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Can you propagate chaga?

 
steward
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I have lots of birch trees and a few chagas growing on my property.  Is there a way to inoculate other trees with bits of chaga?  I have mature birch trees, mature trees that are starting to die back at the top from borers and young trees to choose from.  Would inoculation help or hurt the tree?  

Thanks!
 
Mike Haasl
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Bump
 
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You can I believe, but Its parasitic. I see nothing wrong with innoculating stumps that are dead dying if you continue to harvest it -no issues.
 
Mike Haasl
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Thanks Travis!  Do you know how to innoculate them?  I'm imagining drilling a 3/8" hole about an inch deep and then packing bits of fresh chaga into the hole.  If that's correct, should I use the black part of the chaga or the inner brown part?  Should I cover the chaga plug with wax or some other seal?
 
travis kirkwood
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YouTube everything.

Also understand how blessed we our given the situation with net neutrality.

This forum I use socially and when I'm bored. YouTube YouTube YouTube
 
Mike Haasl
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Yup, already tried that.  Found 759 videos on harvesting and preparing but none on propagating it on a birch tree.  There was one on attempting to propagate it on rice hulls.  

Or did I miss some that were in there that you know of?
 
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Bump to an old thread, I found this article while looking for the same info:


https://smy.fi/en/products-services/cultivation-of-chaga-mushroom/
 
Mike Haasl
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Thanks for sharing Rob!  Since my last post I went to a mushroom event with a university guy presenting.  He said that chaga spores don't come out until the tree is dead and often on the ground.  It's a weird spore structure that forms and he's only seen it once in the wild.  

So based on that I gave up on the idea.  Looks like these fine people found a way to reproduce or tame the spore formation process.  
 
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I've been watching youtube videos on harvesting chaga recently. One thing I see repeatedly is that chaga only grows on living trees but will eventually kill any tree it grows on.  The mention that it only creates spores when the tree dies makes sense. I've also seen that the fungus invades damaged trees.  If I had a bunch of birch trees I'd try damaging some to see if chaga might take hold and hope you live long enough to see results
 
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https://greenfoot.ca/home/
 
My honeysuckle is blooming this year! Now to fertilize this tiny ad:
Heat your home with the twigs that naturally fall of the trees in your yard
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