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Then I saw this guy while pushing the mower.
While pushing the mower, I glanced up a deer trail on the west end of the orchard and they were everywhere! Probably twenty of them.
There was nothing really unique about where the treasure trove was: Pear trees, mulberry, a little bit of autumn olive and box elder, a couple of small (2" diameter stems) black walnuts that I had cut down the year before, a little bit of smooth brome grass. The ground was heavily shaded.
I found three more of them underneath a Black Locust tree.
290 Growing Degree Days base 50. We had about a half inch of rain on the 4th and another half inch on the 6th.
From a phenology standpoint, the blossoms on the Redbud trees are starting to fade and the Red Elders are blooming.
The only unique thing about where I found the morels is that I had never sprayed those areas with glyposate. It is plausible that since glyphosate is a systemic herbicide that translocates through the roots, that it would be toxic to symbiotic fungi living on the plants' roots. Not just because it kills the plant's roots but because symbiotic fungi actively share nutrients (in both directions) with their host plants.
Like green plants, fungi need the EPSPS enzyme to complete the shikimic pathway that produces aromatic amino acids.
Does anybody have an informed opinion on glyphosate (also known as Roundup) impacting morel mushrooms?
morels are fun to find.
ReplyDeleteSome fellas think girls with no morels are fun to find.
DeleteBut just like mushrooms you better be careful picking them.
DeleteVarious studies both Gov.com and others seem to indicate no real effect of roundup on mushroom GROWTH.
ReplyDeleteSome studies show the breaking down of the soil bacteria cycles from use of roundup does affect even mushrooms. Seems to me that something powerful enough to kill off wide variety of "weeds" must have some affect on the biological cycle of critters like fungi and bacteria that live in that ecosystem.
Now I'd be more interested in what accumulating Roundup inside my body eating sprayed mushrooms. and fruits and such.
Medical research from workers that apply roundup using protective garb is well..interesting in the Chinese curse. Sadly most folks don't wear protective gear nor respirators when applying it. Lung tissue and liver seems most affected. Bowel cancers are indicated.
Roundup has a very LONG breakdown into more harmless chemicals timeframe.
Official reports say 3 to 180 days to break down in biologically active soils and UV. I know plenty of field reports of roundup straw used on gardens from last year's straw harvest stunting or killing heirloom otherwise organic gardens.
When you buy Roundup concentrate, it has a book if instructions for a reason... Follow it, both for safety and for effectiveness (I find home use premixed ineffective on anything besides grass).
DeleteThe cancer lawsuits I've read about were people who badly violated basic safety rules - they should have sued their employers, not the manufacturer.
Jonathan
When Roundup first came out it was promoted as being safe for humans and livestock to be exposed to. I saw a Roundup executive on a Johnny Carson Show say that you could drink it. So those of us on farms went out and sprayed it on our fields on open tractors with no protective clothing. Sometimes going downwind I would get soaked. And in Viet Nam the same thing happened. No worry--Safe and Effective dontcha know. It was several years before people began to realize that there were hazzards and they were sick and dying. So it wasn't the employers fault as they were listening to big business, and USDA and states telling us to use it or lose our support payments . Kinda seems to be a trend.--ken
DeleteClarification --I just read my above comment, and it could be construed that I got Roundup soaked in Viet Nam which I didn't as I meant that is what was happening there to our troops and the local people and livestock with Agent Orange. Two of my closest friends were soaked in it and both are very badly affected from being there.
DeleteMy best friend died of Agent Orange cancer, 10 years ago.
DeleteBack in my on and off, landscape days, I used plenty of Round Up. At 74, I'm cancer free, so far, except for skin issues from working outside my whole life.
Cancer is a funny thing. Even twins can have very different results exposed to hazards.
DeleteLike those folks that smoked 2 packs a day and are FINE.
And those that ended up with COPD from light smoking.
Like dancing in the highway, some are more lucky than others.
Paul Stamets has written several books on fungi and their ability to absorb toxic material and remediate the soil around them. I don't remember if he has ever tested the shrooms after or just the soil.
ReplyDeleteBook: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World (2005)
Stamets is a genius! After reading some Stamets and a book about the subsurface “rhizosphere” and how it influences the growth we see above ground, I have made some efforts to improve the bacterial and fungal flora in my soil.
DeleteGlyphosate is a dirty word at my house. I suspect a lot of the “gluten sensitivity” people have suddenly been having of late (after thousands of years of staple cereal grain use) has more to do with the use of glyphosate to ripen grain crops than gluten. They don’t wash that shit off before they feed it to you, after all.
Wheat was heavily modified via hybrid breeding in the '80s. See William Davis MD's books or look him up on utube.
DeleteI've heard the Hybrid wheat comment before.
DeleteOddly Hybrid Wheat, Tomatoes, potatoes and so on has been going on for centuries.
Oddly NO sudden Human issues from THAT...
NO, when I gave my non-roundup wheat from my personal pancake patch only one didn't find that wheat just fine to eat.
And the last one I suspect would hate to be proven wrong about anything, just saying.
Cut the morel's in half, wash thoroughly, dip in egg and roll in crushed saltines, saute in butter. Heaven in your mouth. Bought a pint of them last year and it was over $30 bucks.
ReplyDeleteNot a clue over here... sorry
ReplyDeleteI did some sleuthing on glyphosate (Roundup) when I became interested in subsistence gardening on my property. I had used the stuff for years at my previous residence but the new place was sitting on an acre, and I wanted to "farm" it. Roundup or weedeater? Roundup or weedeater?... I didn't have to read long to make my decision. The stuff is outlawed in pretty much the whole of Europe as a "probable carcinogen." When the Europeans started banning the stuff, people in the USA decided to ask the FDA what it thought. Turns out the FDA had never kept track of it. The stuff had been on the market since the EARLY 70's, and "they" never thought to monitor its use or effects on people! The stuff is being sprayed on pretty much everything, and WE'RE EATING IT!!! Even MEAT is tainted by the glyphosate being used on feed! I won't use glyphosate anywhere it might flow downhill into my planting grounds. Indeed, I prefer using the weedeater, the "string mover" (bushwhacker), or the "Weed Dragon" weed burner. I'll occasionally use glyphosate INCREDIBLY SPARINGLY, and only in areas that flow away from the property, and where using the weedeater will sling gravel or the Weed Dragon will start a wildfire.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read, the breakdown time for glyphosate is around TWO YEARS. The only upside is that it tends to bind with the soil, so as long as the soil isn't carried downhill, the glyphosate contamination will stay local to where it's sprayed.