Autumn is a time when you cannot avoid reading articles in the media about mushrooms. One afternoon this week I came home from a day in the forest and found an envelope from the over-the-road neighbour lying in the mailbox. Inside there was a newspaper clipping from a national newspaper with the title “Beautiful and deadly. Many more mushrooms because of wet weather”. My first reaction on this slightly sensational and entertainment orientated article was one of slight irritation and light disappointment. There is so much more to say about mushrooms and their role in nature than the obvious stories about toxicity, getting high and smelling like semen. But even more distressing was the subtitle about the relationship between the number of mushrooms and wet weather. Some mushrooms, like the honey fungus, have been thriving but many species especially in the mycorhizal (tree root based) group have not (yet) been active at all. Why? The answer – continuous wet weather.
Fungi, in general, need moisture to grow. A mild temperature is handy as well. But they do need a trigger, a starting sign and that is a sudden change in weather conditions. Most mushrooms appear in the autumn because of this phenomenon. If the summer has been been warm and dry and autumn is heralded with cold showers then it is this ample difference in temperature that stimulates the fungus to produce its fruiting body, the mushroom. If the summer has been characterized by moist conditions and mild temperatures then there is usually no significant temperature difference when autumn arrives and many fungi will not react. Autumn 2024 is not shaping up to be an abundant and diverse mushroom season. But who knows… just keep one eye on the weather and the other eye on the ground!
Photo: Georg Wietschorke
