INTERNAL SPREAD OF FUNGI INOCULATED INTO HARDWOOD STUMPS

Freshly cut stumps of beech (Fagus sylvatica), birch (Betula pendula) and oak (Quercus robur) were inoculated with wooden plugs permeated by mycelium of wood‐decaying basidiomycetes and treated with 40%(w/v) aqueous ammonium sulphamate solution (AMS), 1.5 % (w/v) 2,4,5‐trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5‐T) in paraffin, or water. Successful establishment frequently occurred in water‐treated stumps but internal spread was usually limited. AMS prevented establishment of certain fungi (e.g. Daedaleopsis confragosa in birch and oak), but greatly stimulated internal spread of others especially in wood adjacent to the bark. Here some fungi (e.g. Hypholoma fasciculare, Phlebia meritmoides) were favoured because of their capacity for subcortical mycelial growth. 2,4,5‐T stimulated colonization in beech, but not birch or oak. Colonization patterns varied for different fungus‐tree species combinations, e.g. Chondrostereum purpureum spread faster initially than any other fungus tested in beech and birch, and was not stimulated by AMS treatment in the former. Longitudinal spread of fungi such as Bjerkandera adusta, Coriolus versicolor and Stereum hirsutum in birch was considerably less after 6 months than in oak, but subsequently accelerated, whilst spread in oak ceased. Copyright © 1979, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved