Best in Gardening

Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets has been the perpetual best-seller on popular mycology since published in 2005. It's an indispensible reference book for anybody working the land, especially foresters, farmers and environmental cleanup contractors. It's also a great book for anyone interested in growing their own food mushrooms.

The book is a treasure trove of useful practical information on what Stamets refers to as mycofiltration (of water), mycoremediation (of toxic waste), and tips on how mushroom mycelium can help improve soils and boost productivity in farming and forestry with less use of pesticides and fertilizers.

A detailed description of Mycofiltration, the use of mushrooms to filter waste water, is given in one section of the book. It lists recommended mushroom species and materials to use in creating the mycofiltration bed, as well as dimensions, depth, layers, etc. Mycofiltration beds like this can be effectively used for both industrial waste water and farm runoff.

Added perks when using mycofiltration is that the beds also yield crops of scrumptious food mushrooms, and every 2-3 years, as the bedding material needs to be replaced, the old material can be spread on the farm fields as a rich fertilizer.

Also useful for farmers is the information on no-till farming, which involves a method of leaving the stubble on the field until the next crops is planted. This encourages the development of saprophytic fungi, which break down old plant matter at a pace that's highly beneficial for new plant life. In contrast, the conventional method of plowing down the stubble after harvest promotes anaerobic bacteria, which decompose organic substrate too rapidly. The saprophytic fungi also help prevent soil erosion and leaching of valuable nutrients and top soil.

For forestry, not only do saprophytic fungi help break down and recycle organic matter. They also help combat many parasitic fungi (blights) that may kill large numbers of trees. Stamets gives useful suggestions on how to seed beneficial saprophytic fungi in blight infested forests as a natural "fungicide," fighting fire with fire, so to speak.

Mycorrhizal mushrooms can also be seeded to support the forest, or they may simply be encouraged to grow naturally by using more enlightened methods of forest management.

Most plants benefit from partnerships with mycorrhizal fungi, especially trees, which become much more drought resistant as well as disease resistant when they partner with a mycorrhizal mushroom species.

Mycoremediation is a term invented by the author of Mycelium Running, Paul Stamets, which is now in common use among mycologists. It refers to a method whereby toxic waste may neutralized through the use of mushrooms.

Contaminants that may be effectively mycoremediated include, but are not limited to, heavy metals, pathological bacteria (such as E. coli), petrochemicals, neurotoxins, dioxin, toxic dyes and other toxic industrial waste.

Mycoremediation has also been shown to be the most economical method of cleaning up toxic waste sites, up to 95% cheaper than some common conventional methods.

All that is just in the first half of this 300-page book; the second half is an instruction manual on growing your own mushrooms and mycelia, which is something that may be of interest to forest managers for mycoforestry, environmentalists for mycoremediation, farmers for increasing soil productivity, and the rest of us for growing our own gourmet mushrooms for food and medicine. In other words, this is a book for anyone and everyone.

Dr. Markho Rafael has worked in the natural health field since finishing Chiropractic College in the mid-90's. He currently specializes in medicinal fungi, frequently consulting two reference books: Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets for chemical, biological and medicinal properties of mushrooms, and Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora as the most comprehensive identification guide for North American mushrooms.

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