Subnostr

What I'm most scared of is uprooting it and preventing it from growing back 🤣 Probably not something I need to worry about but idk. Any foraging tips? I have so much to learn 💀

𝔼𝕣𝕪𝕟 𝔹𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕔𝕠 1y ago

So you definitely don’t have to worry about uprooting them! Mushrooms are only the fruiting bodies, loosely connected to the actual organism. Mycelia are finer than roots and permeate their substrate; it’s disturbing this substrate that can damage the actual organism.

Chicken of the woods grows on wood, so the only way you could make it stop growing would be to remove or poison the wood it’s living on. It may stop coming back if it exhausts its host, and it wouldn’t be your fault for harvesting.

It’s still good to leave some, especially older specimens past their prime, for the bugs and so it can reproduce.

If you’re able to visit West Virginia Aug 16-18, the annual foray of the WV Mushroom Club is coming up! This event is a treasure for anyone who likes mushrooms or biology at all. I learn so much at each one. Hope you can make it:

https://www.wvmushroomclub.net/foray-registration

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Discussion

Tekkadan, ゲロゲロ! 🐸 1y ago

😱 Thank you!! That is a lot of good info. I was thinking I might try to twist or break off the whole clump but I'll have to look into storage methods and time-frames.. seems like I should just cut a piece off? 🤣

𝔼𝕣𝕪𝕟 𝔹𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕔𝕠 1y ago

🤷🏻‍♀️ I’d say cut or break off as much as you know you will eat and preserve. Minus a little if that would mean the whole patch. Just make real sure you know what it is first.

Tekkadan, ゲロゲロ! 🐸 1y ago

Hmmm I plucked off a small piece yesterday and I think you may be right that this one is "old," I am thinking because it grows in the open that it receives too much direct sunlight. It must be growing directly from the root of the oak tree beside it. I'll leave it be this year and maybe figure out a way to give it some shade 🤣

𝔼𝕣𝕪𝕟 𝔹𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕔𝕠 1y ago

Just think about how long store bought mushrooms last in the fridge as a guess time scale.

More delicate mushrooms might last a shorter time, but I would personally guess COW would last like baby bellas or something.

Someone else might know better. I ate mine pretty quickly 😁

Tekkadan, ゲロゲロ! 🐸 1y ago

Thank you again 😊 I'll let you know if there are results 🤣