JOHNY

Looks like Mica Caps. An edible coprinoid species. The pictured mushrooms are verging towards being too degenerate to eat. Similar to many I have eaten, they are hard to keep clean because of their size and habitat. Picking a day or two earlier and there would not be the degenerate ink cap effect. When they are in better condition, they clean up fast in a bowl of water, shake dry and fry in butter, whole, not chopped.

You should be finding some very soon. After the rain that fell Saturday and Sunday conditions should be good. This weekend coming up would be a good time to look. Also, check out website called thegreatmorel.com. There is a map that flags self reported findings. Definitely folks are finding them in Pennsylvania and Ohio. New York is starting to show some positive finding. The Niagara region likely has similar climate as western New York so that should give some confidence that you could be successful. For us in Northwest Ontario, it will be 2-3 weeks before we find any.

They may have many habitat preferences. I find them in clay soils associated with Trembling Aspen.

Hoping Kevin, or anyone else knowledgeable, can answer this. Do spawn block require Oxygen? I have two spawn blocks that each produced flushes of mushrooms a while ago. I plan to bury them outdoors in wood chips but won't be able to do this until mid May. Right now they are vacuum packed in plastic bags in a refrigerator. Will they be OK or do I need to introduce some fresh air occasionally?

Calvert, Your forests are different than ours in the Rainy River District. Probably the wild mushroom strains are different in eastern Ontario. too. I have only found wild Oyster mushroom on dead Trembling Aspen. Field and Forest (Wisconsin based spawn and kit dealer) does not list oak as a viable option for their strains of Oysters. I have successfully grown their oysters on Red Maple but large diameter Aspen stumps produce the very best

Was there a lot of woody mulch already in/on the ground? I'd like to see a pic showing if the gills are attached or free. Lots of mulch and free gill in urban area....might be Pluteus petasatus

Thanks Kevin. Do you think it would produce again if I buried in a deep pit full of wood chips in a shady location?

I got table top kits for each of these mushrooms for Christmas. After the second flush of mushrooms, is there a method of using the block out doors to continue more harvests this year or next?

I would like more pictures....close up of the stem looking for traces of a ring remnant. And a spore print. There are a few suspicious features that make me think Cortinarius

My favourite way to cook G. frondosa is to tear them apart in bite size or larger pieces. The drizzle with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of Kosher salt. Then grill in a BBQ Grill Pan. Stirring occasionally until obviously cooked and with just a wee bit of browning on the outer edges of the "leaflets". This concentrates the flavour. Then they can be mixed into a risotto. Or top a pizza. Or side dress grilled chicken beef or pork. Or grill larger peices and drizzle with aioli sauce for a snack. Or freeze for winter use if you have too much to eat right away (freeze after grilling)

Pyza, I have a hard time differentiating what some people call pink/salmon pink/light brown. Technically they are all different but highly biased based on pre-existing notions of colour perceptions. I will say that the Mushroom I call Lyophyllum decastes that grows along the bush trails out of my backyard is definitely pure white. The spore print you posted is the type of colour I would expect for a Blewit...

Does the orange latex turn green after a while? Or does it stay orange?

Cortinarius Easy to identify when young. Once they get bigger and the cortina disappears, it can be challenging to differentiate from Blewits.

Same here in North West Ontario. Two years of drought followed by rain ++ starting mid August last year. Lots of rain last fall. Huge snow depth last winter. Lots of rain this spring and summer. But: zero Morels this spring. Huge numbers of Chanterelles mid summer. Almost no boletes of any species all summer and fall. No saffron milk caps, no shaggy manes. Weird. Hoping for Blewits and Hedgehogs soon

Give us an update please. I'm interested to know if your rain after drought had any effect on mushrooms

Lots of experience with the wood chipper on my property. But the dominant species that I chip are aspen with a bit of birch, red maple and basswood and about 10% Balsam Fir. Filling low spots in trails with these chips. Wine caps definitely grow. Also Deer Mushroom, Lobster mushroom and occasionally porcini grow from these chips. Lots of other toxic looking LBM's show up within 1-2 years. Spruce or fir dominant piles never seem to grow anything desirable. I suspect white pine will be the same. The only pine associated mushrooms that I find are mycorrhizal with living trees: Suillus americanus (white pine)and Suillus luteus (Mugo Pine) Suillus brevipes (Jack Pine)

We had drought in North West Ontario last year. There were zero Chanterelles and other mid summer mushrooms. It started to rain in mid August. There was massive numbers of Boletes and Lobster mushrooms that sprung up within two weeks and continued until frosts. It was wild. Many people said they had never seem so many mushrooms before. Daily harvests of 10-15 pounds dominated by King Boletes was common. Maybe, hopefully, you will experience what we did last year.

Thanks Dave. The white warty spots brush off easily from these mushrooms. I remain a bit confused by the idea of partial veil remnants ending up on the cap.

I think these must be Wine Cap, S. rugosannulata except I have never seen them with spots on the caps. Is this a variant that is normal?

I agree with Kevin and trout. A picture ID App can get you close to identification. From there, you should use some good books like Audubon and on-line like MushroomExpert. Too much danger to rely on only a Photo ID App

I have found plenty of pieces of Amanita muscaria in the crops of Ruffed Grouse. I ate all those grouse making the assumption that the amount of toxins would be so diluted or metabolised that I would be OK. And I am.

ID of a tree by bark alone is difficult. In my part of the world, Red Pine has bark that can fissure and the peel into pieces like shown in the pictures. But it is distinctively Reddish-Brown. Our Red Maples exist at the northern limit of their natural range. "Middle aged" Red Maples in northwest Ontario can have fissured peeling bark like shown and usually grey like in the pic. On the other hand, those mushrooms look like true Oysters. Angel wings are usually so thin that light shines through easily

The bark looks like maple.

If I found that on my property just north of the the Ontario/Minnesota border, I would call it a Birch or Grey Leccinum. I get lots of them from late July until early September. Tasty when fried. I'm guessing from the red/white check, Italian table cloth, that you ate this one? As always, it is your decision to eat--or not--any species of mushroom.

Those look choice. No bugs and prefect "ripeness". Growing on Aspen is significant for identifying Pleurotus pulmonarius or populinus. I would eat them without hesitation. Stir fry, risotto........