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Over harvesting


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I was watching a YouTube video of a guy picking lobster mushrooms in Minnesota. After watching, I read some of the comments and one guy questioned the one in the video " why don't you leave some mushrooms for next years harvest? You're over picking ".

The guy who shot the video responded " The micillium lives underground and picking them all will not effect that"

In my opinion, over time picking too much in one area will deplete the resources eventually. Actually I'm just assuming that. I know if I over harvest animals when hunting,eventually I'll run out.

I use a practice when mushroom hunting ,as you guys have taught me, leave at least a third of what I find to drop spores and almost guarantee growth in this area in the future. If I'm not mistaken John S. speaks of this often.

I understand that the mycelium lives underground and can produce mushrooms again and again, over a period of time, but if you're picking and picking and picking,and not allowing spores to fall and create more mycelium, eventually the resources will deminish right? Let's use lobster and chanterelle mushrooms for example cause I'm sure the answer would vary from mushroom to mushroom. Feel free to explain on more than just these two examples. Just thought this might help simplify the answer.

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This is a point of controversy.

I think that with many mycorrhizal species --mushrooms that fruit from a fungus that has established a long-standing symbiosis with a tree or trees-- one will not notice any adverse effects from over-harvesting. But I have never seen any convincing evidence that spore bank depletion for these types does not contribute to an eventual depletion of the fungus. Presumably, it may take many years before such effects may be observed. In the short term --like over the course of several years-- I doubt that over-harvesting would produce a negative effect upon a mycorrhizal species found in a spot where the associated trees continue to thrive. Having said all of this, there was a discussion on Mushroom Observer awhile back in which someone claimed that over-harvesting had produced a significant setback for her chanterelles. But this may have been the result of some other combination of factors.

There's also another hypothesis. Paul Stamets has stated that harvesting mushrooms actually helps to spread the spores around. That is, one takes the mushrooms to other locations and seemingly this means the spores also get spread around. But this would only work with mature fruit bodies (or a few types of mushrooms that continue to mature even after being harvested; Amanitas are like this). And, with choice edibles it's often the button stage (immature) that is most desirable.

Also, saprobic species --like Blewits or Agaricus-- may depend upon spore input in order for new mycelium to grow. I have seen Blewit spots disappear over the course of a few years. But this may simply be due to a nutrient depletion (as result of the fungus consuming) or the result of adverse weather conditions killing or significantly setting back the fungus. Just a thought... I don't know one way or the other.

I don't know the answer here, but I think it's ecologically/environmentally responsible to leave some of the mushrooms where you found them.

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I will usually not be able to harvest more than fifty percent of a species of mushroom from any given area because of bug damage or they were too old. With the mushrooms that could be completely harvested, I make a concious effort to leave thirty percent with the hopes that new colonies will form nearby.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I wouldnt worry too much about depleting a mushroom patch by over harvesting. A single decent sized giant puffball for example might release 7 trillion spores. That is quite a few and seriously if you harvest every giant puffball you see that one over there that you didnt see will produce enough spores to pretty much blanket the planet and there will be millions of puffballs that go unharvested. Several years ago one of the American satellites stuck out a net with a fine filter while in orbit to see what it might catch. It caught mushroom spores. The damn things are everywhere even in orbit.

If you want to farm a patch over several years one thing you might want to consider is being kind to the mycellium. The mushroom organism is living underground so you might consider trying to harvest the mushrooms as gently as possible to avoid ripping up the mycellium. Maybe replace your divots. If you absolutely must worry about spores you could consider holding that king bolete out at arms length and doing a brief happy dance to celebrate finding it. That will likely spread 187 million spores and you can eat the thing without feeling particularly guilty. And anyways, your little patch will probably get bulldozed next year to make room for row housing or a mall.

The article on this site:

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/2009/Lecture05/Lect05.htm

might help put the whole deal into perspective.

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For every one mushroom full grown and in good condition there are always two others that are too young or old that I wouldn't take to identify so I don't worry about over-harvesting.

Yea, Careful inspection of what state the mushroom is in before being picked should just naturally leave mushrooms unpicked. In lean years sometimes you pick less than desirable mushrooms and salvage what is good....but normally, I would think most of us always leave some mushrooms behind.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nope, that is a fact ? Most of my locations are under water. Very blessed to be high and dry. Unfortunately there are thousands displaced. No doubt in my mind we will prevail. So many people helping in many different ways. Just keep us in y'all thoughts and prayers. Thanks

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  • 2 weeks later...

If the plants don't die to salt/pollution in the water and the plant litter isn't washed away you'll have the most productive trips ever! I know the situation is too dire to care, but it's the only silver lining I can see.

Visited my best chanty patch for the first time in three weeks. I discovered that there was 2-3 foot of water there during the flooding. ? Majority of leaf litter was still there but not a single chanty. Maybe too soon after flooding?

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