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How would you rate your mushroom hunting season?


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I would say I had a very good season of mushroom hunting. A few new species were added to my knowledge base and it was wet enough to keep me in edible mushrooms most of the season. How would you rate your season? I'm interested to hear how things went for the forum members in different parts of the country.

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For edibles... maybe a bit below average due to a very dry fall. And early spring was cold right up until May, which meant the early morels (Black Morels) were virtually nonexistent. But the big yellows came on very nicely around mid-May. Got some chanterelles, some Boletus edulis, edible Lactarius species, not many Black Trumpets. By contrast, in parts of New England, where the rains just kept coming all summer, people were harvesting Black Trumpets in large enough quantities to sell. Only one small Hen for me this year, a couple pounds of Honeys, and not very many Blewits.

I finally got up the nerve to sample some of the Boletus pulverulentus that comes up in my yard. The dark blue to black staining/bruising is pretty extreme, kinda disconcerting. But they tasted okay.

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Interesting species I found (not to eat) include Boletus rosipes.

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Boletus pallidoroseus.

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Boletus huronensis, in Acadia National Park, Maine.

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Amanita pachysperma, in my brother's yard.

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Suillus bovinus (possibly... a rare species in NA).

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to name a few. I collect a lot of material for study, stuff to send off to researchers.

Even during a sub-par year, this is the most satisfying hobby I could imagine... for a variety of reasons.

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I had a mixed season, but can't judge my lack of success to the area, but more to my lack of knowledge . I am in NW Virginia, near the Shenandoah

Natl. Park . Early morels were hard to find, but did manage a few blonds and greys later in April, early May .

I think I started a bit late on the chants, but found quite a few in late August . My edible haul for the year included oysters, hens, morels, hens, and

possibly boletus (but did not eat due to my lack of knowledge) . Enjoyed every minute of it .

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I see that L. volemus, L. hygrophoroides, and L. corrugis share similar features such as brown-orange cap and white milk. Do they have poisonous or inedible look-alikes?

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This group is a good one for beginners. The white latex is abundant, does not change color on exposure, and the latex/flesh is not acrid. Also, the tawny to brown caps on these types are not concentrically zoned. There are lots of milkies which bleed white latex, but not many --if any-- which share these other traits. The flesh of L. volemus and L. corrugis bruises brown; the latex helps turn the flesh brown. But the latex itself does not turn to a different color than white. L. hygrophoroides is particularly distinctive on account of the widely-spaced gills, a trait not seen in most Lactarius species. The gills of L. volemus are quite closely spaced. L. volemus smells like raw fish. The odor is also evident while this type is cooking. The latex of L. volemus stains the fingers brown. Some people wear latex gloves when harvesting/handling them.

Found mainly under a variety of hardwoods. Forests with oak are usually a good bet for finding these types throughout the summer months.

Lactarius volemus.

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Lactarius hygrophoroides.

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Ah,

They really don't have concentric rings on caps, thanks for pointing that out...and for other details as well, I hope I'll find some next season, there's a lot of oak around here.

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Here in my part of Ohio morel season was horrible, this was more than made up for by a tremendous lobster/bolete/lactarius v. season, the best grifola frondosa season in my years of harvesting, hericium corraloides and other variants were present but elusive, for 2 years in a row Agaricus campestris has been a no show in my dozen grassy areas to my dismay. Summer oysters were plentiful and the dark fall oyster season still continues as well as coprinus comatus and velvet foot. All in all good but not great here in W/C Ohio.

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Compared to last year it was tough. Less than 2 dozen morels this past spring. Last season I harvested bushels (literally) of Chanterrelles, this year almost none, less than a dozen. Chicken of the Woods was VERY scarce this season. Lots last year. It was a very wet spring, summer and fall. I'm not sure what the problem was. Plenty warm. Just no mushrooms to speak of this year.

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In southwestern BC we've had a rather strange season. The morels were pretty good: poor in some areas that didn't get enough rain and excellent in other areas with abundant rain. After a fairly normal summer: little rainfall and few mushrooms, fall started out with lots of promise: the rains arrived earlier than usual. However, despite plenty of rain, production of the common fall mushrooms was spotty, possibly because the weather remained warmer than usual until fairly late into fall. I'm guessing that the warm weather held back production of fall mushrooms. Then it turned abruptly cooler, but it was too late for many of the mushrooms. I collected all of my usual favorites: Shaggy Parasols, Chanterelles, Hedgehogs, American Matsutakes, Porcini, Lobsters, and Cauliflowers, but not in the quantities that they are capable of producing. Only the Winter Chanterelles seem to be available now in abundance; it's too late for all of the others.

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