winter fungi?

[dave k]

HI,

I was amazed at the amount of Fungi and fruit there still is about there, even in the middle of December. Yesterday we collected:

4 hedgehog fungus - all in very good condition
1 peice of brain fungus, from a very large specimin about 1.5 ft across
1 carrier bag full of crab apples.

Also spotted a handfull of Shaggy ink caps that were looking very good.
It must be the warm December we're having - I've never seen Hedgehog fungus this late in the year..

 

[WhichDoctor]

Yes I've noticed a lot of fungi around as well. I don't really know anything about them but I did'nt think they were normally out this late.

 

[xylaria]

There is quite a few good winter fungi. I find they are more likely to be maggoted though and frosts can make them gooey and tasteless

Blewits, oyster fungus, inkcaps are the most common. There also velvet fungus which as long as it is correctly ID'ed provides a good meal. By december fungi is not normally numerous to go on intentional hunts but can still provide suprise bountys.

I have seen some seriously out of season things this year. Ate a giant puffball in first week of november. The ground warm temperatures in the summer has thrown up large crops of fungi this year. September was felt really manic with the amount of finds.

Is Dorset really as bountyful as Huge Furry- whittlingstool makes out or is he
A) very lucky
B) cheats and buys them
C) Knows alot of locals and bribes them with copiuos amounts of mulled wine
He seems really greedy as well. Is any fungi left in the county after he has been out?

 

[Toddy]

This sort of came up on another couple of threads too

I was speaking with one of the countryside rangers about fungi ( I use them for dye so sometimes need lots) and I said I felt reluctant to pick much of any one find because I was under the impression that they were sort of rare and under threat. He commented that on the Continent they have no such compunction; they take them all and there is never any lack. He wonders if it were somehow like pruning roses, fruit bushes and the like to keep them in flower; if you pick the fruiting bodies then the fungi keeps producing more.
Does anyone have any evidence either way??

cheers,
Toddy

 

[dave k]

Is Dorset really as bountyful as Huge Furry- whittlingstool makes out or is he
A) very lucky
B) cheats and buys them
C) Knows alot of locals and bribes them with copiuos amounts of mulled wine
He seems really greedy as well. Is any fungi left in the county after he has been out?

Well, like anything it depends on the weather. I know for a fact that the new forest can be bursting with Fungi for most of the year around. In Autumn I can often get about 1 - 1.5kg's of ceps in about 30-40 mins in a quick walk about (bearing in mind I've seen cep's that top in at over a kilo each!).. I've got a couple of really good catchment area's off the beaten track, and I can get nice supplies of about 4-5 different species of Boletus, as well as a couple of oyster tree's (as I like to call them!!) and a few chicken-of-the-wood's that are still standing up. Over by Kingston Lacey I've also see over 30-40 shaggy parasol's in the woods in massive drifts..

And since there are good secton's of pine wood's nearby this is really good for hedghog's and brain fungus.

The only rules I follow are:

1) Never pick more than half of what you see in one place
2) Never pick something you're not going to use
3) 2kg's in one go is about the limit I'll usually take.

And these I follow because I think we have to share all the resources we have together. I've seen people come out of the forest with bag's and bag's of 'shroom's, cleaning out the place so there is nothing left for anyone else... That I think is a shame..

 

[dave k]

This sort of came up on another couple of threads too

I was speaking with one of the countryside rangers about fungi ( I use them for dye so sometimes need lots) and I said I felt reluctant to pick much of any one find because I was under the impression that they were sort of rare and under threat. He commented that on the Continent they have no such compunction; they take them all and there is never any lack. He wonders if it were somehow like pruning roses, fruit bushes and the like to keep them in flower; if you pick the fruiting bodies then the fungi keeps producing more.
Does anyone have any evidence either way??

cheers,
Toddy

There was some research done on this, I think in the baltic area. They had 2 area's cordoned off, one only had a light picking, the other was harvested as quick as they grew up. The outshot was that there was little if any difference in the amount of Funghi that were collected, and apparently no impact on later yealds in the next year. It appears that the only problem with over-picking is that you sometimes have to get up really early in the well-known spots to get the 'shroom's before everyone else gets out of bed.

 

[xylaria]

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE VERY LUCKY!

80- 90% of the life cycle of fungi goes on underground. Picking fungi is about as damaging as picking blackberries. Fungi have complacated growth and reproductive cycles where if I remember there seven types of gamete cells. Spores I think come two genders(?). The fruit body is not the only source of reproduction. Well anyway when you disturb a fungus it will release spores. As you walk around a wood the spores are released from the collecting basket and deposted into the surrounding environment. This helps the fruit body do its job. Just as badgers dogs squirrels help spread spores by picking fungi you are helping spread spores.

I seen TV programs where they seem to be able to find Sparassis crispa in broad leaf woods. This is just really suspect :bluThinki