Where are all the shroom's!!

[dave k]

It's the time of year, but I've stil yet to see any shroom's apart from one or 2 dried up little ones!! This time last year I was burdened down with cep's - now nothing.

Come on the rain - the mushroom's are waiting for it!!
:Thinkingo

 

[Pignut]

Still alittle early in this neck of the woods, though the rain last night might bring a few out!

 

[Wayland]

I'm noticing a lot more people out collecting them these days.

Early worm and all that.......

 

[xylaria]

This years weather has been screwy. The monsoon we had been May and July meant the ground didn't heat up so the mycelium didn't grow with any vigour. The low rainfall recently has meant that what has fruited are dried out. Last year was spectacular for fungi, this year won't be.

There is some out there though. This year I have been discovering russulas. Normally I over look them because they are hard to ID and the taste can be very bland. But I have found some russulas that taste like marmite and even some that taste like chilli.

The thing that makes fungi so interesting to me is that they are so variable in what you find. They are completely tied to what the rest of environment is doing.

The fruit harvest is very good though.

 

[Tony]

Now i've no idea about this but could the rains earlier this year have damaged them. If the mycelium was destroyed there would be no fruit. Does it matter if the mycelium gets all beaten up and breaks apart, will it still bear fruit but less of it or does it need a big main body to produce it's fruit? Although i doubt this as I know that the mycelium can be tiny as well as huge......

I've been finding jews ear all over the place all year, the cover of the magazine has them on and they were taken in July, but i've not seen much else that's not left over from last year.

 

[xylaria]

The rain and the cold would not destroy the mycelium it would just retard the growth. It may leave it more susceptible to infections from nematodes but just because a particular fungi doesn't fruit doesn't mean it is not there.

Fungi can go years before it gets the right conditions to fruit. The right conditions for one species aren't the right conditions for another. Some fungi require a frost, and some require a warm summer. Horse mushrooms need horse scat to form fruit bodies and truffles need to be passed through a squirrel before the spore germinates.

Breaking up the mycelium doesn't effect whether a species fruits, if the disturbance is with certain boundaries. Basic lifecycle of fungi; Fruit body is eaten or disturbed. Spore is germinated in gut or warm soil. The germinated spores forms the primary mycelium. Primary mycelium has one set of chromsomes, when compatible threads of the primary meet and combine, they get two sets of chromsomes and form the secondary mycelium. If there is enough growth in secondary mycelium it will form a cluster that makes a fruit body. With ground disturbance it can encourage the primary mycelium to meet up and make babies. Badger latrines and sides of paths where the ground get disturbed often have high amounts of different species but cant recall seeing much fungi on ploughed fields.

 

[rich59]

Excellent crop of what I think is Boletus Badius in my park this week - Tasted good.

 

[Nomad_Of_Soul]

I've only come across common earth balls in my local wood (Little Milford) which seem to be of no use, although tis the season for Psilocybin species but no luck so far.

The Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria is the famous white-spotted red toadstool beloved of children's book illustrators.

They are widely known as one of the few poisonous fungi in the UK, but it is not generally realised that this is because they are in fact strongly psychedelic. Eaten raw, they cause stomach cramps, hallucinations and, possibly, death.

In some parts of Europe they have long been associated with magic and legend. In Lapland, reindeer regularly get high on them and are seen to leap around, giving rise to the story of Santa's flying reindeer. Lapps have a custom of deliberately feeding them to their deer, and then collecting and drinking the urine because most of the toxins are filtered out by the reindeer's digestive system.

Erm, you first I wonder how many times Santa has been asked for a glass of Rudolf's **** for Christmas.

 

[xylaria]

Excellent crop of what I think is Boletus Badius in my park this week - Tasted good.

Last NW meet we picked a massive crop of bay boletes (B.badius). They were a bit pass it, they when slimy when cooked and were seriously wormed, BUT they dried fanstically though once the wormed areas had being cut away. Some of damage looked more nemotode than larve though. We also found a large oyster cluster, but that was heavyly wormed to the piont none of it could eaten. I can eat lightly infested but not heaving.

 

[rich59]

I had my bolete lightly fried in butter on toast. Very good. Probably would go better mixed with other ingredients so it just added its flavour and texture rather than being the only flavour. My wife will barely talk to me when I try out a wild mushroom. She is real scared I will make a mistake. She also said it seemed to make me smell different from usual.

To anyone thinking of eating wild mushrooms for the first time - do know first what possible deadly fungi you might be confusing something supposedly edible with.

With boletes I am informed that there are some that can make you a bit sick and a few that are inedible but that there should be no major health risks. If I am wrong on this point then someone shout it out.

So, although I could not for sure identify it I knew it was a bolete and felt confident it was edible having briefly tasted a bit on my tongue

Young one about 10cm across

Old ones about 20cm across

 

[Greg]

Excellent crop of what I think is Boletus Badius in my park this week - Tasted good.

Lets hope you don't keel over in 6mths time if you only thought they were Boletus Badius!
You do know you can't do a normal plant taste test on fungi! It might taste ok but some fungi poison doesn't emerge for weeks or months. You have to be 100% positive of ID before deciding to eat it.
I'm not surprised your wife is scared especially when your not 100% positive yourself!

 

[xylaria]

I trust you, I cant tell quite if it is a bay bolete from the photo, they have a characteristic velvet feel to the cap, but it looks like one to me.

You can assure the wife that you cant kill yourself with bolettes. A plate full of satan boletes or close relative is about as much fun as a picolax overdose but it won't kill you.

I eat fungi I am not sure of, if i know it is from a safe group such as bolettes, russulas or milkcaps.

 

[rich59]

Lets hope you don't keel over in 6mths time if you only thought they were Boletus Badius!
You do know you can't do a normal plant taste test on fungi! It might taste ok but some fungi poison doesn't emerge for weeks or months. You have to be 100% positive of ID before deciding to eat it.
I'm not surprised your wife is scared especially when your not 100% positive yourself!

Thanks for the caution. The more sensible cautions put about the less likely it is that someone will be reckless and eat a real nasty fungus. However, in this case I can be 100% certain that it is in the family boletus and I have researched and spoken with a number of experts to confirm that there are no lethal or slow acting toxins in the group. My job is one in which there is always a worst case scenario to consider and that is how I am approaching eating fungi. You learn to operate within your knowledge and refer on if there is any risk.

With the boletus - I have learnt that a taste test and excluding red coloured ones does help you separate the very annoying ones from the pleasant.

It is going to be some time and some study before I even consider consuming anything with gills unless it is bought in a shop.

One frustration I have is that accurate identification can involve a descrption of the spores. My moderately powerful but cheap microscope isn't up to the job. Anyone know what the minimum speck would be for a good enough one for spore identification?

 

[xylaria]

Oil immersion microscope with 1000x mag will see the augmentation on pores. I never use a microscope, but I can understand why it would be reassuring to use one.

When fungi family were organised 200 years ago they were done without any input from microscopes. the criteria for Amantias, cortinarius, lepiotas, and galerinas are all visable to the naked eye. I eat nothing with brown spore prints (corts & galerinas) and white spore prints are eaten only when 101% sure. Sticking to that I can be pretty sure I wont end up on the transplant list. Other forms of fungi poisoning are treatable within reason.

There are some non gilled fungi that cause kidney and liver failure especially if eaten raw, but they look nothing like a bolette.

As rich wisely said if you operate with your knowlegde and refer on when there is any risk, you will be safe. It is arrogance rather than ignorance that kills.

In my humble opinion any form of taste test is only safe if know what from what botanical group you are consuming. Alot really nasty things out there taste completely fine. If you dont believe me try tasting one honeysuckle fruit.