Re: A quick question
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>That's an interesting question, Pam. Most of the FPL literature on fungus damage of wood only addresses the criteria for fungal growth in wood, not the methods of initial infection. It is the growth, of course, that causes the damage. Very little is said about limiting initial infection by fungus spores, because they are pervasive in the environment. Whether they effectively enter the water conducting tissues of the trees, e.g., through the stomata of the leaves or through the cilia of the roots, and are then dispersed through the phloem and xylem is not clear, but is probably a moot point, since there are so many other ways they can get into the wood, either through weather or insect damage, or during the harvesting, cutting, drying and distribution of the wood. It's no wonder that the ancients without microscopes were so easily convinced of the veracity of spontaneous generation. In any case, there are spores in the environment, and they will make contact with the wood, or the milk or the eggs or the cabbage, no matter what we do to prevent them short of hermetically sealing the product and irradiating it. The issue is which ones and how many get there, and whether the conditions are right to encourage their growth and subsequent production of spalting, cheese, yoghurt, hundred year old eggs, kim chee, or good rich garden soil. If all else fails, when all danger of frost has passed, plant tomatoes.
