That is some type of polypore, aka shelf mushrooms, some get very woody and can last a year or more after they grow and dry out. Maitake and chicken of the woods are in the same family, and a few others are edible when young but I’ve never tried them. Dryad’s saddles are pretty cool and really common around here but the smell puts me of. Same with Black staining/Berkley’s polypore. Then there are medicinal ones like reishi, you can draw on artist’s conks, and star fires/make hats with tinder fungus. There are no poisonous polypores from what I’ve read, so it is a very safe and distinctive group to forage. edit: there are a few poisonous ones after all, it seems folk wisdom didn’t account for polyporic acid.
Oysters are very delicate, and fungus gnats love them so they rot soon after their prime. I find a type that fruits irregularly in the summer around here, always on tree/ logs that still have some bark. There is another mushroom called angel’s wings that is very easy to confuse with oysters and can be deadly to people with kidney problems.
Audubon makes a good guide, and there are great online resources like mushroomexpert.com to learn more about specific species.
Didn’t find any fall mushrooms this year which may have been for the best because it inspired me to do better. I ordered a hundred dollars worth of books to educate myself so this does not happen again. This is the first one on the subject I’m reading. Failing is a good thing at times because it motivates me. You can be sure some spawn will find its way to my place this next year.
Clark, I grew up picking wild mushrooms, it is very popular activity in Russia. Here in Nebraska I was not able to find anything even in places that looked very suitable for growing mushrooms. Only in one exceptionally wet year I found a few different species. So that is said that Nebraska is too dry to grow mushrooms reliably. The same I suppose is true for Kansas. Maybe locations which are close to large water sources will be better, like the forests near Missouri river. I really miss picking mushrooms, it is fun excuse to walk around in the forest.
excellent book! i have it and 3 more by Dr. Staments! mycelium running is my favorite but they all contain great growing information. you’ll be obsessed with mushroom cultivation in no time!
suddenly I am interested again, close to two inches of rain yesterday, and this week end it will be in the 70s with more rain. After a very dry year, one can not ask for more than this. We may get late ink caps, and of course maitake season is just around the corner. Just one makes for a good hunting season. Puffballs are probably gone for the year.
AntMary,
We get rain typically in fall and spring and at those times we can find mushrooms. This year has been very unusual and the rain has came at all the wrong times. Morels are the only spring mushroom I’ve found and they are easily identifiable. I’ve seen many dust balls in the fall throughout my life since they are very common here in the fall but I don’t eat anything I’m not 100% sure about. Some of my friends eat elephant ears and false morels both of which can be very dangerous. I’m more cautious and will pick them for them if they are with me since they grow with morels but I do not eat them.
had a huge flush of fall blewits on my beds in back but didn’t notice them until they were past prime. picked about half of them and spread into 2 more compost piles. should have blewits all over the garden next fall!
funny thing is i inoced the bed 2 yrs ago and they just started flushing this fall. usually we don’t see blewits in nov. but our very warm fall has extended the season. 2nd flush from this patch.
There are usually some that pop up at my work place every Fall.
Here are Shaggy Manes and a Boletus variety.I thought maybe Birch Bolete,but probably not. Brady
I have no idea if any of these are edible, and not going to eat any to find out. I use a lot of tree leaves as mulch and garden supplement, and lots of arborist chips. Plus, I’ve cut down several fallen and dead trees around my two acres. I think the red cap are Amanita muscari, which according to wikipedia is probably not fatal, but may be hallucinogenic. I’m not going to find out. I was thinking about buying some morel spawn online and pouring it around the dead trees and young trees and arborist chips, to see what happens.
i put down hardwood sawdust around all my trees and in my berry patches. besides the wine caps and blewits i added theres dozens of species that come up in my yard now. i have wild boletes that come up under my spruces and red pine. had a huge flush of the species under the pines this fall. think they’re edible but haven’t properly identified them yet. a very large capped squatty type of bolete. harvested a bunch of horse mushrooms from a neighbors lawn. chopped them up , mixed with compost then put in a wet spot under my willow. hopefully in a few years i get some shrooms! they are fantastic for baking and get huge caps. i pick them when they’re still cup shaped and stuff and bake them.
@cousinfloyd, if there is a lull in rain, and if my bad memory works, and if I have my cellphone on hand, I will take a photo and post it for you. I know those are a lot of ifs Are you thinking it’s an edible type?
I really probably don’t know enough about mushrooms for my suspicion to even be worth much, and even if I were an expert I might not be able to tell much just from a top view, but yes, I’m wondering if it might possibly be a hedgehog.
On the second and the third picture are edible mushrooms as far as I can see. The red caps should be picked when they are younger though. I am not sure about the first picture, they look similar to an edible type, but not exactly the same. On the last two pictures the mushrooms are inedible.
picked about half of them and spread into 2 more compost piles. should have blewits all over the garden next fall!
Are you thinking it’s an edible type?