Re: HARP-L Digest V94 #286

[wlgrogan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

To FJM et al.,
	Sorry for my late reply to your posting on moldy wood on 6 Jan., as I 
was out that day.  I can definitely tell you that molds and other types of fungigrow well on wood but not on plastic.  In the wet and sticky east, if you walk
through a forest you will encounter all sorts of fungi growing out of dead and
living trees.  These fungi break down the dead (and sometimes living) componentsof woody plants that contain cellulose (that's what wood is mostly).  In fact,
often when you see mushrooms growing from the soil, what you are really seeing
are the reproductive (sporulating) bodies of massive underground fungi bodies
called hyphae.  These hyphae do most of the decomposing and absorbing of the
woody stuff, something that we and all other animals cannot do because we lack
enzymes to break down cellulose.  Even termites cannot digest wood by themselves without the symbiotic protozoa and bacteria that live in their gut.  In fact,
the first thing that baby termites do after hatching is eat some feces of their
brothers and siters to infest themselves with these symbiotic microorganisms.
If they do not become so infested, they starve to death.
	Sorry for the long diatribe, but I wanted to explain why wood harps
grow mold and plastic harps don't very well.
Regards to all,
Bill Grogan