January 28, 2006
Back to Grafton and the Yellow Birch.
Went through the infected trees more systematically. Most had Nectria
galligena damage. Again found only small
Chaga like this one:
They yielded small chunks with some brown
flesh.
Not large enough, or pure enough, to make tea.
Then I got back to the large yellow birch that has
fallen and decided to check it more closely.
This tree is about 2.5' diameter at the broken section. I decided to call
it "Big Yella" :o)
There was deep scarring at the place it broke. I removed some snow and saw
the largest Chaga I have found up to now.
I make that about 4".
But I was disappointed when I looked at the
section of the cut:
Practically no brown flesh! That is a piece of snow ice that got stuck to
it when it fell into the snow.
2/1 - Four days later, after drying, it
shows brown. Very little black.
So there might be some tea after all.
The top also changed quite a bit after 4
days of drying.
The brown flesh shows through the cracked surface.
