What are the best plants to grow on rotten wood?

Inglezinho · February 2021

We have a very old but quite large garden table that is now completely rotten. I thought of removing the top, which is collapsing, and growing something trailing on the top of the legs...Ivy?? Ferns?? It's quite sunny. Flowers would be a bonus.

Posy · February 2021

Nothing will grow on the wood apart from moss. Do you intend to stand or fix containers to the table legs? What size would they be?

Nanny Beach · February 2021

can we have a picture?

Inglezinho · February 2021

Here I go again answering my own question after a poor set of responses . "Nothing will grow on rotten wood" etc. Obviously someone who has never set a step inside a wood.

The obvious answer is mushrooms. The only problem is I have never tried to grow them before and am allergic to some. I'll put in another discussion post...

Posy · February 2021

On dear, a poor response! I am so sorry. I imagined that you wanted garden plants, fungi never occurred to me. I do actually spend a lot of time in woods and have a section of trees within my own garden, but they are healthy and do not grow mushrooms. I find the idea of a rotting table sprouting fungus rather gruesome and I'm not sure it would work, but if that's what you like, give it a go.

K67 · February 2021

Nanny Beach said:

can we have a picture?

Surely your poor response and lack of detail contributed to others not understanding what you wanted?
I thought edible mushrooms required dark to grow?

Butterfly66 · February 2021

We have an old wooden garden table which has been threatening to collapse for four years - it was buried in the undergrowth when we moved in.

We kept it because we loved the but of moss and lichen growing on the table top. I use it to hold my small collection of succulent pots over the summer (I naively hope when it does finally collapse it will just sink down gracefully rather than a dramatic crash)

Over the years the moss has spread and there are different types and one of hardy training succulents (name escapes me at the moment) has rooted and is growing on the table.

I guess we will get fungi when it gets to that stage of rot - that would definitely be a warning sign to move my pots 😂

WonkyWomble · February 2021

The only thing I could suggest is treating it as a stumpery. planting in little pockets of soil in the rotten wood with ferns, succulents, Mexican flea baine etc.
I agree a picture would be more helpful than an insult.

Dovefromabove · February 2021

The disappointing answers you received are probably due to fungi not being plants ... they are neither in the animal or plant kingdoms but have their own ... they are Heterotrophs. 😊 🍄

WillowBark · February 2021

I think some of the misunderstanding is due to the fact that you used the word "plants" in your discussion title, but then expected people to suggest mushrooms (when you'd also hinted at ferns and ivy as things you were thinking about). Fungi are not plants, they are a separate kingdom of their own, so @Posy's statement that not much would grow directly on wood other than moss is pretty much correct when talking about plants for woodland. @WonkyWomble's suggestion of planting in pockets of soil within the wood sounds sensible if you are after ferns, and ferns could look nice and dramatic planted atop wooden legs - like a man-made woodland palm tree! Depends on what the rest of your garden looks like as to whether that would fit well, so a photo would help to determine that. Some ferns aren't keen on huge amounts of direct sunlight, though, so if your spot is super sunny you would have to research which ones would do well in a sunny location.

If you are allergic to some types of mushrooms then that sounds like it's something you'd be wisest to avoid, especially if you are thinking of growing edible mushrooms. Other people won't be able to advise you on which ones you would or wouldn't be allergic to over the internet, it just wouldn't be safe. Also, growing them outside would risk wild species colonising and getting mixed in, which could mean you'd poison yourself if you couldn't tell them apart reliably. I'd steer clear.

In terms of flowers, a quick Google search suggested growing annuals in stumps, as then you can chop and change them each year (and I guess wouldn't outgrow your table legs in the way a perennial might), so maybe think about what kind of colours and effect you would like and see if there's anything you could sow each year that would fit the bill?

A picture would help other people to visualise what you have got to work with and what might work to create the effect that you are after. Sometimes it's hard to imagine possibilities without having a good picture of what the available resources look like. Otherwise people are just going on what you've written.

Dovefromabove · February 2021

Snap! @WillowBark 😊

Also, @Inglezinho as you garden in Brazil where conditions and possibly resources may well be different to those within the experience of most members here.

Many of us are well acquainted with wild fungi in the UK which usually occur naturally when the conditions are right.

It is possible in the UK to buy spores of various edible fungi to innoculate wood or straw or other suitable material; it’s also possible to buy ready treated logs etc. However I have no idea whether it’s possible to buy such things in Brazil or if it’s legal for you to import them from Europe.

What are the best plants to grow on rotten wood?

Posts