic sprays which can be used to prevent various rots and diseases, but they canāt be used with the various -cides that also treat these problems.
In short, there is an awful lot we donāt yet know about the complexities of soil life and how they interact with plants, fruit trees included.
Honey Mushrooms brought down a big old mulberry around here a little while ago, not sure what other fruit trees are vulnerable but Iāve seen them on lots of hardwood species. Easy to identify even without mushrooms because there are root-like black strands under the bark of damaged areas.
I am not sure what the toadstools areā¦ Could be Meadow Mushrooms but they donāt look quite right to me. You could take a spore print and give identification a go.
The lumpy brown ones could be what is left of Giant Puffballs, always an exciting find when they get really big. None here this year, it is dry as a bone.
Iāve had fig cuttings which were āinfectedā with mycorrhizal or endogenous fungi before and those trees really grew the best. The only way I knew was I kept the cuttings a little too wet and the fungi came out of the lenticels to breatheā¦ Boring stuff to most people 
Interesting topic. We have a somewhat famous (throughout the state anyway) 100% organic farmer here in my small town. You canāt talk to him about anything growing-related without him wanting to talk about the micro-climate that exists in soils. He loves to talk about soil as a āliving, breathing organismā. Iām not sure I always agree or even understand, but it is interesting and fun to hear him prattle on about the importance of all the living organisms within top soil and the relationship between them. Being an organic grower, he always talks about how many of todays farming practices and chemicals ākill the dirtā or some of the things in it, and how that affects the soils ability to produce. He firmly believes mushrooms and even mold and mildew are a positive indicator of the fertility/growing ability of the soil.
Iām not saying I believe any or all of that, nor am I advocating or opposing organic methods, nor am I saying non-organic farming ākills the dirtā. Iām just saying that it is interesting to hear more than one person talk about soil and the organisms within it in the way you just did, and I really ought to learn more about all these. Thanks for this thread and I hope others comment here about all these kinds of things.
My Nadia and Emerald Beaut plum has birds nest fungi growing in the mulch around the tree. Looks really weird but ive read thatās itās healthy for the soil so Iām leaving it.
I think fungi strategies would be like plant strategies: you can make lots of beneficials, mixed, or a disaster. I think the key is understanding the fungi. There are many mycorrhizal fungi whose job it is literally to help the tree. They typically donāt make classic mushroom shapes and so we often donāt value them for what they do. I have harvested lots of mushrooms that I can eat in my yard, but Iām more focused on fruit first, then vegies. I agree that many mushrooms help the soil be more fertile and drain better. They also improve the biodiversity. However, it is crucial to understand which mushroom it is before eating. There are harmonious cycles if you get a balance between the different plants, animals, and fungi. Disaster sets in when there is an imbalance in the ecosystem.
John S
PDX OR
I have been throwing the rinse water from my morels out on my apple trees. Morels have been reported to form associations with apples and are often found in old orchards. It seems the debate about morels is still standing, but there is evidence to suggest they are mycorrhizial fungi to some extent.
The problem is that they usually fruit when the tree is in decline or dead, so I donāt suppose I really want morels from my orchard. Though I donāt think that is a absolute requirement, as my āhoney holeā that reliably produces every year is a stand of live birch, hackberry, and silver maple.
I wonder what happens to the mycorrhizal fungi if you apply a fungicide that is more systemic in natureā¦
Morels are considered among the most difficult of choice mushrooms to cultivate. It is often postulated by mycologists that the reason they grow well in apple orchards is because the orchards are limed.
I have heard a lot of mycologists and biologists talk about how systemic fungicides kill all fungi, including mycorrhizal. Obviously, any orchardist has to try to plan a strategy that is going to be optimal for his or her orchard. I am not a fan of parasitic fungi on my fruit trees. I know some people think I should leave them, but I will not. Honey mushrooms are eaten by many people, but I donāt want to cultivate them in my orchard. I have only grown fruit in my area, so I donāt have any advice for people in other areas. I have to admit itās pretty interesting to see the different fungi growing at different levels and times of the year. Itās a pretty mysterious area of study to me. As H. Ross Perot would say, āIām all ears.ā
John S
PDX OR
I hope no-one would grow honey mushrooms. Iāve never eaten them, the wide range of morphology still freaks me outā¦ and if they were even close to as good as shiitakes they would be grown commercially.
Blewits are one thing I would like to try around my pawpaws, leaves and sticks are in ample supply around here for mulch.
Cityman, I more or less agree with the organic farmer you mention. A healthy soil is a living soil.
However, while I do think fungicides can be hard on beneficial orchard fungus, itās my opinion itās not a major factor, at least in my area.
Iāve been spraying different classes of fungicides for years on my home orchard and still see loads of fruiting bodies. I also see lots of fruiting shrooms at the farm, despite the fungicides. All kinds of toad stools, dog vomit fungus, etc.
Imo, the biggest impact on healthy fungus is soil high in organic matter and plenty of water. Water being the most essential. The ancients even recognized water as the basis of life. With these ingredients I think it would be hard to keep healthy fungus out.
Here is a pic of a fungus I think called Destroying Angel. Healthy for soil, deadly for mammals.
Another pic of a fungus I took today. It looks sort of like a phallic symbol, but I donāt know what itās called.
My potted Morus nigra has had friends in its pot much of the summer. Yellow mushrooms which resemble Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, have mushroomed 2-3 times this summer.
I had decided to repot the tree this fall, though Iām not sure that will stop its reappearance.
Iām also growing lions mane mushrooms from a kit. I havenāt yet eaten any (it seems to know when Iām not around to time itās fruiting)
Scott
If you smelled them you would know what they are: stinkhorns!
An orchardist in the state of Washington has found that nameko mushroom is symbiotic with her aronia berry plants. I am trying to grow both, but not together.
One of Paul stametāāsā assistants did an experiment and found that white elm oyster mushroom, which I grow, is symbiotic with cruciferous vegetables.
John S
PDX OR
Love me some morels and puffballs.
Beyond those two, Iām not comfortable with IDs - and, as Iāve seen what happens to puppies that have eaten toadstools growing in their ownersā yards, Iām not about to take any chancesā¦ I can understand why folks who gather and eat the āwrongā mushrooms end up needing an emergency liver transplant!
at least with apple and pear wood, it is virtually impossible to grow mushrooms. Either in chip beds or in logs. Whereas hickory, oak, and black cherry take readily to whatever you inject them with. So our friends are not that fragile when under fungal attack.
There are lots of mycorrhizal fungi which are edible and obviously beneficial to the tree. Their interaction with fungicides is tabled here
The non-myc. fungi are not listed that I know of but those are largely interchangeable, so long as they degrade the lignin-rich debris in a timely manner.
I donāt know if fungicides in general can effect fungal life in the soil, but it is an interesting question. It is certainly a much larger intrusion of more significance to us each time we take antibiotics for an infection- our microbiomes seem to bounce back pretty quickly, for the most part, even though this is a much more significant and disruptive intervention to our bodies than fungicide sprayed on trees would be to soil, it seems.
Some fungicides like the SIās (montery fungus fighter) are not mobile so probably donāt penetrate the soil once they dry. I donāt think theyād cause much disruption at all.
Levers,
Morels do have a certain relationship that they favor though in my experience they prefer primarily undisturbed old growth forests. Strangely they do not like trees that drop to many leaves so I suspect they are dependent on the soil. So that rules out many places to look depending on the depth of leaf litter on the forest floor. The soil is very rich with humus where I find them which only occurs where modern agriculture has not been. There are exceptions and occasionally I find them in an open field. I typically hunt them and find a few grocery bags of them per year. They do seem symbiotic with dead tree roots to some extent though no one is sure of that relationship to my knowledge. In my family we do associate fungi with other things such as cedar and elms are companions to morel in this area. There are groups of fungi that grow together such as false morels, elephant ears, and morels. My friends taught me to look for all three years ago because the others are easier to see than morels. My best spot I found by appearance of trees before I hunted the morels. Note the leaf types in the picture which are other great trees to hunt morels under. Similarly when I see fungi in an orchard I see the orchard as transforming to fungi based soil which is what I think I want for growing my pears. I use wood chips and cow manure to transform my soil to fungi based soil and add mycorrhizal fungi when needed which is seldom now. In my vegetable garden I do not apply wood chips because I do not want it to be fungus based soil. Sounds like @Steve333 is familiar with that concept I practice. These are a few pictures from early spring when we find morels here. This link discusses why I apply wood chips and the type I look for to apply in my orchard http://permaculturenews.org/2014/05/07/fungal-soil-want/
If forest type āfungus based soilsā are detrimental to vegetable production, I wonder why cleared forests are immediately so productive for this purpose. I also wonder why shredded wood works so well as a mulch for me over my pepper plants, as long as it is adequately aged. Once wood breaks down it is perfectly fine for vegetables, IMO, or there is no way shredded bark could be used in a potting soil that supports vigorous tomato growth- where the chemistry of rotting wood dominates.
I think weāve had this discussion before, Clark, but do you no of any research that validates this interesting concept? My opinion is that forest and prairie soilās important difference in serving their species is much more textural than chemical. It is a difference that is extremely pronounced by nature of the textural parfait of forest soils compared to the much more texturally homogeneous nature of prairie soils.
Under a canopy, even during dormancy, much less light strikes the ground, and the fallen leaves also insulate, so the quick to warm and airy humus layer immediately under the leaves serve the roots in early spring, when the denser layers below are too cool for much root activity. As things heat up and dry out root activity shifts to lower layers- depending on the seasons rainfall, of course.