Written by I know, I know, I do not stick to my promises and I haven’t published something new recently.
However, this time I have an excellent excuse: Together with Daniel Ambuehl, a mushroom expert and artist, we have been working really hard on our new project: A new Society called ‘Verein Hirschkäfer’ (Stag Beetle Association).
Swiss Lucanus cervus, minor male picture copyright B.Harink
Daniel has all the knowledge about mushrooms, and growing mycelia, and I was looking for ways to research breeding mats and substrates for my beetles. Agreeing on the basics that there is always a simpler way of doing things and that knowledge needs to be shared, we have jumped into merging mushrooms and beetles.
We have been working really hard and have already developed quite a few substrates that work, among others home-made Kinshi with Trametes versicolor and Pleurotus pulmonarius. It seems that mushrooms can also be used to improve flake soil for certain beetles species, and I am very much looking forward to the results of our experiments.
For me a big realization was that all the Kinshi that is utilized for beetle breeding in Japan is made from mushroom species that are also eaten by humans. It might be possible to identify mushrooms that are even better suited than the ones that are currently used for Kinshi, if we also consider non-edible species.
During the work, we realized that we need to address points of beetle conservation, habitat protection and other topics and we decided to found an association as the perfect platform for all these topics. The result is the ‘Verein Hirschkäfer’ that covers all beetle topics.
Rosalia alpina, a Swiss Cerambycidae Copyright B.Harink
The founding ceremony will be on the 18th of August. The pages are currently only available in German, but please do get in touch with me, if you want to know more. I would also be interested to learn if there are similar associations in other countries. Would be nice to cooperate and learn more.
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