You know what’s funny? On my calendar, on the first of each month, I have “write newsletter” on the day. But I never do it on the 1st. It seems like I consistently write them on the 7th or 8th.

Last time, we talked about winter a little prematurely. Sorry about that. This time we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, I want to talk about something a bit more autumn-y:

Mushrooms

Mushrooms on and around trees, I mean. And maybe more specifically, fungi and trees.

The most recent textbook I bought is titled “Trees and Fungi: and their Complex Relationships”. It’s taken me 15 months to get two-thirds through the book. Fascinating stuff, and I feel sated by reading only a few pages at a time.

Mushrooms, the reproducing organ of fungi, emerge under cool and wet environmental conditions like what we experience here in spring and fall; hence, why we see them mostly during this time of year. And they’re gorgeous and fascinating! (Very human of us to be fascinated by reproductive organs lol)

Despite being noticeable mostly during a few months in the year, they are active all year long, doing very interesting things to trees. Some fungi are crucial in a tree’s capacity to uptake nutrients through their roots, while others are pathogenic and can cause tree mortality.

Seeing their mushrooms is often the only way to know the fungi are there at all.

It is easy to jump to the conclusion that if your tree “has a fungus”, it is analogous to when we humans have a fungal infection. It is nothing like that at all, and like I always say, it is the differences between us and trees that make them so fascinating.

I recently had an interaction where a person told me their tree “had a fungus” and had to be cut down because of it. I sort of chuckled.

All mature, veteran, and ancient trees have fungi colonizing them. They all have regions of dysfunction, that comes with being around for hundreds of years. It is an unavoidable part of the aging process of trees. To coexist with big old trees is to accept a degree of risk, and understand that these types of trees require nuanced care.

The presence of mushrooms on trees is, unfortunately, an easy thing for predatory or less-nuanced tree companies to use to justify killing trees for their profit. As a professional myself, I admit sometimes that is the right decision. And sometimes it isn’t.

However, if the simple metric of a tree “having a fungus” is a justifiable reason to kill the tree, we will have no old trees. Trees can function while also have fungi live within them; the presence of fungi isn’t necessarily a death sentence.

It is important to wonder: What is this mushroom? What is it actually doing to the tree?

While we’re appreciating mushrooms (especially in urban and suburban places), it pays to find out what species you might be observing.

Some aggressive fungi can increase the likelihood of the trunk breaking, for example. On a tree right next to the house, you might want to look into that and get it checked out. On a tree further away that poses no risks, let the forest happen.

When you see a fungus on your tree, you don’t need to panic. You live in a forest, and whether you like it or not, you can’t fight the forest.

Fungi aren’t “evil”, even if they sometimes kill trees. Dead trees are important too. Fungi (and dead trees) are a fundamental element of a functional and healthy forest, and without them, our forests literally would not exist.

When you see them, thank them for their service. But then find out what species they are because that’s important.

OK that’s all I got for you this time. We’ll talk later, gotta finish off the year strong.

Peace

ps

We just found brittle cinder fungus on a maple we’ve worked on for years today, and we’ve got some tough decisions to make.