WA Season

[ydarb]

dude, they werent galerina's. ive done my research after Hyphalknots post. youd have to be fairly stupid to mistake the two after a little research.

[Hyphal]

Sorry man, but I agree with poo.

youd have to be fairly stupid to mistake the two after a little research.

You would also have to be fairly stupid to eat mushrooms you know nothing about the first time you ever find them, without getting a proper ID first.

Here is why - can you tell me which mushroom out of these will kill you, and which one you can eat safely?

[DreamingNagual]

I thinking the centre Mushroom is the bad guy & the 1st and 3rd are both psilocybins?

Is that a slight ring i see on the stem of #2 just out of focus? and is that a slight blueing on the far side of the cap on the 3rd pic?

Please Dont take my word for fact, I just use the power of deduction and a lil bit of common sense? to properly ID would invole a more in depth inspection of specimens.

I also agree with poo and hyphal, I have been collecting fungi for over ten years & I know what grows in my local area, That said, Even tho I am pretty clued up, Sometimes even I get fooled very easily & have learned if your unsure then just leave it in the ground, If you treat the area good then it should produce many other more easily identifiable specimens for study!

Edited June 3, 2008 by DreamingNagual

[guitar_man117]

I thinking the centre Mushroom is the bad guy & the 1st and 3rd are both psilocybins?

Is that a slight ring i see on the stem of #2 just out of focus? and is that a slight blueing on the far side of the cap on the 3rd pic?

Please Dont take my word for fact, I just use the power of deduction and a lil bit of common sense? to properly ID would invole a more in depth inspection of specimens.

I also agree with poo and hyphal, I have been collecting fungi for over ten years & I know what grows in my local area, That said, Even tho I am pretty clued up, Sometimes even I get fooled very easily & have learned if your unsure then just leave it in the ground, If you treat the area good then it should produce many other more easily identifiable specimens for study!

i dunno i reckon the first one is the goods and the 2nd two are no go.

[ethnodude]

Sorry man, but I agree with poo.

You would also have to be fairly stupid to eat mushrooms you know nothing about the first time you ever find them, without getting a proper ID first.

Here is why - can you tell me which mushroom out of these will kill you, and which one you can eat safely?

I'll take a punt and say none of the above.

If I'm right do i win a prize?

[reshroomED]

Given that I'd need more than a photo to id a mushroom, I'd call pic#1 the genuine article. That's going on general looks plus the white stem (which, whilst not definitive for id, should exclude gallerinas whose stipes are generally tinged brown).

Great post Hyphal, I will try to get similar pics of local subs/gallerinas without wavy caps tomorrow. They can pretty-well imitate subs in all their variations and are a big worry when you're learning to id shrooms.

ed

Edited June 3, 2008 by reshroomED

[strangebrew]

I'd guess the 1st is OK as bugs have been there.

Do bugs go for Galerina's? Not familiar with them being from SA.

[poo]

Although a slightly unfair way to make the point (few of us would ID from a photo alone), I think the eagerness to be right and varience of answers here, highlight Hyphalknot's point very well.

I'm more inexperienced than most here, and am in no real position to point out the dos and don'ts (I'm bound to make a bunch of mistakes in the near future...), but was genuinely concerned by the cavalier attitude to consuming mushrooms expressed in the post above. Other, more influencial readers browse the forums too.

[Hyphal]

I was going to wait until the person the question was intended for chimed in, but DN's response was too perfect. No wonder though, you say you have had ten years experience.

Using these techniques pretty much can eliminate any chance of picking the wrong thing, but I would definitely still take a spore print when first starting out - the gallerina print should be quite different to a sub. Maybe deliberately hunt out some gallerina adn correctly ID them as well, so you can see and feel the difference for yourself.

Lastly, I think its important to post pics before eating anything!

You got it spot on DN, 1st and third are subs and the second is a gallerina. They look fucking alike though dont they, gallerina is the main sepcies I mistake a subs for when Im hunting - anything else can usually be dismissed at a glance.

[ydarb]

i would have said the first one is a sub (the white stem). the other two i couldnt tell just by the photo, however i would squeeze them and the gills would go blue - this would confirm it for me. and they have no frill around the neck.

but fucking hell those pics have the same cap colour and size/shape.

there is one more problem when we were picking the shrooms we got carried away and didnt check all the shrooms turned blue so if a galerina was hiding amongst the subs it would have been collected quite easily, its too late to tell now as they are dried, so ill just hope for the best, but next time ill be much more careful.

also who the fuck has time to do a spore print i mean come on, this is a good idea but in the real world i doubt very many people do it, or even know how.

[Hyphal]

Spore prints are easy and take no time at all to do. If you are suspect about a specimen, just cut the cap off and lay it on some paper. For better results, put an upturned drinking glass over the cap while its printing. 12 hrs later and you should have a decent print on your paper.

This is the real world, and this is how people identify fungi (and preserve their 'babies'). Anyone serious about mushroom hunting knows exactly what a spore print is and how crucial it can be when making identifications. Plus its good fun to do as well as giving you a deeper understanding of how fungi re-produce!

Though obviously, if you are confident about what you are collecting of course you aren't going to then print everything you find (especially if you collected a big haul). Its a great method for people starting out to be sure of their ID's.

Again I think the best way to learn which is ones are your friends is to get to know which ones are your enemies - actively look for some gallerina, collect a couple of specimens (in a separate bag!) and have a good look at them when you get home. Check out the gills, stem colour, cap, give the stem a squeeze and look for the bruising and take a print of one and a print of a sub to compare next to each other.

Happy (and safe) hunting!

[naja naja]

also who the fuck has time to do a spore print i mean come on, this is a good idea but in the real world i doubt very many people do it, or even know how.

[ydarb]

thanks for the feeback Hyphalknot, and well not so much naja naja lol.

dude 12 hours for a spore print is a long time, especially when you cant wait to start eating them.

and after drying out the remainder of my subs how long do you think they will keep for?

also , when looking for shrooms has anyone found subs in locations other than the obvious 'jayes road' area?

in other words is it worth looking along say grimwade road? prowes road? nannup road? etc, or is this simply a wild goose chase?

[PD.]

dude 12 hours for a spore print is a long time, especially when you cant wait to start eating them.

and after drying out the remainder of my subs how long do you think they will keep for?

LOL

freezer dude.

[ydarb]

hmm good idea. good idea. will this damage thier potency?

[Hyphal]

Vdarb so many questions... lol

Its always worth hunting other areas, looking for mushrooms is wicked fun, and never a waste of time to learn a new area of ground in a new part of the world. You may not find anything though, so long as you're prepared for that option.

12 hours is FUCK ALL time if it saves your life. Don't be ridiculous...

Freezing is not a really good idea unless they are BONE dry (ie the stem snaps like a twig, and doesn't bend at all) but even then its not necessary. Once they are as dry as you can get them store them in a ziplock bag with a little desiccant packet from a medicine bottle, in a cool, dark place.

Exposure to light, air, moisture and excessive heat are what destroys the good stuff.

[Plantsoma]

No.

[Hyphal]

Freezing fresh mushrooms WILL destroy them though, so never do this. Just make sure they are bone dry.

[ydarb]

wow, thanks for the advice.

Hyphalknot if i store them as you suggest will they keep for a month?

[Hyphal]

They will keep for a year or more!

[Hyphal]

I have to add though if they are even a bit wet then they will go mouldy... make sure they are bone dry. Research ways to get them 'cracker' dry, or even better, Buy one of these.

[lampy]

I have always identified gallerinas by their gill colour. The gills always seem to have a yellow/orange tinge.

Where im hunting at the moment most of the the subs have quite brown stems especially lower on the stem so i don't believe that stem color should be relied on.

I have also seen gallerinas without any sign of an veil reminant on the stem. Maybe it just rubs off??

[Plantsoma]

Note on using food dehydrators:

Just be careful to check whether and how much they heat up. My dehydrator heater seems a bit too hot for certain mushrooms, so i would pull it apart and disconnect the wiring to the heater. It was easy to do with mine, and i just hooked the heater back up when i need it.

[Hyphal]

Note on using food dehydrators:

Just be careful to check whether and how much they heat up. My dehydrator heater seems a bit too hot for certain mushrooms, so i would pull it apart and disconnect the wiring to the heater. It was easy to do with mine, and i just hooked the heater back up when i need it.

How hot does the temp get to in the dehydrator?

I think as long as it doesn't get above about 50C-60C max then it should be fine. A dehydrator without a heating element is just an expensive fan...

[DreamingNagual]

i would have said the first one is a sub (the white stem). the other two i couldnt tell just by the photo, however i would squeeze them and the gills would go blue - this would confirm it for me. and they have no frill around the neck.

but fucking hell those pics have the same cap colour and size/shape.

there is one more problem when we were picking the shrooms we got carried away and didnt check all the shrooms turned blue so if a galerina was hiding amongst the subs it would have been collected quite easily, its too late to tell now as they are dried, so ill just hope for the best, but next time ill be much more careful.

also who the fuck has time to do a spore print i mean come on, this is a good idea but in the real world i doubt very many people do it, or even know how.

Hello ydarb, the pinch method is a pretty much just one standard method that should be learnt by all newbie hunters and dismissing anything with a ring on the stem is also another tic in the box.

But To just "Hope for the best" is a pretty lax attitude to have

when it comes to not being sure if you have a gallerina or other potentialy deadly fungi in your mix!

Accidental ingestion of just a single specimen can mean a very painfull death from liver & kidney failure! So There may not be a next time to be more carefull.

also taking a spore print may save your life, 12 hours wait is nothing compared to keeping the rest of your life!

Great post Hyphal, It just shows how much peoples perceptions and observations can differ when making an Id, and just how similar looking two completly different species of fungus can be.

I think some people are just too Happy go lucky when it comes to hunting fungi and taking just a little time to chill out and learn a bit more first can be the best thing you ever did, they arent going anywhere fast!

Always Remember "If in doubt, Throw it out"