From: ir@ene.nu   
      
   On Sat, 17 Jun 2006 10:21:09 +0100, "treelike"    
   wrote:   
      
   >   
   >"Irene Andersson"  wrote in message   
   >news:f7l492t2f9qggvq4to7qm3o243m9kiksh5@4ax.com...   
   >   
   >> I beleive in leaving things to grow where they appear by themselves,   
   >> especially trees, because I think that creates the most natural and   
   >> healthy forests.   
   >> It's sad to see them being cut down one after another and replaced   
   >> with large mono-cultures of pine or spruce.   
   >   
   >I hate to see any forest get cut down but I feel I must speak up for spruce   
   >plantations where, here in Scotland, I find most Ceps and Chanterelles,   
   >occasionally in ridiculously large quantities. The addition of a few birch   
   >to the spruce forest does seem to catalyse the fungal growth though, plus   
   >you usually have some attractive Amanita muscaria to look at while on the   
   >mushroom hunt. Pine forest is not quite so good for me. I never find Ceps   
   >under pine.   
      
   Spruce habitats usually have richer soil and are not as dry as the   
   natural habitats for pine, which I think can explain the better growth   
   of fungi too.   
   We find most of our ceps in old pine forests (Boletus pinophilus), but   
   not in plantations. I guess that is because they aren't old enough   
   yet. Do you have any old pine forests at all in Scotland, or have they   
   all been cut down to timber?   
      
   One problem with pine plantations, is that they are often forced into   
   grounds that are better suited for spruce and hardwoods. Many of these   
   (on average 30 years old) have got infected by the fungus Gremmeniella   
   - some of them so badly, that they have had to be cut down and   
   replaced with something else, spruce in general.   
      
   Irene Andersson   
      
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