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Thousands of oak trees later


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Out of the few thousand oak trees I've searched the past few years, I only managed to locate two Laetiporus cincinnatus/aka chicken of the woods. For a while I was beginning to doubt they even grew here in South Louisiana. Or, the oak trees here were just too healthy to promote fungus growth from Laetiporus cincinnatus. About two years ago the first one was found on a white oak. As the years went by searching white oaks and live oaks, I came up with a theory that the Laetiporus cincinnatus only grows on white oaks here because I only found one searching many miles and long hours . Well....... I've managed to prove my own theory wrong last week by finding one on a live oak. Only bad thing is that I was about a week too late ? Now, my theory is that they're just rare here for whatever reason. Lol. If any of you have been here in south Louisiana, you know that we have mature oaks by the millions. Lots of them 200+ years old. My guess is that the soil is so fertile here, the trees become very healthy at a early age and it's difficult for the Laetiporus cincinnatus to become parasitic. I would love to hear yalls thoughts on this.

Maybe a question to ask would be what does it take for a Laetiporus cincinnatus to parasitize ??

P.S...... The first chicken I found has lost its home.... The parks maintenance crew whacked the tree down to put up a frisbee golf goal thingamajig. ????

This is the one I found Monday on a live oak. Better bet your marbles I'll be making frequent trips to this site in hope of another fruiting!!!

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All the spots I found them on last tear haven't produced anything this season yet. Hoping for some abundant rain here in NE, maybe they'll decide to grow in the fall.

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I always find my chickens by accident, but remember the spots for future hunts.

Lol. That's what I told a buddy... I'll just stop looking for them!!! They were all stumbled upon. My girlfriend actually spotted the one from Monday driving down the road. When she started explaining to me what it looked like, I immediately did a 180(safely) lol

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Nice find Cajun,

a while back The wife wanted me to clean up an old wood pile at our cabin so dutifully I went out back to preform the chore and this is what I found.

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needless to say the wood pile stays :hungry:;)

Swamp

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Cincinnatus (white chicken) grows on the ground from a single stem that splits looking something like coral from the root of a tree (root rot). The yellow chicken grows in overlapping shelves on a log or standing tree. I like the white better than the yellow chicken. Gonna try both of them tonight. As far as their existence in Louisiana, the hot summer environment might limit them. What's perplexing me is that a couple times this season I've seen something very similar to the white chicken growing on top of downed rotting logs. The flies loved them but it was neither the white nor the yellow chicken. So much to learn, too much to remember. Gonna take a photo next time. Favorite Baton Rouge dish. Black drum barbecued on the half shell. 

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I believe that is Laetiporus sulphureus not Laetiporus cincinnatus because it is growing out of the side of the oak, not out of the ground near the base. The specimen shown seems to be a little too old to get a good idea of the coloration which would help in identifying between the two. I live in Illinois and have been finding tons of both species throughout the 15+ years I've been mushroom hunting and what I can tell you about how I've learned to distinguish between the two is as follows: L. sulphureus always grows directly out of the tree, the coloration(when fresh) on the bottom is bright yellow whereas with L. cincinnatus I've always only found them growing out of the ground near the base of the tree(identically to how maitake do) and the bottoms(when fresh) are white. 

I hope you have more luck finding either species as they're amazing to eat, photograph, and find. I may be crazy but I always get a slight smell of them before I find them. Again, I don't know if this is in my head but sure enough I get the smell of them before I find them probably 60%-75 of the time. 

Good luck and take care.

 

I included two photos to show the typical difference between the two. The first one is cincinnatus and the second sulphureus 

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Thanks for all the input guys. Yes both specimens were  Laetiporus sulphureus. I had them mixed up. The picture in the original post lacks the faint yellow coloration that was present in person. Due to lack of rain after fruiting, the sun dried it up pretty quick and stripped it's yellow color. 

Bobby.... I assure you I'll cook the best fish dish you've ever eaten given the chance. I also scuba dive/spearfish. Not that black drum is bad on the half shell,I literally go down below the rigs and choose my diner. Grouper is the best I ever by a long shot. 

Matt......Funny you say that about smelling them before you find them. I also thought it was in my head but you just confirmed my thoughts. Lol. When hiking with the girlfriend or just out about foraging, she says " geez how do you spot that? Are you sniffing them out ?!" Lol. Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing 

Heres the one found two years ago. Man I hate frisbee golf now Lol

The second one is for you Bobby, yellow mouth grouper. Delicious!!

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CajunShroomer, you refer to L. sulphureus as a parasite, but I've never found a chicken on anything but dead wood.  Wikipedia refers to them as saprophytic and weakly parasitic.  You might have better luck finding them if you target areas with lots of dead oaks.

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MushroomExpert list them as both. ( 6 species).  I see Cincinnatus growing at the base of live trees with obvious signs of checking out. Cincinnatus has more variable color and wins the beauty contest.   Cookin' both up again tonight with peppers, onions, venison chops. No hens yet. "oy vey".  As far as fresh grouper,  having most fresh fish in my hands means way more than the lies you get at most supermarkets. Luv the fish markets at Nags Head NC.

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  • 1 month later...

FINALLY!!!!!!

As always this one was found while driving to work yesterday afternoon minding my own business. Spotted it from about a mile away. It was about 10-15 foot in the tree where a branch had been cut. Funny thing is I went back after work at 3 am this morning to harvest it. Lol. I brought a ladder just in case but I put my climbing skills to the test. All I could think about while in the tree was what if a officer just so happened to be passing and see me climbing a tree on the side of the road at 3 in the morning!! ? Host was a 100-150 year old live oak tree. I really wanted to get a photo in situ but just wasn't happening.   I'll post my cooking method in cooking forum. Sweet and sour sesame chicken of the woods !! Delicious!!

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  • 1 month later...

I see that the mushrooms are growing mainly on dead wood at the base of the Live Oak.  Are there areas close to you with lots of dead oak trees?  Those areas might be more productive.

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Yes vitog, lots and lots of dying and dead oaks in my area. Many 100-200+ yrs old.  I guess I was just dreaming of finding Pacific North West fruitings. Lol. 

I'm thinking they're not as allusive here as I was assuming.Timing is key. And of course being at the right location at the right time. Not just with Laetiporus but with mushrooms in general. Appreciate the input. 

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