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Zen Peddler

First subs of the 2011 season!

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if you rip myc out with the mushrooms you should snip the bottom of the stem off and place and it between sheets of damp cardboard or in a pile of woodchips. that way, the mycellium can continue to grow and new patches can be created.

if everyone thats 'rips' a mushroom out of the ground made use of the mycellium and created a new patch, there would be thousands and thousands of new patches every year. imagine that...

i see it as YOUR PART OF THE DEAL. the mushroom appears and allows you to pick it, to remove it from the earth and partake of it's flesh for your benefit. in return you to are to ensure that the mushroom spreads as far and wide as possible. creating a new patch is your way of saying thank you to nature.

be polite, give thanks, grow mushrooms.

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Stamets writes that mycelium that isn't disturbed dies much quicker than mycelium that gets a reasonable amount of tearing and movement. It motivates the myc to grow and expand with increased vigour. My (somewhat informal) observations seems to back this up.

Where (other than the shroomery) does this idea of cutting rather than tearing get any credence?

 

There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that the pinsets for future flushes come up during tghe first flush, if you're not gentle you could be ripping countless of pins that would've grown into mushrooms in the coming weeks. Most of the ideas come from mushroom cultivators rather than pickers. Disturbing the habitat once a year promotes healthy growth and fruiting but do it too many times in the same season and the mycelium may recede and reform instead of spending it's energy on fruiting.

Infact all directly disturbed mycelium recedes.

There are two opposing arguements though as for cut vs pull. Ideally it's best to twist and pull mushrooms as when you twist it will break off at it's ideal point much like a fruit. However this all depends on the substrate used, BRF cakes make it look easy, then when you move to pine needles you rip out rather large chunks of mycelium.

1) If you cut the stem off the mushroom the stem can rot bringing contaminants to the mycelium. (the flaw in this is that the mushroom would just rot in the ground anyway... )

2) if you pull the stem out you could pull out some mycelium exposing it to contaminants and possibly eventually rotting.

The sensible approach I take to picking is to cut every single mushroom as i'd be trimming them once I got home anyway, why cause double the amount of work for myself?

Edited by Distracted

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The sensible approach I take to picking is to cut every single mushroom as i'd be trimming them once I got home anyway, why cause double the amount of work for myself?

 

to create new patches with the mycellium gathered!

1) If you cut the stem off the mushroom the stem can rot bringing contaminants to the mycelium. (the flaw in this is that the mushroom would just rot in the ground anyway... )

i have never noticed this in my experience. if you are working indoors rot might be a problem. but all sub workings should be done outdoors, where things like rot and contamination take care of themselves.

i'm all for the preservation of patches. taking big chunks of mycellium out is going to do damage to the patch. if this happens it is best to cover the hole/disturbed area with mulch/pine needles to prevent the mycellium being exposed and drying out.

Edited by holymountain
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Oh I was being extremely general not really thinking of just subs then.

i'm all for the preservation of patches. taking big chunks of mycellium out is going to do damage to the patch. if this happens it is best to cover the hole/disturbed area with mulch/pine needles to prevent the mycellium being exposed and drying out.

Very good advice :). If you're going to do harm at least practice harm reduction!

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i see hoards of eastern europeans hunting for eddibles in the forrest and they each have a small blade in there hand and cut their shrooms free of the myc.

 

Well I'm Polish and have been picking with other Polaks since birth and the reason the mushrooms are traditionally cut rather than pulled is purely culinary. There's nothing more annoying to the appointed mushroom cook than a basket full of saffies covered in dirt and pine needles.

What's more, I'd take any Eastern European myco-folklore with a grain of salt. For example, many Polaks are convinced that Amanita muscaria are deadly, and that includes simply touching them. I freak out my relatives every season by picking a nice big juicy one and giving it a big sloppy lick. Everyone starts recalling stories that begin "back in the village there was a boy who picked a fly agaric and died/turned into a puff of green smoke/never found a wife". Even the Polish news insists that dozens die every year from collecting A. muscaria. :rolleyes:

I agree with Distracted that one shouldn't simply yank away like crazy, but a careful pinch at the base of the stipe is no worse than cutting a centimetre from the ground. In fact, it might be a good thing.

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Photo from a friend. Looks like SA is starting to rock.

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Edited by strangebrew
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Nice improvised collection vessel!

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Yay for Perth still too weeks away at least... :(

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findings were found in the Adelaide hills last weekend

and the stubs were used properly

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more were found today..in situ

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and more stubs were added to cardboard

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Yay for Perth still too weeks away at least... :(

 

yay we got 26.8mm down there today! but still thats only 57.6mm for the month :(

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Should be enough to start things off hopefully!

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but dnnybrk has had 118mm for the month. wat a differance

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Nice improvised collection vessel!

 

lol.. I second that!

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Anyone having any luck finding subs around Victoria in the last week? They did appear a lot earlier this year than last.. This time last year I was finding HEAPS in local hotspot, but now nothing at all... Anyone else out there from Victoria having troubles finding them now?? I fear the season is coming to an end early..

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I would concur on the early end of the season here in tasmania.

they started early with big flushes, not really early, and then pettered out. the moist summer helped a lot i think, with all the excess moisture in the soil.

When they have big flushes they use up more nutrients, leaving less for subsequent flushes, as the nutients are limited for each season.

Cheers, Obtuse.

Edited by obtuse

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I'd say the same for the patches I walk past on my way to work. They're all black and dead with the (very) odd live mushroom still left. I did see a patch of Galerina marginata / G. autumnalis come up in the same woodchip bed that in May sported a HUGE Psilocybe flush. I'll see if any of my pictures came up...

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Here are some of the Galerina I found today growing where Psilocybe grew only a few weeks ago.

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When we get a day or two of dry weather the cap, which is hygrophanous, is uncannily like a Psilocybe. If you're into eating them, it would pay to learn to tell them apart!

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post-9879-0-67931200-1310730128_thumb.jpg

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Anyone having any luck finding subs around Victoria in the last week? They did appear a lot earlier this year than last.. This time last year I was finding HEAPS in local hotspot, but now nothing at all... Anyone else out there from Victoria having troubles finding them now?? I fear the season is coming to an end early..

 

Nope... We were finding a good amount here last season, up until the first week of August. Starting looking this year in early-mid June and only found a dismal amount. Since then there's been nothing! I think we came to the party too late this season! :unsure:

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those of you in NSW/coastal areas might be interested to know that we are getting what could be the last flushes of the season at the moment. keep your eyes peeled.

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