TEST

The weather roller-coaster is continuing in Southern Ontario. Days are very pleasant and occasionally outright hot. Nights are getting chilly with sporadic frost. Perfect conditions for Late Fall Oysters . Despite late date many logs have multiple bunches of small mushrooms. Unless deep freeze comes there will be Late Fall Oysters to pick for several more weeks. Tricholomas are showing up, mainly the gray varieties like Tricholoma myomyces and Tricholoma virgatum . They are not prolific and abundant as usual. I suspect the reason is too hot days. These mushrooms are really cold lovers and even enjoy frost. Generally I do not bother with any Tricholomas and do not eat them. The Brick Top ( Hypoloma sublateritium ) is quite common site. They love secluded places on the fallen trunks and blend very well into the colors of fallen leaves. I sometimes wander if  actually I am dealing with Hypoloma capnoides . As far as literature goes it is very hard to distinguish between two species in ...

After unusually worm weather all of a sudden the first frost showed up in Southern Ontario. There was even some snow in area surrounding Toronto and Hamilton. Practically we skipped period of cool nights and pleasant days. I think this weather development surprised some of the late fall mushroom species, especially Late Fall Oyster (Panellus serotinos). There is a great number of small and starting mushrooms around, but almost no mature and fully developed ones. The time will tell if frost will prevent further growth of the budding mushrooms. The interesting fact is that freezing changes deep green color of this mushroom to yellow-tan tones. I know from experience that freezing does not bother Oyster mushroom too much and I did eat them after thawing. There is no noticeable difference in taste or texture. I also noticed several bunches of Brick Top mushroom solidly frozen. According to literature, this species is supposed to be less common than S ulfur Cap  (posonous) or Hypoloma ca...