What do Mushrooms Eat?
Technically, mushrooms don’t eat anything. Their purpose is reproduction. However, the fungi that produce the mushrooms eat a huge amount of matter all over the planet! Every forest depends on them to break down dead trees and other plants so the cycle of life can keep going.
A mushroom won’t eat a slice of pizza, but its mycelium will!
Growing All Around Us, Out of Sight
Mushrooms grow from bodies of fungus that are mostly made of a substance called mycelium. Similar to the root systems of land plants, mycelium spreads through soil, wood and other substrates, stripping the required nutrients and waiting until the conditions in its environment are right to grow mushrooms and attempt reproduction. Some fungi will wait years or even decades!
The only time most of us are aware of the fungus around us is when we see a mushroom or mold growing but actually, every spoonful of soil in your garden and every stick, leaf and log in the woods is covered in living fungus. It supports the insects, arachnids, isopods and other tiny organisms that in turn support the birds, reptiles and rodents that support the larger hunters and so on. Without fungus, the entire system of nature would immediately stop working.
