Spalting - Common Spalting Fungi

Common Spalting Fungi

One of the more tricky aspects to spalting is that some fungi cannot colonize wood alone; they require other fungi to have gone before them to create more favorable conditions. Fungi progress in waves of primary and secondary colonizers, where primary colonizers initially capture and control resources, change the pH of the wood and its structure, and then must defend against secondary colonizers that then have the ability to colonize the substrate.

Ceratocystis spp. (Ascomycetes) contains the most common blue stain fungi. Trametes versicolor, (Basidiomycetes) is found all over the world and is a quick and efficient white rot of hardwoods. Xylaria polymorpha (Pers. ex Mer.) Grev. (Ascomycetes) has been known to bleach wood, but is unique in that it is one of the few fungi that will erect zone lines without any antagonism from other fungi.