{"id":672922,"date":"2026-01-04T08:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T08:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/672922\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T08:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T08:29:24","slug":"mushroom-pellets-use-fungi-superpowers-to-restore-forests-around-world-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/672922\/","title":{"rendered":"Mushroom pellets use fungi \u2018superpowers\u2019 to restore forests around world \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Scottish company is helping to regrow forests with specially made mushroom pellets, using the \u201csuperpowers\u201d of fungi.<\/p>\n

Teams from Rhizocore Technologies are collecting samples of fungi from around the world, with the goal of curating Earth\u2019s largest library of fungal specimens.<\/p>\n

Their product, a small rectangular grey pellet, helps tree-planting projects succeed in ground which may lack the appropriate fungus in the soil \u2013 boosting chances of forests regrowing.<\/p>\n

Scientists who created the company explain that trees need a system of mycorrhizal fungi around their roots in order to thrive, forming a symbiotic relationship.<\/p>\n

\"Doddie<\/a>\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

Deforestation and human activity can lead to this vital fungi degrading in the soil.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s \u201crhizopellets\u201d are planted alongside saplings and enhance the roots of the tree as it grows.<\/p>\n

Each pellet is impregnated with a specific type of fungal culture which will help the tree thrive in its location.<\/p>\n

\"RhizocoreRhizocore Technology founder Dr Toby Parke <\/p>\n

Rhizocore say these pellets can improve tree survival rates by up to half and a recent scheme involving Forestry and Land Scotland saw a relative improvement of 25%.<\/p>\n

At their facilities near Edinburgh, thousands of pellets are being produced in a carefully controlled process which involves \u201cbrewing\u201d specific fungi.<\/p>\n

The team receives samples of mycorrhizal fungi which are collected and analysed in small dishes.<\/p>\n

\"MushroomMushroom pellets made by Rhizocore Technology <\/p>\n

Some of these are stored in a cryogenic freezer where they are kept at minus 80C.<\/p>\n

When the right fungal culture is identified, it is brewed into a liquid which is then applied to the pellets.<\/p>\n

Rhizocore recently received a \u00a34.5 million investment in order to expand its work into North America.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s founder Dr Toby Parkes said: \u201cOur results clearly show that planting success can be increased by tapping into the belowground fertilisation superpowers of fungi.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told Press Association the company aims to \u201cprotect, restore and harness the fungal kingdom of life for the betterment of nature and for people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are up to three million species of fungi around the world, he said, with only around 10% of them catalogued.<\/p>\n

Rhizocore\u2019s pellets have been used in reforestation projects and commercial forestry in the UK and Europe, forming a \u201cmutual, beneficial relationship with our trees\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Parkes said: \u201cTypically our clients are buying our fungi from us that we\u2019re matching to their conditions, mainly because of economic reasons in improving the survival and growth rate of trees. \u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI sometimes scare my team, because I say we want to have the largest living repository on the planet \u2013 that would mean 60,000 samples.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Parkes added: \u201cWe want to be working globally and we want to be protecting as many fungal species as possible, biodiversity doesn\u2019t care about borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Petra Guy of Rhizocore Technology <\/p>\n

Rhizocore\u2019s plant data scientist Dr Petra Guy said: \u201cA lot of reforestation might take place in ex-agricultural soils, and the trees you\u2019re planting might need the specific type of fungi which won\u2019t occur there, because there have been no trees there for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr if you\u2019re trying to reintroduce trees into upland moor sites, where there haven\u2019t been trees for hundreds of years, these fungi can be non-existent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her job involves finding the right kind of fungi for the right kind of tree \u2013 meaning she takes part in some \u201cvery enjoyable\u201d foraging in the soil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Scottish company is helping to regrow forests with specially made mushroom pellets, using the \u201csuperpowers\u201d of fungi.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,728,204771,4884,39204,204772,70,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-672922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-forestry-and-land-scotland","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-pa-exclusive","14":"tag-rhizocore-technologies","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115835893717675651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}