Yesterday was a really fun Saturday of Memorial Day. We went to Jon's parents' house to watch his brother and sister-in-law, drill holes into a stump and plug it with mushroom spores...Let me explain.
Last summer, it was decided that the old(only about 35 years) old Maple tree in the back yard had to come down. It had a split trunk and parts of the tree were leaning over the house, a big storm could bring it down. Also the root system was starting to move some of the basement foundation walls. The tree came down last fall.
Now there is the stump. It's very large. It would be extremely expensive to get ground out. So, Stephen found a possible solution, inject the trunk with mushroom spores. Essentially, Mushrooms love dead trees to gown on. They will help decompose the tree as they grow.
Three types of spores were purchased, Maitaki, Lion's Head and Shitaki mushrooms. The first step is to drill the hole.
Step 2 is Plugging the hole. Trick is finding the actual hole amidst the sawdust.
Step 3 is melting wax to pour over them.
Step 4 is pouring the wax over them to seal in moisture.
Step 5: Check back between August and November if any spores have sprouted :)