how woodchip mycelium helps our fort wayne farm biodiversity

Pleated inkcap mushrooms (right) have a short but glorious life, often fruiting at night and drying up in the morning sun.

Here on Hungry Dog Farm, we add tons of woodchips to the gardens, primarily to the walkways as a mulch. However, these woodchips serve as more than landscaping eye candy. They are also a food source for plants, though they need an assist from fungi a access the nutrients.

Unlike nitrogen, the carbon in woodchips is a slow release of fertility. It can take a year of more to break down! In fact, fungi are the only major organism that can effectively break down of modify woody material.

Bird’s nest is a common fungi that looks exactly like its name.

While it’s easy to notice the fruiting bodies of mushrooms, fungi are busy working year-round, decomposing just under the soil surface. If you have a pile of mulch or some woodchips at home, you may notice a white web just below the surface. This is mycelium.

​Functioning a bit like roots, mycelium has a symbiotic relationship with plants. It attaches to plant roots and carries excess nutrients to them in exchange for sugars and fats. When conditions are right (a good rain after a long drought, for example), the mycelium sends up fruiting bodies to create spores—the mushrooms we all know and love.

While we do get more flashy mushrooms on the farm, the photos in this post are a couple examples of the common, unsung heroes that we see in our vegetable beds frequently. As a Fort Wayne organic practice (though not certified) farm, these bio-helpers are hugely important for us. Thanks, mushroom friends!