Jump to content

Growth rates


Recommended Posts

Do different species grow at different rate?

Let's say it's raining at 1" per day, does it make sense to venture out the next day? or in 2 days? in 3? Does it depend on what I'm looking for?

Interested mostly in boletes, lactarius, chanterelles and agaricus field species at this time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do different mushrooms grow at different rates? You bet! And yes, it depends on what you are looking for..........Even more importantly they might change a lot for other reasons besides rain; a pefect bolete one day is a production factory riddle with bugs the next. An Inky cap that one day is perfect can be an unidentifiable mass of black slim the next. Then there is those pesky slow growers such as hedgehogs that seem to take weeks to have any identifiable growth. Freezing at night can also make many mushrooms turn to a glutinous mass. So if you have freezing weather at night, go the day before. Here in the PNW, the chanterelles can be very eatable for weeks during late summer when they grow particularly slow when there is a lack of rain.........then those that come up with a rain will be good but can be a bit watery........then the freeze hits. Good luck. Great question!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, natvik Lokness!

Based on the response I dare to make conclusion that whenever we, mushroom crazies, have spare time, no matter if it recently rained or not (with the exception of those days when there's 3ft of snow outside), should go on a hunt, because there's always a chance to find good edibles, whether weather conditions are marvelous or hopeless. Is that right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, I would take every opportunity I could to get out and look for mushrooms, recent rains or not. Mushrooms growing on trees or logs do not seem to be rain dependent. Also I have on many occasions been surprised to find lactarius species growing many days after the last rains. Some soils hold moisture better than others and in rolling terrain the low areas may hold moisture that the high areas could not. Never knowing what you might find is part of what makes this hobby fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Surprise fruitings are something I experience occasionally. This past summer I collected 2-3 pounds of perfect B. edulis form an area that usually gets lots of hunting pressure. The weather had been fairly dry leading up to this. Maybe a very isolated t-storm...? Precip maps often fail to properly record isolated local events. So, probably. But one way or the other, it was a major surprise.

Species fruiting variability was addressed nicely by n-Lokness. So I'll add a few more things about rainfall.

Mushrooms do not generally begin to fruit while the rain is falling. Some hidden buttons that have been "on hold" leading up to precip event may seem to leap into existence. But truly new fruitings require a period of drying before the mushrooms appear. In my experience, it seems to go like this. One inch or less, look the next day or two. One to two inches, wait a day or two before looking. Over two inches, new fruitings are likely to appear beginning in about three days and continue for one to two weeks. These are rough estimates. There are no completely reliable rules for predicting mushroom fruitings as a function of rainfall. And, if the rainfall comes either on the heels of a drought or during a consistently wet period, then everything changes. After a significant drought, it may take several significant rainfalls to get things going again. If the weather has been consistently wet, then some types of fungi may have used up all available energy producing earlier flushes, and it may take a few weeks before those types of mushrooms appear again... or maybe even not until next year. Time of year is another consideration. Two inches of rainfall during early June is likely to result in few mycorrhizal species (around here), because the trees have just finished leafing-out which I believe means that fungal associates are still nutrient deprived. But a saprobe like Pleurotus may produce a late spring bumper crop.

Or not.

Like you said the other day, eat-bolete, it's a lot like fishing. You make your best prediction, but surprises --good and bad-- are always possible. For me, it's part of the fun... not really knowing what to expect. And, when weather conditions have been really weird, I may not collect bags full of edibles. But I may see a species that I have rarely --or never-- previously seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, love such thorough answers, thank you, I appreciate it. I realize there are no precise prediction, it is part of the fun, just wanted to get an idea to know next year where is it better to go on a certain day - to fish or on a fungi hunt...though either can still end up unpredictably.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.