Inonotus obliquus (Chaga): a mushroom threatened by commercial overharvesting ?
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- Chaga (Inonotus oblquus) grows slowly on beech and birch trees over many years. Chaga is a non-sporulating (non-fertile) hardened structure with a dark, cracked over-crust. Some mycologists call Chaga an above-ground sclerotium. Chaga grows on living trees, taking many years for a soft-ball size structure to form. Once the tree dies, a resupinate crust forms on the ground near the tree. This is the spore-reproducing structure. What scientists do not know is whether or not the removal of Chaga will harm the formation of the spore producing crust. We do know that wild harvesting of Chaga is radically reducing this species populations. And since we can grow mycelium sustainably while retaining its beneficial properties, please refrain from harvesting wild chaga for commercial purposes. Thank you. Respectfully, Paul Stamets (www.fungi.com)
Thank you so much for this information , I was under the assumption that you could not cultivate Chaga. I will be letting a few people know about this.
I’m very curious to know if it is possible to do an updated version of this to increase reach. I imagine one with the improved video and audio would do amazing. Especially, in the RUclips short format, change the title and improve the videos SEO, for the most part because of the educational/informational/scientific approach you have people will find it intriguing because of your experiential wisdom, credentials, and scholarly work pioneering into the magnificent microcosmic macrocosm of mycelium mastery. Magi Paul you are one of a kind. Kudos on all of your accomplishments and thank you for sharing your plethora of life experience with us in all the ways you do and for being a good role model. Love ya and I don’t even know ya bud. What you’ve done for creation is currently beyond fathomable for a large majority of humans but in time people will see the fruition of your ideals and ideas come to light. Wholeheartedly believe in what you’re doing and thank you again.
Thank you so much for the freeflow of information!
Stamets is encouraging people to use cultivated chaga since we don't know the status nor the biodiversity of this region, or wild harvesting's effects. This cautionary approach is very sound advice. Earlier posts nitpicking an inaccuracy --- this isn't a priority over ensuring that this species isn't ransacked by frenzied demand. I see chaga constantly in these Northeastern woods, but I leave it alone. These types of fungi often turn out to more biodiverse than they appear. Respect the earth.
I seem to encounter it very frequently in the Northeast. I do not find chaga on undamaged trees. Now, I'm not a certified mycologist or anything but it seems to me that inorder for the chaga to take up on the tree it needs a spot of damage where it can reach the inner wood of the tree to reproduce. I think that the "rarity" of chaga may simply be a factor of whether or not there are damaged birch trees in the given area. Where I search, in rocky mountains of the north east there are plenty of objects being sent downhill as a result of erosion, and when these objects strike the birch trees I believe they create the injury that allows the chaga to form. I also believe that bear scratches, moose and deer antler marks can also provide the conditions for chaga to form. Atleast, this is based on my own experiences as a semi-educated observer. I do not often find chaga on fallen trees either. I also believe that water could potentially be a vector for the transmission of the fungus. If i find a body of chaga along a river or a stream it seems to be very likely that I will find another one downstream. And it seems that water is the only thing that makes the dense scleroderma vulnerable to erosion or penetration by insects, allowing it to break down.
Yeah you'll find more in"managed" forest where humans have damaged the trees. In the adirondacks much of the chaga is very high up. Where a branch has broken off usually. Reproduction he desrcibes is totally different from the last one I heard. I'll have to look for what he outlines.
I've found/harvested a few that size while deer hunting way in the back country. Way further than any harvester would look.
So much to learn about this magical kingdom :)
Important video. Thank you Paul.
Hmmm....maybe I need to do more research on paperiferic acid, betulin, condensed tannin, various tricyclic terpenes, etc but I thought that some of the compounds Chaga was famous for can only be produced by a tree and best by the varieties of white birch (B paperifera and B cordifolia here in N.A.). What exactly are the "good" chemicals in Chaga- as I know what those I mention above do to mammals (as does Dr. John Bryant and others). They are defense compounds (ie toxins) against mammal/fungi.
Cultivated Chaga can and will have a different composition and therapeutic properties, depending on the conditions under which it was grown (different types of substrate, environmental conditions, etc.). Wild Chaga takes three to five years before it can be harvested; it is clear its qualities will not be matched by a cultivated petri-dish product that is only several weeks old.
Yes, chaga on beech does not have the same constituents as chaga on birch. I think that's in "Mycelium Running." These short videos don't give a full perspective - the advice not to wild-harvest (at least in N America) is ecologically sound. I personally think there are likely a few distinct populations of this fungus. It would be wise to wait until we know if/what those populations are. If it can be cultivated, it can be inoculated into healthy birch & grown in northern climates.
Yeah Pauls probably got more money than God and he claims he can grow it on artificial medium. Wouldn't it make more sense to protect and enlarge the forest base to encourage wild growth. Like tax breaks to forest owners to help preserve old growth situations. Many don't want to cut their trees but have to or lose there land to the tax man. There is no way to stop people from cutting it if it become valuble.
Found on 🌳 stump out my way turkey tail & on a 🌳 near bottom one chunk of reishi. Within last two months found lots of large & small amount reis hi on a tree stump. I do use them. The c haga chunks & lions maine powder i have was store bought. 🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄 ✌💖
what a massive chaga great find
i was excited. 3 vids in a few days.......now im all. waaaaaaah?
i really do enjoy your work though. pls more vids
I'm really surprised that someone so incredibly knowledgeable about fungi as Paul Stamets would make this claim about farming Inonotus. The active compounds (as far as we know today) of chaga come not from the mushroom itself but from its host tree, specifically from birch. The most interesting of these would seem to be betulinic acid. Betula is Latin for birch and betulin is a predominant compound in birch bark. However, it's not bioavailable to humans in this form and that is the magic of the chaga, it turns non bioavailable betulin into bioavailable betulinic acid. This is why it's pointless (to my knowledge) to use chaga that grows on i e beech. Attempts have been made to cultivate Inonotus on potato dextrose agar, but the mycelium that was harvested contained wildly varying compounds and completely lacked betulinic acid, for obvious reasons. As this video was posted in 2011, it'd be very interesting to see an updated comment on the matter from mr Stamets. [for scientific sources, see the reference section of the Inonotus obliquus wikipedia page and oriveda.wordpress.com/chaga-the-facts/]
See mushroomreferences.com and scroll down which I update about once a month. The antiviral properties of mycelium is one of many of our important discoveries that is new to science (see uspto.gov and search under my name for details.) The following study is also one of many that the community may find interesting using our mycelium:
Chaga mushroom extract inhibits oxidative DNA damage in lymphocytes of patients with inflammatory bowel disease
“Chaga supplementation resulted in a 54.9% (p < 0.001) reduction of H2O2 induced DNA damage within the patient group and 34.9% (p < 0.001) within the control group. Lymphocytes from Crohn’s disease (CD) patients had a greater basic DNA damage than Ulcerative Colitis (UC) patients (p < 0.001). Conclusively, Chaga extract reduces oxidative stress in …
Thank you for your immediate response, mr Stamets! I am aware of Inonotus having both antiviral and anti bacterial properties. I believe the Russian VECTOR institute even had some findings in 2013 on chaga being implemented as HIV medicine for this specific reason, although I've not been able to find any follow up research on the topic. I did follow your links, however I failed to come up with anything answering my (perhaps implicit) question: it is to my understanding that some of the most interesting compounds originate in the host tree (specifically birch) and that "many of Chaga’s therapeutically interesting metabolites appear to develop only as a side effect of the harsh environment which it tends to favor and the on-going struggle with the trees defense systems. Cultivated Chaga is not involved in a struggle for survival, and therefore will not develop these secondary metabolites." [source: oriveda.wordpress.com/chaga-the-facts/] What would be your comment on this?
For some reason youtube won't let me post the link above, it gets redirected to a yt not found page. Please just click oriveda.wordpress.com and search for "Chaga the facts". Also, I'd like to point out that I'm a journalist writing on the subject and not in any way connected to oriveda or any other company selling chaga. I just found their web page to be very informative.
Does Chaga help with liver cancer? (tumours)
As always thanks Paul. Still really want to one day to get the Mushrooms to replace Polystyrene packing in New Zealand. :-)
Besides, the most affordable way to purchase this is in its natural state-which is just this side of petrified wood as far as density goes, so say goodbye to your food grinder if you want to make a powder out of it! ;) I did not know that these same important medicinal properties could be found elsewhere. It is perpetuated as a one of a kind finding. Thank you!
Use a coffee grinder.
So, what you are saying is, we shouldn't harvest chaga, but if we need it, we should by it from you? I have seen chaga that was harvested grow back. So is it sustainable?
It's not threatened where I harvest. I harvest to sell but I don't go crazy. I respect Paul but strongly disagree. Never seen it live on a beech tree. Never heard of the crust on the ground or how he discribes it reproducing. And you can NOT grow it on an artificial medium that has the constituaints of a wild conk off a birch tree!
If you think that Stamets hasn't read this report, or hasn't considered the species in a proper context (he would be more qualified than most), that that he's giving out "false" information...I'd call that reactionism from people who use it. Erring on the side of caution is always wise. One study on Russian chaga says little of the North American supply, nor of it's biodiversity. It may turn out to be several regionally-limited species, as laetiporus did. In which case Stamets' advice is good.
I put some Chaga Extract in Alcohol for 8 weeks to make tincture is that going to ruin it or should I have used raw chaga ? I am kinda new to this any advise ????
A more pressing reason to leave Canadian and American Chaga alone is the Fukushima radioactive fallout.
Have a look at the map at this website, showing the fallout spread. Almost nothing in Asia (except Japan of course and a part close to the Bering Street), but mostly on the American continent because of the jet streams. All those amateur harvesters are facing potential health problems...
cerea.enpc -dot- fr/en/fukushima.html
Will chaga harm the the tree or not?
"a resupinate crust forms on the ground near the tree." not what I read. It grows on the dead tree. I have seen it (I think ;-) ) - or at least what the literature says it should look like. I would like to see someone collect spores and infect a tree from what the literature says the fruiting body looks like and how/when it exists. I'm not sure I'm even swallowing what the eastern European "expert/author" that describes it says about this fruiting body. I live where Chaga seen on every 10th tree
To my knowledge it grows on live trees, slowly killing them. The black conk, sclerotium, could be said to hold the accumulated immune defense the host tree has used to repel the parasite. Only once the tree is dead does the fungus physically burst the bark off (hence its Swedish name, Sprängticka, meaning "exploding tree fungus") the trunk and sprout the spore carrying layer. Once the spores have been released, a process said to take a few weeks, the fungus dies.
@@arturkowalski5809 I have definitely seen Chaga growing on living birch trees on at least on 3 occasions.
Thanks ofr that. I have already seen that write up and the picture it reprinted of the supposed fruiting body. However, I'm not convinced yet that the id is accurate. Cheers
I think I may have found that layer of which you speak at the foot of a paper birch. It is as though the outer black parts are shedding onto the ground at the foot of the tree. Does that sound about right? I'm not sure if they are forming a single mass since I did not touch it. Notable is that the Chaga is growing very low on the tree, around knee level. I'll be going back to have another look and take more photos soon.
The reproductive cycle he described is totally different from the last one I heard. I have much respect for Paul , but I don't think that was even a chaga conk. That tree wasn't like any birch I've ever seen and I've never seen signs of over harvesting. Where I go some are 40 feet up the tree or more or on a tree on the side of a clift.
Exactly how can you harvest when it's 60' up and on the side of a cliff
lol someone probably overextended outro accidentally
I wouldn't say "can't be digested"...perhaps its better to say - just not very well - really really not very well. Put it in a very polar solvent and well...now your are dissolving stuff.
Its like cutting off the tip of your muchroom tip, aka penile head, and expecting life.
Chaga eventually kills the tree. If you harvest maximum half of the chaga , both chaga and tree will survive longer.
I have chaga spores
+Jeffery Swarthout My friend has them, that is actually malarkey I just wanted to say Hello.
+Jeffery Swarthout My friend has them, that is actually malarkey I just wanted to say Hello.
+Tom Thomas The key is to sell it in extract form, you will make 4 x the money
I have chagas fungal body video pics and a few pieces
+Jeffery Swarthout I can find lots of it but no way to make money , im a pimp to chaga, i do drink it, but....hard to explain I guess Charles Bukowski
Jeffery Swarthout , do you have an actual fruit body of it? If so id like to study a section of one so that i can take microscopic photos of one.
I'd love to see those pics, please.
@@michaelcandido2824 I sell on ebay and can get you fresh ones. I'm actively harvesting for corona virus medicine.