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Every seasoned wild mushroom hunter is familiar with this concept.  If you just plan to start dabbling into this activity please be aware that 90% of the wild mushrooms you find is unusable for various reasons : too small (young) too old too damaged by bugs or animals (primarily snails) known poisonous species or sickener known inedible (tasteless, bitter etc) The first three on the list are basically what I call "Mushrooming Window". Small (Young) The young specimens are almost always better for consumption. Even grocery shop charges you more for buttons. But there is a point when too young mushroom is not really safely identifiable. This is true for early button stage of majority of species. It is recommended to leave any mushroom in the very early stage of development, unless you are absolutely positive about identity of the specimen. For example, it would be a bad mistake to take Amanita button for puffball. Old The old attribute greatly varies with differe

The Spring was   dry and nothing really spectacular happened in the world of wild mushrooms, especially not with edibles.  The weather was very unpredictable, with quite late frost nights and substantial temperature changes in short periods of time. Over all spring was quite dry. The usual finds ( Morels , Oysters , Reishi ) were   low in numbers.  It is partly result of my inability to find Morels in any significant quantities. In the Reishi case it is very likely result of over harvesting. It was almost impossible to find any of last year specimens on the trees or stumps, while the traces of the harvested ones were visible everywhere. [caption id="attachment_2001" align="alignnone" width="663"] Young Reishi Mushroom[/caption] The Umbrella Polypora was right on schedule and I found expected numbers around. [caption id="attachment_2006" align="alignnone" width="663"] Umbrella Polypora[/caption] The Dryad's Saddle was ev

Two days ago I visited several spots that over the years used to produce abundance of Reishi . In my area Reishi is found only in coniferous woods, more precisely on hemlock. I did find some of new growth, but it is a far cry from usual numbers. I can't be sure, but I strongly suspect it is a consequence of over harvesting. The mature mushrooms from the last year growth are nowhere to be seen, but stumps of harvested ones are quite evident. I hope that next year situation will improve. I will keep visiting spots during the season.   In deciduous woods the Umbrella Polyphora is still going strong: Right now the real explosion of Megacollybia rodmani is going on . Actually, following the latest development it seems that there is 2 forms of Megacollybia around, rodmani and murina. As far as I can differentiate, it seems that Megacollybia form murina is prevalent in my area. More of the grays in cap and no visible mycelium at the base of the stalk are the main characteristics of

The humidity is creeping in and temperature are quite high. The tree canopy is full. The beginning of June comes and so are the Umbrella Polyphora s, like a clockwork.  This early in the season I don't bother to pick anything (maybe some oysters). I guess the bugs don't have enough to feed around so they invade even the youngest and best looking specimens. Very young specimen The other mushroom showing in the beginning of June is Megacollybia rodmani (Platterful Mushroom). It is also known as "Tricholomopsis platyphylla" and "Megacollybia platyphylla". There is some confusion lately and it seems Eastern NA has 2 different species. The brownish cap and more elongated stem is Megacollybia rodmani and grayish cap with more stout stem is Megacollybia murina. Truly beautiful, mid size mushroom with firm and white flash. Lasts about one month in great numbers, and is fairly common find in deciduous woods. Loves old logs and tree stumps. It is edible according to