Missing: Oyster Mushrooms

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Missing: Oyster Mushrooms
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Zarza

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 91
Location: Either in the kitchen or in the woods, or in between

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 12:44 am Post subject: Missing: Oyster Mushrooms

Patience is a gift. Those who know how to wait for the things to come, live a happier life.

I'm losing my patient. Everything seems to be against me when it comes to oyster mushrooms. I'm really looking forward to find some, never seen one.

95% of the trees where I live consist of Scot Pine and Birch. Pine is not a good tree for oyster mushrooms. What about birch? Any chance?

Now that December is closer, I'd like to know if I have any possibility.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 8:43 am Post subject:
Birch isn't great. Usually I find that deciduous stumps are ideal. Wait till after a hard frost, they can appear all winter. Its a very, very variable critter is the oyster mushroom, and some (not all) wild strains come out specifically after a frost; I've picked them on both the longest and the shortest day of the year. So try any 'untidy' deciduous wood a few days after a good frost.

Zarza

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 91
Location: Either in the kitchen or in the woods, or in between

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 9:03 am Post subject:
Thanks I needed some kind of "Rule of Engagement" to keep my moral high. I'll scan those woods and look for deciduous wood.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 9:30 am Post subject:
Near work there's a little valley filled with woods. Once side is deciduous mainly beech, the otherside is heather, pine and birch. I find it on the Beech, all the time, all year round. Never on the birch on pine or birch.

Zarza

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 91
Location: Either in the kitchen or in the woods, or in between

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 11:19 am Post subject:

Quote:

Once side is deciduous mainly beech, the otherside is heather, pine and birch. I find it on the Beech, all the time, all year round. Never on the birch on pine or birch.

They are indeed bad news.

hedgehogpie

Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 684
Location: Kent

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 11:21 am Post subject:
Hang on in there buddy.

bingo

Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 4401
Location: The Games Room normally!

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 8:14 pm Post subject: oysters
My oyster patch is in a beech forest. Its like a tree grave yard. A lot have fallen here. Here they seem best at the very start of spring, those first days of alright weather. The first ones always seem more tasty and a buff brown colour. In the summer there full of maggots. I can't find them in the winter.

Zarza

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 91
Location: Either in the kitchen or in the woods, or in between

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 9:08 pm Post subject:

More bad news for me.

To add insult to injury, I've checked the Forestry Commission Scotland web site to gather more information about Beech trees in Scotland. Read the first paragraph. Link: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6UEJK2

Dissapointing

EDIT: I think I misunderstood the text. It says: "Beeches (Fagus sylvatica) with a tendency to layer are extremely rare in Scotland."

Note the quoted text has no commas, thus, it only refer to beech trees with a tendency to layer.
Should the text uses commas: "Beeches (Fagus sylvatica), with a tendency to layer, are extremely rare in Scotland.", it would have refered to all of beech trees. Tricky thing, commas.

So I assume there are a good amount of beech trees in Scotland. Carrying on researching...

Last edited by Zarza on Fri Nov 17, 06 9:20 pm; edited 4 times in total

bingo

Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 4401
Location: The Games Room normally!

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 9:15 pm Post subject: Unlucky mate
Zarza...............Thats really interesting. I just take beech for granted.

bingo

Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 4401
Location: The Games Room normally!

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 06 10:38 pm Post subject:
I think so zarza, I spent most of my time at school flicking chewed up pieces of paper towels on a ruler at the classroom ceiling.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 06 12:08 am Post subject:

You do get beech up in Scotland, but way less of it. But that said, you don't need beech for oysters, I've had them from sycamore, oak and lime to name but three.

Bingo, thing about oyster shrooms is that they're incredibly variable. Wierd funky genetics. So they vary in colour, what they're happy growing on, and in what makes them fruit. But all of them seem to want some kind of stress to make them fruit; if you're lucky when you're out in winter you'll come across a stump all covered with them (some come out after cold shock), and you'll be able to go back there for years and pick them. I had a stump in our local woods that gave me oyster mushrooms every winter for five years, until there was practically nowt left of it.

Zarza

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 91
Location: Either in the kitchen or in the woods, or in between

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 06 11:26 am Post subject:

Bingo,

We used to "rice fighting" in the classroom. The hollow case of a Bic ballpoint pen was a perfect gun to shot rice grains to your enemies.
The harder you blew, the more painfull the shell was. It's not as easy as it sounds.

Cab,

I need to study more about trees. My knowledge on the subject is limited. Now it's a hard time to identify since trees are losing their leaves.
What about the holly trees? Are they good pals for oyster mushrooms?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 06 3:34 pm Post subject:

Zarza wrote:

I need to study more about trees. My knowledge on the subject is limited. Now it's a hard time to identify since trees are losing their leaves.
What about the holly trees? Are they good pals for oyster mushrooms?

I've never seen an oyster shroom on a holly tree. Can't off the top of my head think of any bracket I've seem on holly.

skedone

Joined: 19 Oct 2006
Posts: 351
Location: essex inbetween a blue bit and a green bit

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 06 4:30 pm Post subject:
well in all my books they say the same the like oak,beech but predominatly elm i hope that helps

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 06 4:35 pm Post subject:
True, they love elm. If you have many elm trees in your parts (and a lot of the country doesn't) then you're quids in for them.

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