Mycology with Peter McCoy - ISOS S1 #7

In Search of Soil

English - April 01, 2023 13:00 - 2 hours - 184 MB - ★★★★★ - 112 ratings
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Previous Episode: Nitrogen Fixation with Dr. Michael Miille - ISOS S1 #6

Next Episode: Soil Nutrients with Dr. Buz Kloot - ISOS S1 #8

One of the members of the soil ecology that is mentioned on a generalized note is fungi. Although we recognize their importance, there aren’t a lot of specifics tied to mycology—and that’s because there’s still a lot we don’t know about them. As a branch of science, mycology is still relatively new, and a lot less studied compared to other fields of study.

Today, mycologist Peter McCoy sheds some more light on fungi from a deeply mycological perspective.

Peter McCoy is a mycologist and mycology educator with 17 years of experience. Known for mushroom cultivation and mycological remediation, he authored Radical Mycology, a 650-page book of condensed knowledge about fungi. He also created Mycologos in response to the growing need for accessible mycological education.

Learn from Peter at https://mycologos.world/

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In this episode of In Search of Soil How are mycelia faring in this day and age? (02:09) Fungi are the first to come back from the most detriment (03:18) 7% of CO2 are from humans and 85% comes from the soil (06:00) Fungal respiration (07:06) We’re living in the fungi and plants’ world (08:14) The paradigm shift when studying fungi (09:13) Tons of undiscovered science behind fungi (11:11) Mycology: we don’t know what we don’t know yet (11:46) Fungal mycology and human intersections with mycology (12:18) We’re in the fourth era of the human-fungal history (13:13) Mycology is a neglected mega-science (15:25) Where agriculture’s understanding of mycology is (16:02) Mycology isn’t learned about (17:41) Shifting the awareness about fungi (18:40) Fungi in a culinary standpoint (19:58) Fungi in an agricultural standpoint (20:33) Fungal mycelium and their compounds may be the primary source of carbon in whole soil communities (22:22) What exactly is mycelium made of? (27:35) The fungal cell wall (28:36) How readily viable is sloughed-off fungi? (30:55) If fungi pair up with plants, how much carbon is produced by the plants, and how much is produced by the fungi? (33:28) What can a plant do if it’s been stripped off from its relationship with the microorganisms it’s dependent on? (38:18) Plants have evolved to be entirely dependent on fungi (40:10) Why some plants don’t form robust relationships with microorganisms (43:35) The definition of a mycorrhiza (44:44) Dark septate endophytes or DSEs (45:38) Does crop rotation make sense in the perspective of plant-fungi relationships? (47:30) Given a robust soil ecosystem, would fungal intervention suffice in keeping the harmful pathogens away from the plant? (54:43) Withholding fertilizer application because the soil ecosystem fertilizes itself (58:23) Trichoderma species of mold (01:00:57) Assuming there isn’t good fungi in the soil, will the good fungi show up if you take care of your soil well enough? (01:03:36) Are quickly made compost beneficial to developing fungi? (01:07:12) What fungi do you need? (01:09:44) What kind of fungi do you want to encourage to grow in the soil as much as possible? (01:13:33) Putting in all stages of decomposition in your compost pile (01:19:02) Is there any heat in fungal decomposition? (01:21:40) Going about speeding up wood chip compost (01:24:02) The go-to: garden giant mushroom (01:24:47) The ideal temperature to speed up composting in a lab setting (01:26:45) Optimum moisture for fungi (01:28:28) Oxygen and decomposition: are there fungi that thrive in low oxygen? (01:30:02) Are we adding fungal food when we add finished compost? (01:32:32) Soil amendments that benefit fungi (01:34:20) Growing mycology with community science (01:38:40) Propagating resident fungi and re-inoculating (01:40:55) Do compost teas make sense and are they really doing anything (01:45:21) Propagation: the limiting factor is air agitation (01:47:48) Stick to paying attention on keeping what’s above ground healthy (01:52:47) Nature will find a way to put things in place where they belong (01:55:32) Concentrate on bringing back as much diversity as possible (01:56:35) A fungal perspective on biochar (01:57:00) Mycologos, Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy (01:59:38) Diego wraps up the episode with where to get in touch with Peter McCoy (02:03:28) Accountability and intellectual honesty (01:05:20) Anyone can make a mycological breakthrough tomorrow (02:07:33) Arbuscular mycorrhiza: a mycological mindblower (02:08:31)