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Anyone tried mushroom hunting with uv light [365nm] or any uv light [365-400]

Maybe you've just uv'd your mushrooms.

How practical is this, how did you go in real world situation?

I notice mushrooms don't fluoresce like a bleached white t-shirt. Nothing like it, but they do glow a little, a dim blue.

Maybe you've tried, let me kknow thanks..

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I think it would be much better to go during the daytime :P

It could be fun if you like stumbling around in the dark finding 1/100th of what you were going to if you had more light.

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I've had 2 negative experiences in a row. first Police car waiting outside paddock, forcing retreat via running down creek and exiting other side [had to do the creek bit to put the elite dog units off scent [seen it in jail escape movie]] then spend 40 minutes finding an exit and circling back. 2nd experience farmer comes flying down on a motorbike going on about harming in animals and just general abuse. SO I thought a night trip, but i'd have to buy a uv torch first, and although I know mushrooms have a faint glow, i'm sure there's prob other stuff that glow also, which might make the exercise pointless.

I've used a red light when bush walking at night, it's good because doesnt deteriorate night vision [iris nor retina] and in a special ops mushroom hunting expedition red light is less likelly to be noticed than white. So maybe red light for finding way and uv light for detecting mushrooms amongst primarily dead grass, green grass and poo. As long as UV doen't fluoresce poo or grass maybe it's a plan

Edited by blog
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Even with bioluminescent mushrooms only the gills glow and it's very very weak.

I don't think cubes would glow :(

Better to use a red or blue light...

although I have to say being found in a paddock at night would be 100 times more suspicious than being found during the day.

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An interesting idea Blog ! You should try it out on some knowns found during the day, go back and give it a go at night . I don't know if you can get different nanometer UV lights , but perhaps you could even find a species specific wave length ??

I too use red light on occasions when bush walking at night , doesn't disturb night eyes too much , but also I was watching a bush rodent going about his business for about ten minutes the other night , he didn't even seem to notice me until I put the white light on …..

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while it might be fun looking for shrooms in the middle of the night with a UV light (lol) its fraught with danger.

nighttime field collecting may not be as dangerous as forest hunting, but still dangerous.

its hard to correctly id properly in the dark without proper light. if you do pick wait till daytime to ID properly.

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for the hot spots. i find the break of dawn on a sunday. best time to go. allmost everyone sleeps in on sundays. and you can see em then. and yes being caught in a feild at night looks far worse. than being caught in the feild at day time

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Not sure how it goes in WA, but here in NNSW there has been a long history of ppl foraging for cubes behaving badly.

If you see someone on your rural place you don't know, looking for cubes is the second last worry on your mind. Other candidates for people who shouldn't be there are household ripoffs, people who are likely to pinch farm machinery like pumps, pudding thieves ( crop snatchers ), clueless rude types who are going to take up an hour of your time whinging that property is theft so they're going to camp with their mates on your boundary fence, man ( when they could have come to your door and asked ) -and if it's the season, cube hunters

Any of these people could also be performing any and all of the above functions despite their protestations. They could all be Facebooking their mates about this awesome new spot they've found heaps at. And leaving gates open for livestock to get out is a common error that is just plain rude and dangerous

So yeah, no surprises that landholders get stroppy. How would you feel if I skulked around the back of your place for a few hours with some mates, especially if your missus and kids are there on their own? Show a bit of respect and check with the landholder wherever possible, you'd be surprised how many are amenable

Sorry to hijack thread. I'm with Obtuse re foraging at night and the accuracy of UV lights with ID. Hunting for glowing mycoflora is hell silly fun, but yeah, you do need to remember that there are some seriously venomous nocturnal snakes around as well. We have roughscales here for that, and a few of the more shy yet slightly venomous ones too

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And remember kids, UV light is harsh on the eyeballs. Wear safety glasses with a UV rating whenever you're playing with it. Burned eyeballs are no fun, and it doesn't take long to do damage

I am the voice of bitter experience on this, I have managed to get UV shredded eyeballs twice- first time playing with some TLC visualisation ( it'll only take a minute ) and losing track of time, and the second time from UV bounce off a stainless work surface when doing some UV mutation work ( goggles are best, UV sunglasses don't always provide protection against UV coming from underneath your face )

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When i was 20. I did meet a bloke at one spot out front of his property. Once i was picking a long side the fence line. Because i did not want to go into private property. Especially around such a area. A lot of the farmers would have guns. The farmer actually road up to me on a 4 wheeler. Asked me ''Do you kids get the same buzz out of those. As i did when i was your age?'' I laughed and could not beleive it. He told me to go pick the mushies out of the cow patties in the property. Because he remembered them being the best. I didn't get to greedy got out of his way when i found a good couple doses. Thanked him bought him around a 6 pack a couple days later.
Was a bloody good trip too

So yeh it is suprising. Who actually wont mind you picking them.
But still dawn on sundays at hot spots. Like places where there is usually to much traffic on normal days etc.
And sorry running through the night with funky coloured lights. Is going to raise more questions if you got spotted. See might be less chance you get spotted. But more chance if you do get spotted. I dont think their not going to wait. or come see what ya have to say. And their going to most likely see you. Before you see them if you ever see them. Even though the redlight wont effect your night vision to much. Still going to see a glowing redlight from ages away shining through the bush's. But hunting them with lights does sound cool.

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It's also maybe helpful in conversation to let landholders know Psilocybin mushrooms are being researched at reputable research institutions as a possible preventative for migraines and there are accounts online at clusterbusters describing long term effects from sub-threshold doses of psilocybin mushrooms.

I mean, who doesn't know someone who has migraines? And most farmers I know love to collect all sorts of miscellaneous information. Also it's true.

If you hear shots fired over your head, it's because they are being polite. It's considered polite to fire the first round away from the intruder, for most values of polite. Remember this well. It's not because they missed ha ha ha oops...

Good on you dizzyanarchist for remembering the forms. Politeness goes a long way out in the bush, as does beer.

Edited by Darklight
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. I don't know if you can get different nanometer UV lights , but perhaps you could even find a species specific wave length ??

365nm is your basic forensics blacklight for fluorescing the majority of items/dyes. The light is invisible to most, except apparently kids. One photo I was looking at recently shows a mushroom with bright partial cap fluorescence at what i would expect would be 380-400nm, judging by the strong violet light. This is good in that these led lights are cheap & easy to get compared to high powered 365nm leds, negative is the violet light Potentially mask glow & and are visible.

http://www.fungaljungal.org/images/Cortinarius_ahsii_Cedar_5-16-13_6.jpg

With the red light, it's good that green grass & leaves absorbs it so if using a metal torch that hides the reflector it's relatively stealth. My wildlife also vastly enjoys red light more, will often freeze or run away with white light.

Darklight as I understand it the UV for fluorescence should all be contained withiin UVA and so not such a risk to eye, your purpose prob necessitates using 260nm light which is very dangerous.

Within waking distance all farms are hotspots so farmers have grown to be hostile & call police..Another farmer was talking to me about 'drug addict' mushroom pickers hitting his milk cows. The cows have a reflex of barging you when near so I could see how an idiot might slap a cow defending it'self or young on own property..

I've already had the experience of farmer on his verandah with rifle yelling at me. I did not have to be convinced to start walking. This was in Nimbin... talk about hotspots.

DizzyAnarchist I just got to get out away from town, where farmers are not used to sometimes multiple groups of people treading his field at once.They are just sick of it.

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365nm is your basic forensics blacklight for fluorescing the majority of items/dyes. The light is invisible to most, except apparently kids. One photo I was looking at recently shows a mushroom with bright partial cap fluorescence at what i would expect would be 380-400nm, judging by the strong violet light. This is good in that these led lights are cheap & easy to get compared to high powered 365nm leds, negative is the violet light Potentially mask glow & and are visible.

http://www.fungaljungal.org/images/Cortinarius_ahsii_Cedar_5-16-13_6.jpg

With the red light, it's good that green grass & leaves absorbs it so if using a metal torch that hides the reflector it's relatively stealth. My wildlife also vastly enjoys red light more, will often freeze or run away with white light.

Darklight as I understand it the UV for fluorescence should all be contained withiin UVA and so not such a risk to eye, your purpose prob necessitates using 260nm light which is very dangerous.

Ta, I did not know that it came in so many readily available wavelengths - and even LED! Different now than when I was a tacker

The one I was using for mutation was your average UV-sterilising tube. The TLC-Vis was a handheld cheapo with a tiny fluro tube

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365nm is your basic forensics blacklight for fluorescing the majority of items/dyes. The light is invisible to most, except apparently kids. One photo I was looking at recently shows a mushroom with bright partial cap fluorescence at what i would expect would be 380-400nm, judging by the strong violet light. This is good in that these led lights are cheap & easy to get compared to high powered 365nm leds, negative is the violet light Potentially mask glow & and are visible.

http://www.fungaljungal.org/images/Cortinarius_ahsii_Cedar_5-16-13_6.jpg

With the red light, it's good that green grass & leaves absorbs it so if using a metal torch that hides the reflector it's relatively stealth. My wildlife also vastly enjoys red light more, will often freeze or run away with white light.

Darklight as I understand it the UV for fluorescence should all be contained withiin UVA and so not such a risk to eye, your purpose prob necessitates using 260nm light which is very dangerous.

Within waking distance all farms are hotspots so farmers have grown to be hostile & call police..Another farmer was talking to me about 'drug addict' mushroom pickers hitting his milk cows. The cows have a reflex of barging you when near so I could see how an idiot might slap a cow defending it'self or young on own property..

I've already had the experience of farmer on his verandah with rifle yelling at me. I did not have to be convinced to start walking. This was in Nimbin... talk about hotspots.

DizzyAnarchist I just got to get out away from town, where farmers are not used to sometimes multiple groups of people treading his field at once.They are just sick of it.

Farmer in Nimbin waving a rifle at you from front pourch??

You must of been right down the back of croftons road lol..........

Question why are you hunting mushies at night in Nimbin, the perfect time is 3pm in afternoon down that way imho.

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