A visitor in my garden.

Beng · Jan 27, 2014

Here's an old crabapple of mine which I started wiring this spring but have plenty of work left on. The middle part has a hollow from way back. The base is about the thickness of a coke can. I noticed two weeks ago small fruiting bodies and thought they may be mushrooms. They looked like tiny sea anemones and I always loved mushrooms so left them since it was deadwood they were growing on. I moved the tree to more light as we're near the end of our winter here for deciduous material. The tree was turned the opposite direction so I didn't notice till this morning the large mushrooms that have grown in just one week!!!

fraser67 · Jan 27, 2014

That's a great looking tree! I look forward to seeing it when you finish wiring. Don't know what to say about the mushrooms

Brian Van Fleet · Jan 27, 2014

Nice crab!

Nybonsai12 · Jan 27, 2014

Very cool tree Ben. Thanks for sharing.

Poink88 · Jan 27, 2014

That is a fungus and as you are aware some can cause damage to your tree (esp. Crab). Not sure what this is though.

Very nice crab.

wireme · Jan 27, 2014

Cool!

Here's a guess at mushroom ID. Hypsizygus Ulmarius, white elm mushroom.
Delicious if so, of course NOT recommending you eat it!!!

Likely a saprophytic mushroom, speeding the decay of the deadwood but not necessarily agreeing the living part of the tree. That's only a guess though, it may be parasitic.

wireme · Jan 27, 2014

I had a couple images to go with the last post, adding images procedure has changed?

bonsaibp · Jan 27, 2014

I'd suggest getting rid of it-the mushroom that is. Though I'll gladly take the tree if you want to get rid of that.

JudyB · Jan 27, 2014

I will add my admiration to the list here, that is a very cool crab you have. What type? And what color flowers? I would love to see a flowering pic.

Beng · Jan 27, 2014

Poink88 said:
That is a fungus and as you are aware some can cause damage to your tree (esp. Crab). Not sure what this is though.

Very nice crab.

Thanks guys, I'll think about getting rid of it. I was going to carve the deadwood here anyway so if anything natures just playing my cards for me. Mushrooms shouldn't damage live wood. My understanding of them is that they decay deadwood and other organic decaying matter.

Beng · Jan 27, 2014

JudyB said:
I will add my admiration to the list here, that is a very cool crab you have. What type? And what color flowers? I would love to see a flowering pic.

It hasn't flowered for me, i'm sure it's old enough but i've been slowly reducing the root ball year after year. This will be the first time it's been in a bonsai pot for more then one year. Another year and it might flower for me. Crossing my fingers!

Ben

Beng · Jan 27, 2014

wireme said:
I had a couple images to go with the last post, adding images procedure has changed?

Yep I figured it out. I like the new uploading images system much better!

Poink88 · Jan 27, 2014

Beng said:
Thanks guys, I'll think about getting rid of it. I was going to carve the deadwood here anyway so if anything natures just playing my cards for me. Mushrooms shouldn't damage live wood. My understanding of them is that they decay deadwood and other organic decaying matter.

I've seen a few on my crab and yaupon holly that I left and it deteriorated the trees fast. Some of my yaupon even died. The ones I treated after, recovered fast. It would be a shame if the same is true with your tree and these fungus.

FYI, I've identified one type that doesn't hurt my crabs so I let those grow. I have no aversion to fungus, even eat lots of it. Just want to play safe.

Beng · Jan 27, 2014

Poink88 said:
I've seen a few on my crab and yaupon holly that I left and it deteriorated the trees fast. Some of my yaupon even died. The ones I treated after, recovered fast. It would be a shame if the same is true with your tree and these fungus.

FYI, I've identified one type that doesn't hurt my crabs so I let those grow. I have no aversion to fungus, even eat lots of it. Just want to play safe.

Yep I think you and Bob are right. I was looking up the type mentioned above (Hypsizygus Ulmarius, white elm mushroom) and here's an exert from a page on the net. I guess i'll remove it and spray the area with a fungicide to be safe. Although this one seems to only be growing from the deadwood on the tree for now. Better not to take a chance. I think they may actually be (Pleurotus ostreatus.) But they could be the above mentioned species. If I want to preserve them or grow them not on the tree what should I plant them on? Never tried to grow mushrooms before but if they're indeed edible why not?

http://mushrooms4health.com/oyster-mushrooms-throughout-the-season/

Oyster mushrooms are saprobes; their mycelium use the cellulose and lignins of wood as a primary food source. They rot the wood and recycling the nutrients bound up in the dead wood. Most are known as white rot fungi since they leave a light colored wood residue behind after degrading the darker lignins from the wood. These mushrooms are equally skilled at breaking down the cellulose as a food source using powerful enzymes that clip large organic molecules into their digestible component parts. They are aggressive and rapacious saprobes and can reduce a tree trunk into a pulpy mass within a few short growing seasons. The Elm Oyster Hypsizygus ulmarius causes a brown rot because it degrades the white cellulose and leaves behind the brown lignins.

Poink88 · Jan 27, 2014

Beng said:
If I want to preserve them or grow them not on the tree what should I plant them on? Never tried to grow mushrooms before but if they're indeed edible why not?

Unless you are very knowledgeable, please do not attempt this. Many people died because the mushroom they collected looked very similar to what they have been harvesting for decades.

Beng · Jan 27, 2014

Poink88 said:
Unless you are very knowledgeable, please do not attempt this. Many people died because the mushroom they collected looked very similar to what they have been harvesting for decades.

I wonder if there's somewhere I can get them tested. Since you seem to have some exp getting rid of them will simply removing them make it not reappear on the deadwood. Or is there a certain type of fungicide you use like copper?

Poink88 · Jan 27, 2014

I just sprayed Daconil on mine.

Note that the deadwood you will get from mushroom is very mushy and unless you want really deep uro, you do not want their "work". I like termites' results better.

wireme · Jan 27, 2014

Beng said:
Thanks guys, I'll think about getting rid of it. I was going to carve the deadwood here anyway so if anything natures just playing my cards for me. Mushrooms shouldn't damage live wood. My understanding of them is that they decay deadwood and other organic decaying matter.

They do also look a lot like oyster mushrooms, very similar to the elms.
If you want to keep them going moisten a sheet of cardboard, remove the outside layer to expose the corrugation. Cut the stem butt of the mushrooms, sandwich between cardboard, corrugation side. Store in a Tupperware in a cool dark place and with luck mycelium will grow through the cardboard. This can be later used to inoculate other media in a couple months or so.

Meantime cut the cap off and place gills down on paper covered by a cup. In 24 hrs this will give you a spore print as an ID aid. Get a good shroom ID book and go from there.

Of course don't eat till absolutely certain and confirmed by expert but no harm in trying to keep the strain alive in the meantime.

Beng · Jan 27, 2014

wireme said:
They do also look a lot like oyster mushrooms, very similar to the elms.
If you want to keep them going moisten a sheet of cardboard, remove the outside layer to expose the corrugation. Cut the stem butt of the mushrooms, sandwich between cardboard, corrugation side. Store in a Tupperware in a cool dark place and with luck mycelium will grow through the cardboard. This can be later used to inoculate other media in a couple months or so.

Meantime cut the cap off and place gills down on paper covered by a cup. In 24 hrs this will give you a spore print as an ID aid. Get a good shroom ID book and go from there.

Of course don't eat till absolutely certain and confirmed by expert but no harm in trying to keep the strain alive in the meantime.

Do they spread by air? If so I should most likely keep them in the tupperware rather then out in the open in the garden.

wireme · Jan 27, 2014

Yep airborne spores once the caps mature.

A visitor in my garden.

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