Spalted
What is Spalting? Spalting is a term used to describe the process by which certain fungi grow on dead or fallen trees and after colonizing the wood via traveling up the wood cells from the ends or from broken off branches, leaves an attractive pattern. The process often takes 2 to 3 years to reach the ideal stage to cut & season the timber. The black lines are zone lines created by different species of fungi erecting barriers around their territory! There are primary colonizers who come first and establish territories and then have to defend them against secondary colonizers who are only able to colonize the wood because the primary colonizers have changed the ph of the wood & its structure. A microscopic army! If left unchecked eventually the whole tree is eaten & consumed, part of nature’s process of dealing with dead & fallen trees.