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Ontario Mushrooms and well maybe Quebec too


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It has been a long but mild winter here in Ontario but it is time to put the parkas away and push the igloos over into the corner of the yard. There have been credible reports of morels in the Toronto area and in the forests of York Region. I am not sure yet how far north from Toronto the morels are fruiting. I have a couple of early spots that I have been checking but so far I have not found a morel. The weather where I live (45 miles north of Toronto) has been cold and a couple of days ago we had a foot of snow dumped on us. Yes, a foot. That is not good. We need a couple of warm days here to get things rolling and yes a bit of rain would be nice too. The temperatures closer to Toronto have been a bit warmer and I think is the place to be this weekend.

Having said that, I will also say that the first organized foray of the year in Ontario will be held by the Mycological Society of Toronto on Saturday April 28 in the main tract of Dufferin Forest.The following day (yes on Sunday the 29th) they will also host a foray in the Palgrave area. If you are not yet a member you may attend one foray or society meeting without joining. This lets you get out and meet some of the folks in the group and see what the forays are all about. If you are new to mushrooming and are eager to learn I can highly recommend joining the club. To attend the freebie you need to contact the foray director who will tell you where the group will meet. If you want to attend and use your freebie but havent been able to connect with the foray director you can try contacting me through this forum and I will try to hook you up. Their website is at http://www.myctor.org/ and you can find a way to contact the foray director if you poke around a bit on the site. This will be the first weekend of the wild turkey hunt for 2012 and the Dufferin forest will have dudes with guns wandering around so brightly colored clothing is recommended.

Have a great season everyone and remember to post your finds here. It is always fun to gloat!

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Every year I find 2-3 Agaricus bitorquis on the lawn beside the driveway in May. This year we found 2 and I consider this a late spring mushroom. Today my wife found 3 fruiting in the same place they always fruit. This has been one of the driest years I can remember where I live and there have been pretty much no mushrooms at all. This find surprised me because I didnt expect to see anything edible fruiting on the lawn and because this is the second fruiting of the year for the bitorquis. Has anyone else found this mushroom fruiting in mid summer or fruiting twice in one year?

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Looks like a decent flush of oyster mushrooms happening now. I guess the rain we had on friday got them going.

Hey, Duff.

I used to find both a May/June and a Oct. fruiting. This was when I lived in Newmarket, but I don't see any reason why it should be different elsewhere. At least you're running across something! This Sub-saharan weather has allowed nothing to come up here (if you discount black footed polypores).

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Hopefully someone is taking advantage of the occasional downpours, the last two weeks. Unfortunately I'm just seeing them on the news or getting an inch in twenty minutes that just runs off. I've been looking in creek valleys that hold some moisture lately. Other than a few crepes and deer mushrooms, nothing seems to be fruiting. Friday did produce a nice cluster of chickens, hidden in a shady corner, down in the bottom of a gully.

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I am in southern Ontario Canada. I found some batches last year when it was really dry here late summer to fall, but this year it was going the same route with no rain and luckily it rained for 3 days and wham they are coming up. I also see that there is a healthy host population too, close to the infected ones and evidence of more small fruits budding under ground so the harvest continues! So favourable mushroom conditions right now.

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I am in Central Ontario. So far in the last week have found 4 giant puffballs, about 10 lobsters, tons of ash boletes (in the hundreds, but I will not try them for food) birch boletes under birch trees and poplars. Pholiota squarosa, about 20 stumps, dead trees with sulphur shelves. I am keeping my eyes peeled. Not enough rain though.

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Hi Rex good to see you here. Lobsters are sort of elusive for many folks and I know many who have never found one. I dont think it has as much to do with geography as it does the type of forests you search. The lobsters seem to be a bit picky about where they fruit. I actually have 7 dynamite spots for lobsters and they are easily my most harvested mushroom. I also hunt in a few forests that are completely lobster free. I think the key is you need heavier soil types for lobsters, the sort of soil that retains moisture for quite a while without being swampy. Forests on sandy soil are not a good choice. Forests that have hemlock seem to be productive in general. I dont think it is the hemlock that makes it that way but rather that hemlock likes the same sort of growing conditions as the lobsters. A couple of my spots are hemlock free but they have the heavier soil and in those forests a white pine/ big tooth aspen combination seems to pay off. The really good news is that a lobster population is very persistent and once you start finding them they will fruit in the same place for years. I have never seen one of my lobster spots fizzle out over time.

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