June 1st

June 1st, 2004: We figured we were done for the year, but decided to head out one last time. To Kittitas County, WA at 4000ft. We have been finding nearly 20lbs a day every weekend for the past month. We also found 2 warted puffballs and 8 Boletus Edulis. This was our last trip out for the year. Here's to hoping that next year will be half as good. Scott Pieper

June 1st, 2004: karen young, morel - general location: Oregon, Baker County, Growing Conditions: Huge clumps of morels in open grassy areas Additional Comments: Any body know where my kids & I can find more morels and boletes in Eastern Oregon???? Our patches are wearing thin

June 2nd, 2004: Aaron Jaeger, morel - general location: IN the metro of minneapolis mn. Under eim trees that are dying,
Growing Conditions: heavy brush covered fringe areas near office buildings mostly near eim trees cut down or still standing.
Additional Comments: any one intersted in looking let me know via my e-mail, My west central mn spots should come around by the weekend

June 3rd, 2004: Darren, morel - general location: John Day, OR. Growing Conditions: In open Grassy areas on Northern slopes above 5000 feet, Additional Comments: Karen Young, you may want to try down around John Day under the same conditions as mentioned above. My family just came back from our annual morel trip, and we picked a few buckets over a full day's worth of picking. A little more than usual. We're looking for some place different for next year as well. Good luck

June 3rd, 2004: Darlene Castleberg, morel - general location: Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, Pierce County N860 190th St (our farm)
Growing Conditions: Under the Long needle pine trees.Additional Comments: Never found any there under the Pines trees before.

June 4th, 2004: sylvia Mills - general location: Fairbanks, Alaska. Growing Conditions: Under burned black jack pines and birch.
Additional Comments: Found over 150 black morels on May 30 in the Angel Rock area near Fairbanks. This area burned two summers ago. Being from the mid-west, this is the first time we've ever picked in a burn area, you sure do get dirty!

June 5th, 2004: Scott Fears - general location: Amory, Monroe County, MS. Growing Conditions: Found around 200 Chanterelles in my parents back yard. Lowland area shaded by large Oaks and Pines. Found more Boletes in the same area. Also, finding lots of Chanterelles in my own neighborhood. Collected about 30 this afternoon within walking distance from our house. Most found growing under large Oaks and Pecans.

June 6th, 2004: Hi Chris, Our moist May came to an abrupt end when the temps jumped up to the 80s with bright sun and no clouds for most of last week. On Friday (2004-06-04) I went to a burn site outside of Missoula MT to check the draw that has been very productive for me this year, and pulled 16 pounds out (2004-06-04_Mushrooms.jpg) . The draw is is pretty shaded even though it is burned. The fire went through the understory and didn't go up into the tops of the trees. There weren't really any new mushrooms coming up, so I think this may be the last for this particular place. I went out Saturday (2004-06-05) morning to the location that I found the black "fuzzy" morels. I've been told that the fuzzy morels are young Gray morels, and that they are just starting to make their appearance. I picked about 5-6 pounds of mushrooms from this location (2004-06-05_Mushrooms.jpg). In the picture, the left half of the mushrooms are black/green/brown fire
morels that I've been picking, and the right half are Gray morels. It just started raining this evening and it is supposed to rain for the
next couple days (or not, can never tell around here), so we will whether there will be any new flushes in the next week. JimBob

June 7th, 2004: Aaron Jaeger, morel- general location: West central Minnesota )6-5-04 Ottertail county, Growing Conditions: Weather has been to cold until this weekend, My son and I picked only ten in a cow pasturealong the fence below dead elm trees. Additional Comments: We did'nt have a didgital camera, but we did get some regular photos to back this up. Each of these ten morels are one fourth of a pound or bigger. hieght averaged 6 to 9" tall. needles to say we are still smiling. Every one I showed them to could'nt get over the condition and size. We stuffed them with wid rice and crabmeat and fed ten people with for shrooms left.

June 9th, 2004: Freddy Bender, morel- general location: Winnepeg, Manitoba Canada. Growing Conditions: Under pine and birch in moss. Additional Comments: Found about 5 pounds so far, young grays.

June 11th, 2004: errold dickson, morel - general location: the rocky mountians of western alberta.
Growing Conditions: under fallen fur tree

June 12th, 2004: Jeff Reinke, morel - general location: McCall ID Valley county. Growing Conditions: Mountain ridges around whitefur spuce trees Additional Comments: I have picked about 30 pounds this spring have been drying them will sell to any intrested buyer

June 14th, 2004: Here is a picture of the morels I picked Sunday, about 20 pounds. Most of them came from a small moist draw at the top of a mountain. There was not much found on the way to this location. The larger morels are greys that were picked at a lower elevation in moist areas. If you are willing to put in the miles, there will still be morels available at the higher altitudes here in Montana for a bit longer, but for the most part, the season is drawing to a close, as signified by the appearance of the greys and blondes. JimBob

June 16th, 2004: Lara Matuszek, blue spotted minituare - general location: In my garden, Growing Conditions: In the compost bin
Additional Comments: I would like to know what type my mushroom is, because i have never seen one like it before. Maybe the spots were mould, i am not sure!! Send me a photo, and I will try to identify!

June 17th, 2004: Dave, from Rockville, TN., submits this photo of his Black Trumpet finds...

June 19th, 2004: Hugh Urban - general location: southeast Ohio, Hocking Co. Growing Conditions: under Oak mostly, with conifers nearby.
Additional Comments: In the last week, we've found our first chanterelles -- cantherellus cibarius, cinnabarinus (red chanterelle) and appalenchiensis (small brownish morel found in the east). We also found some black trumpets/ horn of plenty (craterellus cornucopioides) and sweet-tooth/ hedgehods (hydnum repandum). One sweet-tooth was quite large, about 4" across. Also a few yellow-spotted boletes were out. The chanterelles seem early this year, probably due to the high temperatures and heavy rains

June 20th, 2004: News: Hey Chris, We have started a new mushroom group here in Tennessee, we will be affilated with N.A.M.A. Our news letter will be call " Up In Smoke" I am hoping to make a go of it as the only other one close by is in Asheville, NC. Gwynn, Dr. Buggeln, Ed Grand and some other mycologists have promised support. I would appreciate a plug in your group. The Chantrelles are rampant, but the Black Trumpets are sparse this year. Dave. For more information, contact Dave via email.

June 21st, 2004: this came up over night. at the rootbase of a rose of sheron tree. i believe it is of the stink horn family.- Thunder

June 22nd, 2004: Tim Ward, chanterelle - general location: Opelika Alabama, Growing Conditions: under oaks. Additional Comments: Chris, they are every where around here, I need more rain soon!! I will be relocating just above you to Winder GA. daytonam2@charter.net

June 23rd, 2004: Numerous Amanita, and Boletes are being found in Crawford County, Gerogia. -Chris M

Hello, Chris, Just got into your site for the first time! We live at about 8600 ft, Colorado and found a large baseball size mushroom today, at about 10,000 ft in a conifer forest. It looks so much like the mushrooms my aunt and uncle used to find in Illinois when we were young. They ate those when they ate morels. It has a white stem, was growing on the forest floor and had a wrinkley, very moist red-brown color. THe only thing that we found in our flora book on mushrooms was something very much like it called 'false morel'. Last year we found some morels in this area and there's nothing else that looks like a morel as you know. We ate those and really enjoyed them. Do you or anyone else know what this mushroom is? I'd sure like to fry it up before it goes to waste and saw another big one nearby that we left for now. But was somewhat hesitant to do that. What do you think? Thanks, Burnetts. You may have a Gyromitra species, in which you need to avoid. Send me a photo, and I will try and help, -Chris M

June 24th, 2004: Hi Chris, I took a hike tonight hoping to find some boletes. I didn't find any, but I ended up finding about 10 pounds of morels, mostly greys and blondes. JimBob You lucky dog! -Chris M Montana

June 25h, 2004: Hugh Urban - general location: Hocking Hills area, Ohio, Growing Conditions: under conifer, Additional Comments: We found one nice large Cauliflower mushroom (sparassis herbstii), which is an excellent edible -- sweet, nutty flavor, good sautted or in stews. We also found some nice small chanterelles, a couple of sweet-tooths and one or two boletes.

June 25h, 2004: Travis K, Found- Crested Coral, General Location- Mid Michigan, Growing Conditions- on a "used-to-be" flooded forest floor, Additional Comments- I'd never seen any of the Coral family before. I thought it was pretty cool so I thought I'd share my find with the rest of the class. And still no luck with the Chanterelles or Boletes yet.

June 29h, 2004: Hi Chris, I thought you might be interested in some images of a cauliflower mushroom (sparassis herbstii) and some chanterelles we found recently. The cauliflower is a very good edible, too. hugh southeast Ohio, Hocking Co.

July 1st, 2004: Joe Suminski, chanterelle - general location: Macon County, North Carolina in the Nantahala forest. Growing Conditions: Along dirt roads, in run-offs, near blown over tree balls. Hardwood forest duff. Additional Comments: My daughters, Annie and Jamy love to hunt chanterelles. Mushrooming is a great family activity.

July 2nd, 2004: Hi Chris, I got out the last two nights for a couple hours trying to prove to myself that I wouldn't find any morels and I needed to stop trying to find them. I failed at that task. There are still morels, almost all greys and blondes. Found in Missoula County Montana at about 5000 ft, north facing slope, in areas that the fire went through the understory, but left the crowns, so the areas are slightly shaded and moist. JimBob

July 4th, 2004: hugh urban - general location: southeast Ohio, Growing Conditions: under oaks and conifers, Additional Comments: Despite the dry weather, we found a number of small chanterelles and two boletes: bluing bolete (gyroporus cyanescens) and common scaber stalk (leccinum scabrum). We did see quite a lot of baby chanterelle nubbins poking up, so if it ever rains, there should be a good fruiting.

July 4th, 2004: Big J, chanterelle - general location: McLean County, Illinos. Growing Conditions: Under old Oak trees. Bur Oak trees did the best. For this area, I look for the large fuzzy acorn caps of the bur oak on the ground. A few were found under red oak trees.
Additional Comments: Very fresh chanterelles that were bright yellow and had yet to develop their orangish color. Last nights rain probably pushed them up today(July 4). Typically I find these the second week of July, but chanterelles almost always want to pop up after a rain, so I wasn't surprised. Found enough for a good meal. If you have never had dry saute'd Cantharellus cibarius you are missing out. Always use great care in identification by using multiple literature sources.

July 5th, 2004: Jenny, not sure - general location: in Wallis,Texas. Growing Conditions: on dead pecan limbs that was cut up to use on b-b-que pit, Additional Comments: I would like to know what kind of mushroom they are & if they are edible or poison. Need a picture to help ID -Chris M

July 6th, 2004: Chris M found russulas, lactarius, boletes, amanitas, chanterelles in central Georgia.

July 6th, 2004: Terri Mocko, not sure - general location: Eureka,Montana. Growing Conditions: in the woods after rain, Additional Comments: i'm trying to see what i found is there a way after i put them in the printer can i send them to you to identify? Sure, email me some pics!- Chris M

July 8th, 2004: Roger r., bolete - general location: found several king boletes and many smaller ones in fayette co. GA growing in a juniper patch and along fence row.Also found a few unknown species.

July 9th, 2004: Hi Chris, I went out to the same place as last week (Burn in Missoula County MT) and this is what grew back in just 7 days time. I picked almost 20 pounds of grey morels in about 3 hours time! I'm finding that North facing slopes at higher altitude are still producing. I plan on checking back at this same place next week to see if the new growth continues. JimBob You lucky dog! -chris m

July 11th, 2004: hugh urban, chicken mushroom (laetiporus sulphureus - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on a very dead old tree, so dead I can't tell what kind of tree it is, Additional Comments: I found one small chicken of the woods (laetiporus sulphureus) growing on an old dead tree, where I've found them every summer for the last 4 years in a row. Last year the entire tree and 3 others around it were covered top to bottom with them. It's one of my favorite edibles

July 12th, 2004: hugh urban - general location: Southeast Ohio, Growing Conditions: under oaks, mostly, Additional Comments: We found quite a lot of very lovely chanterelles today -- about 5 or 6 lbs, very fresh and virtually no bugs. They're about 2 weeks earlier than they were last year, but it has been very hot. We also saw a few hedge-hogs (hydnum repandum) and a couple of boletes.

July 17th, 2004: koby chanterelles, black trumpets, and lobster mushrooms - general location: Lapeer Co., MI
Growing Conditions: chanterelles and lobsters at or near the top of westerly facing slopes, with sparse grass...trees either oak/maple or aspen/beech....the trumpets were found within 50ft of swamps/bogs with no slope, near oak...3 times out, 3 lbs chants, 2 lbs trumpets, and 2 lobsters

July 19th, 2004: Hi Chris, We got hit with a week of mid to upper 90's and it had a big impact on the morels. Attached is a picture of last weeks finds. My kids are showing of their finds from last Sunday. We went to an area we hadn't been before and found a bunch of grey morels. I got back there Tuesday, found some more morels higher up the mountain in Montana, but didn't see any new growth coming in. The lower picture shows the results from that hunt. I stopped by the area I sent pictures from last week and found 3 whole mushrooms. This was in a nice moist north facing area, so it appears the heat is discouraging any new growth. There are still commercial pickers in the area, so I would guess that there are still some mushrooms at higher elevations. I don't have time to hike the distance it would take to get to the higher elevations, so unless I run across some unexpected mushrooms, my morel season is over. It's been an awesome 2+ month season, and I've done a lot better than I ever expected for my first year of collecting morels. Thanks for sharing your site with us and I hope I can do good enough next year to send some photos. Thanks, JimBob -I have very much enjoyed all of your reports and photos. This is the latest consistent reports of Morels that I have every had. I know there are Morels in some areas in high elevations as late as late August, but no one takes the time to send those rare reports. Morels have also been reported in Mexico in August through November, and they have guided mushroom trips into the remote mountains. South America will produce Morels up until Christmas. I have tried many years to find some contacts in these areas to no avail. If you find any more late ones, or even hear of commercial pickers finding some any later, than please pass it on! Thanks again, JimBob.- Chris M

July 22nd, 2004: Hugh Urban, chanterelle- general location: southeast Ohio, Growing Conditions: mostly under oaks, Additional Comments: We're still finding a good number of chanterelles, but only a few boletes (boletus subglabripes, old man of the woods and a couple of others). We've also been finding reddening lepiota (lepiota americana) in yards in our neighborhood; it's quite good, especially in stroganoff

July 24th, 2004: Harry H., King Bolete, - general location: Winnepeg, Manitoba, Growing Conditions: in a city park under hardwoods. The worms had already got to them, even the young ones.

July 25th, 2004: Hugh Urban, chanterelle - general location: Know Lake (north central) Ohio and southeast Ohio
Growing Conditions: mixed hardwoods, Additional Comments: On July 24, I went on the Ohio Mushroom Society summer foray. Despite the dry weather, we found some cantherellus cibarius and cinnabarinus; many chestnut boletes; oysters; frost's bolete (boletus frostii). Today, July 25, I went down to southeast Ohio and came back with two baskets of cantherellus cibarius, some hydnum repandum, boletes and a beautiful lactarius indigo.

July 27th, 2004: barry, puffball 6", 25 of them in my back yard. tampa, florida.

July 30th, 2004: Hi Chris, We went out yesterday and found some more chanterelles, hedge-hogs and patch of large two-colored boletes (boletus bicolor). All but one were surprisingly bug-free

July 31ST, 2004: Hey Chris, I found these this weekend in North Georgia, White County. Are they Chanterells? If, so how do you cook them. You can post them on your website if you like. I found them on a ridge under Red Oaks and Poplars. Please let me know if they are. Thanks, Roger R. Yes, these are Chantis alright. You can find recipes in the member areas.- Chris M

August 1st, 2004: I found 41 pounds of Smooth Chanterelles in the above area during the last week of July 2004. This accomplished on three visits to same area. On the second of these visits, I found the most chanterelles (35 pounds.) Elevations above sea level varied from 700 to about 1000 feet. Larry Goldschmidt, Springfield, VA

August 1st, 2004: joe o'c, bolete LBMs, Fly Agaric, Leccinum, Shaggy Manes - general location: At 9000 ft, eastern Park Cty, CO. Growing Conditions: Mixed pine, spruce and aspen, moderately open south-facing slopes.

August 2nd, 2004: Hi Chris, Looks like my morel season wasn't totally over. I got out for a hike this week to a burn site in Missoula County MT, attached is a picture of the area I was hiking in and the results of what I found. The temperatures have dropped from the 90s-100 that we were seeing, but we still aren't really getting any moisture. I found lots of dried out grey and blonde morels on the hike. Most of the morels pictured came from a north facing draw that still had canopy left and there were natural springs and moist areas throughout it. Lots of morels were left in the field due to snail/slug damage. JimBob -Keep the reports coming, JimBob! Maybe you will have Morels all of August, too! This is great news! -Chris M

August 5th, 2004: John Belfiore, unsure - general location: Meadville, Pennsylvania... very "old" wooded area, mossy, dark, cool... recent rains brought out some very interesting varieties.....Growing Conditions: shaded area, with canopy of forest around 75ft. recent rain and warmth brought some cool mushrooms out... we found one very interesting variety. It has a light purple cap, white stem, very "slimy" appearance... unsure of official name, or toxicity...

August 6th, 2004: mitch miller, black trumpets - general location: in the mountains of western maine, greenwood city, oxford county, maine, Growing Conditions: under beech trees on ground that is bare, mossy, or slightly covered with leaf litter. just under 1000 ft in elevation. Additional Comments: here in western maine we have had a large amount of rain during june and july. i've been finding flushes of many pounds!!

August 7th, 2004; uki, hey ya'll. i'm from the poconos, pa. found 13 pounds of black trumpets, 5 pounds of chanterelles, and a few tawny milkcaps... all in three days. anyone interested in buying some trumpets?? blushers are quite good, tastes like chicken, go figure. one grey morel all year... peace.

August 9th, 2004; Judi Brandt, not sure - general location: Parker, Arizona. It was about 12 inches across growing in a ruellia plant. The temperatures here are about 110 degree. The mushroom was a massive clump seemingly cutting off water to the plant. We noticed it when the plant and leaves started to wilt. It was solid and smooth on the top, creamy color and dark at the bottom. It was about 8 inches tall. It was scary looking. We stabbed it with a stick to save the plant. How do we get rid of it? Growing Conditions: It was growing under a drip pipe. Additional Comments: If anyone know what it could be please let us know. We did not eat it.

August 11th, 2004: joe o'c, bolete amanita, russula, LBM, fly agaric - general location: Eastern Park County, CO, above 9000 ft.
Growing Conditions: Mostly in open woods, mixed pine, fir, spruce, aspen, generally away from boggy areas, some relatively dry areas along and right in trails. Additional Comments: All of the boletes contain resident worms, even the very fresh ones (just up that AM). How do I attach photos?

August 13th, 2004: Hello Chris, We live on a quarter section along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve in Alberta. This year we have had a lot of rain and I have never seen so many varied types of mushrooms. Tonight while out walking I picked some of them and would like to know if any of them are edible. The concave brown one looks like one that some people picked when I was with them years ago, but I am afraid to try any of them. Can you please tell me if any of these are edible? I will photograph some of the other kinds and send them to you. Thanks, Jennifer Wells

August 15th, 2004: Dave Wasilewski, chanterelle, Boletus, Black Trumpet. - general location: Notheast Pennsylvania. Growing Conditions: Chanterelles: mixed woods, oak, beech, hemlock. On and alongside paths, sometimes spreading into adjacent woods. Some massive fruitings. We seem to get two types op yellow chanterelles. The first type has pretty well-defined gilles, even when the mushroom first emerges. The second type
is nearly smooth, at first, with vein-like gills developing and enlarging with time. It is this second type that fruited in great quantity this summer. Black trumpets: open oak woods and along paths. Not as many as some years. I've
collected enough for a few meals. Boletus Seperans: Open deciduous woods. Only a few specimens so far. But, the ones that I have collected have been suprisingly bug-free. I'm going to check some B. Edulis spots today. With all the rain we've had, I figure there should be some out. Amanita Jacksonii: (American Caesar's Amanita). Open oak woods. Only a few. I didn't collect them. The second Chanterelle you rare speaking of may be the peach Chanterelle. I have found those also this year, and they have very little gills and are a little different color of yellow/orange.- Chris M

August 20th, 2004: Hi, We had a large oak tree cut down near the woods edge of our yard last fall. This year, the stump has some type of mushroom growing out of it. They are light to dark gold. I spoke to my mother, who is a country girl, and she said it sounded like a "calves liver." She didn't know any other name for it. Might you be able to help us identify these. We did locate a nice hen-in-the-woods growing at the base of this stump and it was delicious. Any info you can give me would be greating appreciated. I am including some pictures but my digital camera isn't a very good one. They look white in the pictures but they are light to dark gold. Please contact me at Anniepa2@yahoo.com because I don't use this email often. Thanks Carol

August 28th, 2004: Hugh Urban, black trumpets, hen of the woods, hedge hogs, others - general location: northern Vermont and central PA. Growing Conditions: mixed hardwoods and conifers in mountains, Additional Comments: We took a trip to northern Vermont by way of Pennsylvania and had tremendous luck in both areas. Central PA was very wet and popping everywhere: black trumpets, chanterelles, hedge-hogs, boletes, lactarius. In Vermont, the chanterelles and boletes were out in full force, and we dried about 25 bags of boletes alone. On our way back through PA we found two large hen of the woods, and then upon arriving home in Ohio, we found a huge flush of chicken of the woods completely covering two enormous fallen trees. It's been a VERY good summer for fungi
I'll send pictures soon

August 29th, 2004: mike, bolete, hen of the woods - general location: mohawk vally new york, Growing Conditions: under oak tree, Additional Comments: best way to cook

August 29th, 2004: James Pace, morel - general location: Downtown Buffalo, New York, Erie County.
Growing Conditions: Near the foundation of a medical building. northern side of building. Additional Comments: Several mounds of morels are sprouting up around the base of this building. have taken photos too! update: I received an email from a mycologist yesterday informing me that I most likely had a stinkhorn. but I'll attach the photo anyway. thanks for the reply. J. pace

September 2nd, 2004: justin, - general location: this is a question i found this mushroom its white and about the size of a watermelon. Growing Conditions: its in a shaded area and under trees some oaks. Probably a giant puffball....

September 3rd, 2004: Hi Chris, here's the first batch of some pics of mushroom finds from our trip to PA and Vermont: black trumpets, lobster, chicken, chanterelles more to follow. hugh

September 4th, 2004: Hugh Urban, Hydnum repandum - general location: just north of Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on a steep slope going down to a stream, under mixed hardwoods. Additional Comments: We found a patch of about 8 very large hydnum repandum (sweet tooth/ hedge-hog), the largest I've ever seen. One was about 5 inches across. There were also a few of the smaller hydnums and a few decent chanterelles. The best way to eat sweet tooth that we've found is to have them in cream over toast. It really brings out their sweet, slightly nutty flavor

September 6th, 2004: Here are just a few of the multitude of mushrooms I have encountered recently here in Central Georgia....

September 7th, 2004: hugh urban, hedge-hogs, chicken, oyster, others - general location: Southeast Ohio, Growing Conditions: mostly under oaks, Additional Comments: Great set of pictures from your finds in GA, Chris. It's been very dry here, but we still found some large chanterelles, hedge-hogs, boletes, oysters and chicken mushroom when we went out today. We've also seen a couple of unusual fungi, including rhodotus palmatus, which is quite beautiful and apparently fairly rare, and wolf's milk slime (lycogala epidendrum), which looks like an egg that spurts out bright pink toothpaste.

September 10th, 2004: hugh urban, chicken mushroom, oyters - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on dead fallen trees in a ravine, Additional Comments: We had another big flush of laetiporus sulphureus at our usual spot. It's amazing, those trees are so dead they're practically moldering into the ground, and they've been producing huge batches every summer for the last 4 years. This flush was the best one yet. I think it's my favorite fungus, simply because's it's so beautiful to see it bursting out of the woods in bright orange and yellow; also, it makes a great chicken substitute (when very young). We also found a large patch of oysters, along with a few chanterelles and boletes.

September 12th, 2004: Steve Lawton, chanterelle - general location: Oregon Mount Hood. Growing Conditions: Douglas fir 60 + years
Additional Comments: My wife and I found 7 pounds of Chantrelles yesterday that is in addition to the other 15+ pounds we have found in just the last week and a half. We also have found about 2 gallons worth of Puffballs 4 pounds of the Lobster and 10 Bay Boletes oh and about 2 pounds of the oyster

September 12th, 2004: hugh urban, lactarius - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: along a steep slope running down to a stream, under oak and conifers, Additional Comments: We found some nice lactarius volemus, which is a very good edible, despite the fishy odor . We also found 6 large sweet-tooths (hydnum repandum, also called dentinum repandum... not sure which is the correct scientific name these days). The sweet tooths have been really big this year -- about 3-6" across, with big thick stalks. There were also some of the smaller variety of sweet tooth (hydnum or dentinum umbilicatum), which are good but sort of fragile and only about 1" or less across

September 13th, 2004: Larissa, chicken mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, boletes and yellow amanitas (fly agaric look-alikes), - general location: northeastern pennsylvania at the Allegheny National Forest, Forest County, Pa. and in the Tionesta, Pa. area. Growing Conditions: decidious,mixed forest, coniferous conditions, under oak trees, beech, oak, hemlocks and others. Additional Comments: Found chicken mushrooms on a broken off dead tree and chanterelles on the tip of a mountainside in Tionesta. The oyster mushrooms, a small amountuof chicken mushrooms and various boletes were found in the 400 year old hemlocks and along a hiking trail in Allegheny State Forest.

September 13th, 2004: hugh urban, chicken, lepiota americana - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on dead logs and on our humus pile, Additional Comments: We found another flush of chicken mushroom at our usual spot -- that makes at least five big flushes this summer from the same couple of trees. We also have a lot of lepiota americana growing in our humus pile, probably from remnants of last year's finds. The reddening lepiota is excellent in stroganoff -- just stir in some sour cream and paprika over noodles

September 14th, 2004: i dont know what this one is could you tell me ? thanks mike of warsaw,mo

September 15th, 2004: After Hurricane Francis came through here in the Southeast, (mid Georgia), dumping about 8 inches of rain, the past two weeks have been filled with all kinds of fascinating fungi. Colorful, rare, spectacular and weird! And then at least two big dangerous surprises as well, one over 6 feet long! Scared me to death! Enjoy- Chris M

September 15th, 2004: Ok Chris - here are a couple of shots of the shrooms growing in our yard in Kentucky - any ideas? I went down the street to get some shots of the mushrooms I thought might be "shaggy-manes", but the owner of the yard had mowed them down :( Oh Well! Anyway, hope all is well with you, Tomi Oehlschlaeger

September 16th, 2004: hugh urban, entoloma abortivum - general location: Mohican S.P., Ohio. Growing Conditions: on a slope under mixed hardwoords and pine, some on rotting logs, Additional Comments: We saw a massive fruiting of aborted entoloma (entoloma abortivum), covering much of a hillside and many dead trees. Most of them were in the aborted stage, which looks like an irregularly-shaped white-pinkish lump; but a few were in the original gilled mushroom form. We also found a lot of chanterelles, both cibarius and cinnabarinus, but many of them were too far gone.

September 19th, 2004: Roger R. - general location: BOLETES everywhere. Found countless numbers of them. They are all over the place in the woods and in my back yard wood lot. Also found a few small oysters and many species like chris found due to the rainfall. Newton co. GA

September 21st, 2004: Kate, Jessica, and Chris found lactarius, cantharellus, amanita, cortinarius, suillus, boletus, waxy caps, russula, and several unknowns in Twiggs County, GA.

September 22nd, 2004: steve - general location: Salisbury, MA. Growing Conditions: Under oak trees bordering marsh the red mushroom caps appear to have some white warts but also appear to be nibbled on by deer and the stems are smooth. They appear to be a Red Russula to me Steve. Thanks for your post. -Chris M

September 22nd, 2004: hugh urban - general location: Delaware, Ohio. Growing Conditions: mixed hardwoods and conifers.
Additional Comments: Last Sunday I went out with members of the Ohio Mushroom Society for a foray near Delaware Ohio, led by a botanist from Ohio Wesleyian U. We found over 50 different species, including 3 or 4 different kinds of chanterelles, lobsters, oysters, many interesting boletes, etc. One highlight for me was hygrophorus russula, which I had never tried before and is a very good edible. This morning I also found a very large hen of the woods at the base of a white oak tree in Columbus. Seems early for them around here, but I'm not complaining. They are one of my favorite edibles. You can make a pate out of it that tastes almost exactly like liverwurst.

September 25th, 2004: Joyce, Not sure But it was white - general location: Salem, Oregon backyard. Growing Conditions: under an apple tree. Additional Comments: This mushroom had a flat top about 5 inches accross. May be a poisonous Amanita, stay away from if you are not sure! - Chris M

September 26th, 2004: Dave Wasilewski - general location: Northeast PA. Boletus Edulis. One mushroom. Growing Conditions: Under a stand of Norway Spruce. Generally, at this time of the year -given ENOUGH rain- I can find lots of Boletus Edulis, lots of Honey Mushrooms (Armilariella Mella), Hen of the Woods, Blewits (Lepista Nuda) and others.
However, the woods, and lawns, around here have very little growing, in the way of mushrooms. Could it be that we had too much rain? On 9/18 we had between 5 and 8 inches, widespread-locally. Are mushrooms ill-adapted for such abnormal precip amounts? Some friends of mine just reported finding lots of nice fresh Chanterelles in the Albany area of NY. There was far less rain there.

September 27th, 2004: jason boothman, purple suede or swade - general location: mt libby. Growing Conditions: woods
Additional Comments: if they would be good for me in any aspect

September 28th, 2004: Chris found cantharellus cinnibarinus, and one green russula in Alachua County, Florida.

September 28th, 2004: hugh urban, chanterelle - general location: Hocking Co., Ohio. Growing Conditions: mixed oaks, conifers, Additional Comments: We went out for our last chanterelle hunt for the year. We found a lot of cantharellus cibarius, but many were a little old. We also saw a few old men of the woods, scaber stalks and other boletes. Hoping to find a few more Hen of the Woods before the year is done

September 29th, 2004: Chris found lactarius, and smooth chanterelles, (cantharellus lateritius) in Columbus, Georgia.

Chris - I hope you can help me. I found a number of what I think are Gypsy mushrooms and are a choice mushroom for the table. Do you have any knowledge of this mushroom and does it grow in North Georgia. I live in Cumming and found these near Lake Lanier. I think I have made a positive ID, but I thought perhaps you would know if they are found in northern Georgia. I know they are a fall mushroom. Thanks in advance for your help. Jim Finley

Jim, both Dave Fischer and I have confirmed your find of Rozites caperata, (Gypsy Mushroom)- Chris M

October 5th, 2004: Tzvi Grossman, Hen of the woods - general location: Sharon, MA. Growing Conditions: Under Oak Tree
Additional Comments: This Hen of the woods weighed about 8 1/2 pounds. It was in the same location as one that I found three years ago around the same date.

October 6th, 2004: Roger R., Ramaria rubella var blanda - general location: Rockdale Co. GA. Growing Conditions: Found three clusters of them growing in moist hardwoods. Not sure if they are edibles. I need to start carrying my camera with me.

October 8th, 2004: Roger R., Ramaria subbotrytis - general location: Only found one ramaria and several russulas. Growing in moist hardwwood bottoms.

October 10th, 2004: Jennifer - general location: In the gravel shop under our four wheeler. Scio, Oregon in Linn County. Growing Conditions: Moist shop in gravel--pretty hard ground. Additional Comments: I have no idea what kind of mushrooms they are. But, basically there's about fourteen of them all growing in a cluster and they are about eight inches tall and sprung up sometime within the last five days. The caps are somewhat inverted and tanish in color, purple gills underneath, white semi-spikey stalks and this white thin sheet like piece hanging down--kind of like the stalk was peeling. The smell was kind of sweet. They are amazing, mostly because of their size. Please give some ideas of what they may be. Thanks

October 11th, 2004: Bridget, Lobster Mushrooms - general location: Olympia, Washington. Growing Conditions: Sward furns, lots of moss, pines and cotton woods. Additional Comments: Today I got off work at 4pm, and my daughter, my son , my boyfriend and I went for a little drive near my home town. We were going to go for a nature walk, and stumbled on a patch of Lobster mushrooms, we werent looking for them, we were looking for Chantrelle's, but when my 11 year old daughter seen the Lobster mushrooms, she said, " Oh my Gosh mom, I think I found the mother load" She sure did, we picked 135 pounds of Lobster mushrooms.

October 11th, 2004: Chris found one red Russula, and one weird Amanita in Houston County, Georgia. It has been dry for a while, but just got a little rain last night, so maybe some more mushrooms will pop up soon.

October 12th, 2004: Chris, I have a property in Washington State with some old growth Sitka Spruce. We get a great variety of mushrooms among its exposed roots and along the dripline. We have identified King Boletes and Golden Chanterelles. We also get these large gilled mushrooms. These in the picture are quite immature. I admit that I have tasted them sauteed and they are firm and delicious. I don't feel free to consider them an edible until i can make a positive ID. The deep creases that develop in the cap are quite distinctive. The cut flesh stays white and smells fresh like the heart of a celery stalk. Thanks for your help. Regards, Denise Woodhouse

October 13th, 2004: trigger, morel - general location: Vancouver Island. Growing Conditions: rolling mountainous ground in Limestone formation area in second growth Fir/Hemlock stand, Additional Comments: also found Yellow Chanterelle and Pine Mushrooms

October 13th, 2004: olive, hen of the woods - general location: Vermont. Growing Conditions: under old oak tree, Additional Comments: very old oak top of hill found a total of about 80lbs!!!!

October 14th, 2004: Roger R., Hericium Americanum ( Bears head tooth) - general location: Found only one growing from the center of a large broken tree trunk next to a large creek. Newton Co. GA.

October 18th, 2004: hugh urban, pholiota destruens - general location: Columbus, Oh. Growing Conditions: on a sawed-off hardwood stump, Additional Comments: We found 5 very large philiota destruens all poking out of a sawed-off log. The biggest cap is about 6 inches across and weighs several pounds. Apparently these are edible, but kind of tough and bitter. We've also found a few small chicken mushrooms around the area -- they look like they started to grow and then got stunted by the cold weather. We're still hoping to find a few more hen of the woods before the year is done. Only 4 so far this fall.

October 21st, 2004: Chris found many varieties of Russulas, a few fresh Chanterelles, just a few Lactarius, Waxy Caps, Large lemon Amanitas, and many unknowns here in Central GA.

October 22nd, 2004: Jim Finley - Oct. 22 - found about 50 Golden Waxy Caps (Hygrophorus flavescens) in Northern Georgia in low moist areas.

October 23rd, 2004: hugh urban, hen of the woods, shaggy mane, tree ear - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: base of an oak tree; grassy park; dying hardwoods, Additional Comments: We found one small hen of the woods today at the base of a white oak. It was in very good shape, but only about a pound or so. We also found one little shaggy mane and lots of tree ears. All of the above are very good in Chinese stir-fry.

October 24th, 2004: My nephew, Ben Jesser, in Eugene OR sent me this picture of his family's recent chanterelle find. Hugh

October 29th, 2004: Chris found Amanita muscaria var. formosa in Central Georgia.

November 1st, 2004: hugh urban, Oysters - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: On living and dead hard woods,
Additional Comments: I found two large flushes of big oyster mushrooms today. Both were very fresh and in good shape. The fall oysters tend to be much thicker and meatier that the ones you get in the summer. Also, their color is darker -- gray rather than white or yellowish. The best part is they don't have any bugs at all this time of year. They are awesome in stir-fry. You can also do an oyster stew or clam chowder with them

November 3rd, 2004: Hugh Urban, agaricus arvensis, agaricus bitorquis, pleurotus ostreatus - general location: Columbus, OH.
Growing Conditions: under pine, on grass beside a parking lot, Additional Comments: The warmth and rain have brought out another flush of mushrooms: we found a large patch of agaricus bitorquis and an even bigger one of nice big agaricus arvensis. They are both excellent if stuff them with bread-crumbs, cheese, etc; also very good grilled like portabellas. We also found two more flushes of oyster mushrooms on dead and dying trees along the Olentangy river.

November 4th, 2004: Chris found numerous flushes of Amanita and Boletes in Columbus, Georgia. It has been extremely warm, mid 80's and lots of moisture so they have fruited again!

November 6th, 2004: Hi Chris, finally got a chance to go mushroom hunting for hedge hog. The best way to find mushrooms is not to bring your camera. The pics are from my return trip with a digital camera. The mushrooms are past peak as evidenced by the brown tips. The first trip the hedge hogs were nice and white. Next year I intend to go 7 to 14 days earlier. Its OK to use my name and state. Please let me know where you post the pics when you get a chance. Scott G. Hogan, Alabama

November 7th, 2004: Chris found Hedgehogs, Matsutake, lactarius, russula, weird boletes in Central georgia.

November 10th, 2004: Hi there came across your site and thought I’d send in some pics to share. The first shot is of some late season Matsutakes I picked in Whistler BC on Nov 8. Surprised to find these as we’ve already had a good snowfall , but it has since melted. May have more as I’m going out again today. The other pics are from Gabriola Island in BC. Picked about 50 lbs of White Chanterelles and a few Yellow Chanterelles in late September. My name is Martyn Meek and I live in Whistler BC. I would love to see these pics on your website and will send in anymore I take. Thanks for the great work on the site.

November 11th, 2004: Hugh Urban Blewit (lepista nuda) - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: in mulch and wood chips around small pines in a park, Additional Comments: We found a huge patch of very large blewits (lepista nuda), ranging from 2-10" across. Probably 25 lbs in all. They've popped up in that spot every November for the last 5 years at least. All were in very good shape. They have a strong flavor, which like a lot, but my wife is not so crazy about it. We also found a couple of shaggy manes, and some more oysters.

November 13th, 2004: Nanette, Very large flat top mushroom about 4 inch's across top with gill's underneath. Almost 6 inch's tall. Found in grass in front yard. This is a new mushroom for us as we usually get puffballs or the small capped ones. This one however is pure white, as are the gills. It grew overnight as we are in the yard daily but this mushroom is huge compared to most Almost as large as the edible portobello, however it is completely flat on top with gills underneath. - general location: Found in San Luis Obispo County, CA at about 1,000 ft. level. Templeton is the actual area, as San Luis Obispo County varies a great deal in height, from sea level to 1,400 feet. Growing Conditions: Found in the grass outside, and vertually grew overnight. We have been enriching the soil with coffee grounds as we live in an extremely sandy area with not much top soil. In order to get our grass to grow, we have had to enrich the soil to make it more acidic, but I've never seen a mushroom that is as big as a portobello, but with a flat head, with gills underneath on very long 4 inch stem. Entire lenght of mushroom is 6"'s and approximately 4 inch's across the top of the flat head. I've never seen this type of mushroom in Central California. Additional Comments: This is one of the largest and strangest mushroom's I've ever seen. We get the usual puffballs as well as the dog turd mushrooms, but have never seen one like this one. Be careful, this fits one of the Deadly Amanita's description. -Chris M

November 16th, 2004: hugh urban, oyster - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on dead hardwoods in a park.
Additional Comments: the recent rain has brought out several more fruitings of oysters. They really like the floodplains along the Olentangy river, and they're nice and thick this time of year

November 19th, 2004: Chris, I was out yesterday 11/18 in Northern Georgia and found these scattered everywhere. I picked about 50 of them and believe they are White Waxy Caps (Hygrophorus eburneus). They have a white spore print but the caps were not slimy, but silky. The caps varied from 1" to 2" in diameter. Can you verify? Thanks in advance for your help. Allan (Jim) Finley.

November 21st, 2004: My name is Kienan Gutierrez I'm 11yr and I'm from Coos Bay, Oregon. - general location: Glide Oregon
Growing Conditions: heavy forrest area along the river. Additional Comments: help name them. You found a Lobster Mushroom!- Chris M

November 22nd, 2004: hugh urban, lepista nuda - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on wood chips and mulch in a park. Additional Comments: We got another big flush of blewitts today, most very large (6-8"). They're really good in Indian food, if you like strong flavored shrooms. We also found a couple of lepiota naucina, which come up at about the same time as the lepista nuda. There is also a lot of deadly galerina out now.

November 22nd, 2004: Chris found numerous Lactarius, Brown Matsutake, Sulphur Tufts, Amanitas in Central Georgia.

November 29th, 2004: Chris is still finding numerous Matsutake, Lactarius, and a few Hydnums in Central GA.

November 30th, 2004: Chris found some very colorful Waxy Caps, and Cortinarius in Eastern Alabama.

December 4th, 2004: Hugh Urban, hen of the woods, blewits - general location: State College, PA and Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: base of oak tree; in mulch and wood chips. Additional Comments: Over Thanksgiving we went to see my Mom in central PA, where we found one nice big hen of the woods and a small patch of blewits. Then back here in Columbus today we found another very large flush of blewits -- probably 20 lbs, all in good shape. They love all the rain we've had over the last month (even if I don't)

December 8th, 2004: hugh urban, oysters - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on dying trees on the banks of the river; Additional Comments: I found four large flushes of very nice late fall oysters, all on dead or dying hard-woods on the bank of the Olentangy river. They really love the river elms that are half-submerged or right on the edge of the water.

December 11th, 2004: Joseph L. Bearden, Shaggy Parasols- general location: Corvallis, Oregon...in a wet, moss covered area of a local forest. Growing Conditions: Several pounds of them grew from one core stem at the bottom, Additional Comments: I have a couple of pics...can send as .jpg

December 13th, 2004: Joseph L. Bearden, Fried Chicken Mushrooms- general location: Corvallis, Oregon...in a wet, moss covered area of a local forest.

December 27th, 2004: Hugh Urban,: hen of the woods - general location: State College, PA.Growing Conditions: base of oak trees
Additional Comments: I've been visiting my mother over Christmas in PA, and saw two large hen of the woods at the base of living oak trees; unfortunately, both were too far gone to eat. But I've marked the spots for next fall. I also saw some panellus serotinus on dead trees in a few places.

January 4th, 2005: David Lewis reports finding Brickcaps, and Oysters in Rockville, TN.

January 6th, 2005: spencer davis, oyster - general location: Henrico County, Virginia. Growing Conditions: On fallen oaks
Additional Comments: Found about 5 pounds, a bit wet, but beautiful.

January 7th, 2005: Hugh Urban oyster, blewits - general location: Columbus, OH. Growing Conditions: on dead trees and in mulch. Additional Comments: We're still finding large flushes of oysters and blewits here in Ohio (it's been very wet and warm here this winter). Got about 10 lbs of blewits from our usual spot and some nice young oysters from dead trees along the Olentangy river.

January 10th, 2005: Chris found some of the best fruitings of Oyster Mushrooms I have seen in years. Also Pluteus cervinus. Central GA. The weather better cool back off quick here in the deep south, or it is going to mess up Springtime. I have seen some Tulip Trees blooming. It has been 70 to 78 for 10 days now.

January 13th, 2005: Susan, morel - general location: Week of Jan. 5. Downtown Los Angeles in my yard after several intermitten rains. Have found about 3 individual gooey, slimy looking black morels with a very strong mushroom odor. I really passed on picking them as they sure didn't look like the grey and yellow ones my family picked in IL. but the sponge pattern was very distinct. In my heart I felt it was SOME KIND of morel but it sure wasn't very appetising. I'd appreciate your feedback. Growing Conditions: Mushy soil with much organic naturally occuring mulch on top of a hill 5 miles due east of downtown los angeles.

These are most likely a stinkhorn. Sorry! - Chris M

January15th, 2005: Roger R. oyster mushrooms - general location: Ifound these growing off a dying tree on the edge of a beaver swamp in Rockdale Co. GA. I picked them the day after we had 1 1/2 of rain. When I pinched them from the tree, water literally ran out of the stems. The whole mushrooms looked like a sponge because they were full of water. Very healthy.

January15th, 2005: Tim J in Georgia Oyster - general location: Along the Alcovy River in Walton County Ga. Additional Comments: Oysters every where too many to take them all.