Weird fungus in substrate

[Diplopodia]

I noticed a peculiar fungus growing in my Orthoporus Ornatus enclosure.
Anyone know what it is or if it will harm my millipedes?

 

[The Snark]

One of a few of thousands of fungi species naturally occuring in fertile soil, in synergy with the bacteria and providing food for the detrivores such as your millipedes.
There are probably another few dozen other fungi species present but too small to see.
Congrats on your active bionome. biome, AKA, bioactive enclosure so many people think they want but completely misunderstand.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Mushrooms are good, they're also pretty fun guys. They do a lot of work breaking down organic material into a digestible form for your millipede friends.

Honestly, can you expect anything to eat this before a mushroom gets its hands on it?


Don't you dare say termites.

 

[The Snark]

Going to feed an awful lot of pedes and other critters before that chunk is gone.
It's so weird. People stare at the trunk, the branches, leaves and fruit of the tree of life but are so oblivious to it's roots. Yggdrasil is a whole lot more than a quaint mythology.

 

[SpookySpooder]

The root is the heart, brain, stomach, and mouth of the tree. Soooo many people overlook this basic fact when they ask "why isn't my tree producing fruit?"

Often it is what is happening underground that is most important.

Like in your tank OP, our fun guy friends are doing work amongst the tree roots to keep everything in perfect balance.

It's an entire ecosystem down there.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Going to feed an awful lot of pedes and other critters before that chunk is gone.
It's so weird. People stare at the trunk, the branches, leaves and fruit of the tree of life but are so oblivious to it's roots. Yggdrasil is a whole lot more than a quaint mythology.

Ahh the new craze of bioactive enclosures, everyone is a mushroom farmer now it seems .

 

[The Snark]

I'm trying to remember when working at the LA arboretum we were given very strict orders to not disturb a large swath of soil. Just plain dirt, or so it seemed, but to be treated like a very frail and fragile pet. What exactly the plan was, I can't recall but I believe it was in conjunction with a USFS rehabilitation project.

 

[SpookySpooder]

I suspect they were preparing the soil for a mycelium network. Possibly to culture the ground in preparation for a tree they might be transplanting from the wild, or perhaps they were raising some kind of beetle larvae under the ground. I'd like to see where that project went, if you have the information.

During my foray into Horiculture, I discovered that many types of plants, trees, insects, animals rely on very specific fungi as a food source, as well as to develop and reproduce. Certain types of beetles will only oviposit on certain types of fungi, for example. Much of the life on our planet lives in close symbiosis with fungi and mold, and we are just discovering this fact.

I mean, most people aren't even aware that HUMANS are living with a variety of fungi and mold cultures in our organs right this very moment. We could not perform some basic bodily functions without them.

 

[The Snark]

I suspect they were preparing the soil for a mycelium network. Possibly to culture the ground in preparation for a tree they might be transplanting from the wild, or perhaps they were raising some kind of beetle larvae under the ground. I'd like to see where that project went, if you have the information.

My eidetic memory is not my friend right now. We had so many projects going on during that period which I was on the periphery of.
USFS, Cal Fire, two government funded nurserys producing some millions of seedlings - Coulter, Aleppo, Knobcone, Canary Island pines and a cedar, LA County partially hosting and supporting projects with flood control involved,. three LA Co. botanical gardens working on aspects of the major project of erosion control, Descanso Gardens hybridized a varietal of Cistus - the Descanso Rock Rose which produced a gigantic roots mass and was highly tolerant to dought, a team on standby to get 220,000 seedlings in the ground when the weather was right, several repairs and revamps to the feeder streams and gulleys throughout the San Gabriels going on, the determination the efforts to protect the Pasadena Oak were in fact killing them - watering the trees promoting Armillaria Mellia growth... all in addition to those odd projects like that half acre of bare dirt. And I was given 2000 culled seedlings which I gave to my dad who promptly had me help plant them and created a stealth forest in Altadena.

Possibly to culture the ground in preparation for a...

...fungus. I just checked, certain fungi mycelium get damaged or destroyed by simply stepping on the ground they thrive in during early stages of development.