A Christmas puzzle. What might a microscope tell us?
Last month a marvellous opportunity presented itself. I spoke with a UK grower, who had just completed a trial. They were interested in how different soil treatments might impact growth of annual flowers. These might possibly be perennial, if it was a mild winter (though effectively they are treated as annuals). The grower had takenContinue reading “A Christmas puzzle. What might a microscope tell us?”
Spore printing for mushroom identification
This year we have fewer autumn colours as so many drought-stressed trees in a bid for survival economised on their water use by dropping their leaves early without dressing themselves in the yellows, oranges and reds.But now, here in the UK, those with deep roots are putting on an end-of-season display, and we have hadContinue reading “Spore printing for mushroom identification”
A glimpse at the sex lives of fungi
For several weeks I wondered: What is it that I am seeing here?There were lots of little off-shoots of the single strands of mycelium, at fairly regular intervals. Someone had suggested the fungus started branching off in search for food, but this did not fit the pattern I saw. Branching fungal strands, hyphae, maintain theirContinue reading “A glimpse at the sex lives of fungi”
Flood and drought. Two sides of the same coin
Niels Corfield’s blog post this week, Wet on top, dry underneath, shares how poor soil health, in particular, poor soil structure due to lacking soil biology, leads to floods, drought and reduced yields. It resonates what I am learning right now in Regen Academy’s module on Why we have water-stressed crops with 30 inches ofContinue reading “Flood and drought. Two sides of the same coin”
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