A company grows these (and other mushrooms) in a warehouse here in Zurich to supply restaurants and grocery stores, which is probably one of the reasons these mushrooms are now found in the wild.
I "hunt" (in German you use the verb "collect/gather") mushrooms in the forests around Zurich and I haven't seen these yet. They also don't appear in my Pilzfürher app specific to Switzerland. But I have heard they are here. From pictures I've seen of them in the wild I might dismiss them from a distance because I could mix them up with two common yellow mushrooms here - one poisonous.
"Mushroom hunting" is a fairly common phrase in English, too. It appears to have the top-level title for the page about that activity, on Wikipedia, even (mushroom foraging, mushroom picking, and mushrooming are all given as alternative terms)
Plus it's the title of a song on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, so it has that going for it.
The German term is "Pilze sammeln" which literally translates to: collect mushrooms.
There are many dialects of the German language - where I'm from, we would use "Schwammerl suchen" ("Schwammerl" as another term for "Pilz(e)"). This literally translates to: searching for mushrooms.
"sammeln" can have multiple translations. "Collect" would be more like "einsammeln". In the context of "Pilze sammeln", you'd use "forage". You forage for food.
Morels are find as long as you cook them and don't eat look-alikes. The look alikes that I'm aware of (false morels and mule tails) don't really even look like morels.
A friend of mine went to a local mushroom picking course and among things they mentioned that morels are difficult to cook from fresh, because of the gastro problems. Apparently, the advice was to dry them before using in recipes.
They aren't 'difficult' to cook. They are dangerous to eat if uncooked (and thus undercooked).
While true morels themselves can be dangerous while uncooked, there are similar looking species that are both less and more dangerous.
Species of Gyromitra or "false morels" like Verpa Bohemica will commonly all be called "morels": both as an intentional cultural colloquialism or simple misidentification.
Depending on which hemisphere you live in, some Gyromitra species may be more dangerous than true morels. They can also be more dense and harder to cook thoroughly.
Most mushroom species will cause an upset stomach if undercooked. Drying is an effective way of reducing both dangerous and uncomfortable compounds. It's suggested for morels out of an abundance of caution, but it is not a necessary step.
(Note that not all compounds are destroyed! "Magic mushrooms" are famously traded dry for example!)
The advise to add an additional preparation step also increases the chance someone will notice the wrong species hiding in their ingredients. Undesirable species can have overlapping habitats and climates so its not uncommon for a careless or ignorant forager to pick the wrong thing.
Despite many people such as you and I yelling at random hippies and hillbillies online, they continue to call everything "morels". Reread my comment again: it is true that people colloquially misname dangerous species. I cannot help this. I can only point this fact out.
Morels contain several volatile compounds which cause gastric distress. (Forgive me for not looking it up at the moment, but one of them is/was a compenent of rocket fuel, which teenage me loved.) They have to be thoroughly cooked to burn those off. Or else dried.
Specifically for soup - which is, arguably, their best use - most people won't saute morels long enough before adding liquid, so it's always best to use dried for that. Otherwise, standard, boring, dry-sautéed + butter until tender works great, and has never given me a hint of upset.
The instructor of your friend's mushroom course may have been giving maximally-cautious advice, rather than trying to communicate nuance to the general public. That's often a wise choice. :-)
PS. If you're at all interested in foraging mushrooms, buy a copy of All the Rain Promises and More, by David Aurora. (If you're elsewhere than North America, buy a local guide, too, but still get ARPM.) Aside from the mushroom content it's wonderfully entertaining.
That advice makes no sense but it is way easier to cook with dried mushrooms. Maybe that's where the folk wisdom came from. When you us mushrooms your goal is to remove as much mushroom juice as possible and replace it with fats oils etc. When you start off dried it's easier
It does make sense; the poisons in morels (and many other "edible" mushrooms) are highly volatile. Heating them in a pan drives off the harmful compounds; heating them more gently in a large volume of liquid captures the compounds.
There's a variety of mushroom that has killed in the US, but is reportedly sold in Scandinavian markets. My theory is that Scandinavian recipes specify pan-frying or drying them first, and the unlike USian skipped this step.
One secret is that the more you do it, the more you see mushrooms everywhere. You develop an aptitude for noticing fungus absolutely everywhere, and you'll wonder how you ever missed it.
Another is that you need to get a feel for the conditions your local edible species like. Mushrooms will appear most of the year where I live, but the worthwhile hunting times fall into fairly narrow bands in spring and fall, though prolonged rains and cooler weather in summer will rapidly generate huge stands of some species too. You kind of get a feel for it over time.
Finally, you need a good guide, ideally human at first and then a credible book that's ideally specific to your region to some degree. As an example, North America is a huge area to make a book for! They exist though, and they're still useful if you can't find anything more specific. British Columbia helpfully narrows it down, then Vancouver Island even further. Sometimes you'll find books specific to regions within your state like that, and that's the best in my experience. Look for a local mycology club and they'll have the best literature and guides on lock. They'll also probably welcome you out for some group hunting and guiding. These people are almost always extremely helpful, friendly, knowledgeable, and excited to have new members.
Like with fishing, making it about getting outside and enjoying nature rather than requiring each outing to be a huge success helps. At first you might get skunked pretty frequently and have no idea why. Over time you'll get a feel for things, find reliable stands of species you love, and get better at spotting what you're looking for.
>As an example, North America is a huge area to make a book for!
I think AI/LLM with RAG is the ideal solution for this mushroom hunting/foraging.
With mobile phone fine-tuning multi-modal app capability and NTN satellite connection to the cloud, you're loaded for the bear, err mushrooms.
Check this video on Golden Chanterelle mushrooms hunting in Santa Barbara, Southern California where one lb can cost around USD20-30. The guys managed to gathered around 80lb for the trip or about USD1600 minimum if sold [1].
[1] Mushroom Hunting Catch and Cook (80lbs Found!):
I often read about invasive species from a Western point of view and some of the most aggressive and hard to keep under control species come from Asia. Is the Asian ecosystem equally invaded by Western species? Are forests, gardens, or lakes in Asia overrun by European carp and grey oyster mushrooms? Or is there something about the environment and ecosystem in Asia that makes those species uniquely invasive and resistant?
For example the Japanese knotweed evolved to grow on the side of volcanoes and survive the occasional lava flow. It's a uniquely harsh environment which prepares it for thriving in any "gentle" garden in the world. But the mushrooms didn't evolve in any particularly bad environment, so why are these species outcompeting local ones? Why are they so fit for a new environment?
I know I have some selection and survivorship bias because I only know of the species that made it, not the ones which try to invade and fail so that's why I'm curious if this is a special situation, or more or less expected because a known percentage of species from any part of the world end up outcompeting local species from another.
I had a mushroom farm in Northern Michigan some years ago and we grew Golden Oysters, among other species. I think our winters are too cold for them to really establish themselves, but I was hearing reports of them 'going native' in Southern Michigan as long ago as 15 years.
Like the farmer in the article, I also wondered about the apparent lack of effort in growing native species. My area has a wonderful native oyster Pleurotus populinus; exceptional in taste compared to other oysters, but I have never heard of anyone cultivating them.
They were a hot seller for us, but they had some notable downsides compared to other oyster varieties. Their self life in particular is quite short, and they tended to bruise black, which really kills the aesthetic value.
I've been thinking about farming in Michigan. If global warming takes off, we should have a nice environment and plenty of water to grow...
I just can't imagine doing agriculture in 2026. I have a masters in Mechanical Engineering and 2 decades of experience. It just seems like something for uneducated people.
Modern farming is much closer to science and engineering than most realize. Rowcropping in particular is heavily reliant on gps, soil chemistry, and genetics to put the right seed, in the right soil, with the right nutrients to maximize output.
One big reason I got out of mushroom farming was a great big mushroom 'factory' was set up not too far from me. They produced literal tons more than we could have ever dreamed, at a much lower cost. They are a highly technical, industrial enterprise. For a while one of their selling points was: 'mushrooms never touched by human hands', to emphasize how automated their system was. I felt like John Henry against the steam shovel.
Michigan already has a pretty great environment for agriculture. I used to always hear we were second only to California in terms of output. If current climate disruptions continue(we've had two "once in a lifetime" catastrophic ice storms just this past year in my area) I may searching for 'greener pastures' myself.
Wikipedia: "The Last of Us is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise created by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.[a] The series is set in a post-apocalyptic United States ravaged by cannibalistic humans infected by a mutated fungus in the genus Cordyceps."
The larger picture is: we humans are fighting an oncoming tsunami (exponential fungal growth) with sandbags. And puny ones, at that.
It's the same with any invading species. Go pluck all the Japanese honeysuckle and knotweed (not the fault of the Japanese, BTW: we planted them!), kudzu, golden oysters, garlic mustard, invasive rose, and so on that you like. Smash all the spotted lanternflies in your entire city! Etc.
Those populations will barely hiccup, and then continue.
We have no real plan, maybe not even a real ability, to stop any of them. They are establishing themselves high up in native populations, largely due to lack of controlling pressures (generally a lack of predator/grazers, and parasites).
We're in a painful transition point, spurred on by human travel and long-range commerce (shipping by ground, sea, and air). Even if we began (somehow!) bio-filtering everything we shipped right now, it's too late.
There will eventually be a new balance, or at least a new temporary equilibrium. Unfortunately, a lot of things we like are going to be displaced or even extincted by the pressure of this rapid change, whether it's songbirds or oranges or a significant percentage of the human species.
I’ve enjoyed reading up and growing various mushrooms. They vary from tasty, medicinal, to deadly. Lions mane is a blast to grow and tastes pretty good, some say lobster, and you can cook them like steak. Plus they just look awesome. Supposedly has various health benefits too.
The scariest stories, beyond the usual “oops I ate a death cap,” to me are people growing oyster mushrooms and finding their house infested. Oyster mushrooms popping their heads out of every crack and nook in bathrooms, crawl spaces, and kitchens. Basically any crevice with moisture.
The iNaturalist.org map tab could help you determine whether it has been found in your area. [0]
I was hoping it had not made it to Texas since it was reported mostly in the NE US but it looks like some people have started cultivating it here and it may have escaped cultivation sometime during the last few years.
Considering that it is an invasive fungus that is known to degrade all the natives in the area it should be no surprise that the questions about whether the fungus was found growing on a grow block are rarely or never answered in the Texas reports. This could be due to the questions being asked by researchers trying to identify spread mechanisms from posts that are several years old. The original poster may not respond either because they don't remember or they are not as active as they used to be.
I think there are 8 reports in the state today and at least one is obviously in a grow medium of sawdust. [1] The fact that people placed most of their sitings on parks instead of home gardens when more than one case clearly shows a residential setting may suggest that they are growing something that they know can escape but they would like others to think they found it in the wild so it isn't their problem.
I have a great natural environment for them with several live oak widowmakers standing dead for around 25 years. I have not seen any yellow mushrooms though, yet. I think the native mulch industry in Texas will probably be their main spread vector since hardwoods are mulched locally and sold all over the state. As far as I know there are fewer restrictions on mulch sales from infected areas than there are on firewood sales across county lines. I think mulch may incorrectly be classified as compost in this case where the assumption is that there has been large scale degradation sterilization of weed seeds, fungal spores, etc due to decomposition temperatures.
The Himalayan Blackberry produces untold numbers of very large fruits and it's still so aggressive you have to ruthlessly clear it before it grows under your foundations and into your driveway and walls. It takes over every patch of ground it gets access to and it will send runners down 20 or 30 foot concrete walls from the top of the freeway. I once saw it grow a runner up to the top of a 40-foot tree and then back down to the ground 10 feet away. The thorns are so thick it will penetrate everything but duck cotton. I have to wear welding gloves when I'm clearing it because it can go right through gardening gloves. It is a hell plant sent to torment us for our hubris.
If you've ever bought or eaten "marionberry" this plant is where it grows.
Kudzu's threat has been long overstated. It thrives especially near forest edgelands which are always visible on highways, so concern of prevalence was partially based on individual sampling error. In reality, its presence in southern forests is higher than desired but still not disastrous (~0.1% of southern forestland), which is a fraction of worse invasives: Japanese honeysuckle (4.4%) and Asian privet (1.4%).
> ~0.1% of southern forestland), which is a fraction of worse invasives: Japanese honeysuckle (4.4%) and Asian privet (1.4%).
Sample size of 1 here (I know), but I've spent a meaningful portion of my life outdoors in the south and I have _never_ seen swaths of the landscape covered with Japanese Honeysuckle or Asian Privet like I have Kudzu. It absolutely dominates _everything_ in areas where it's present here (not surprising when it can grow up to a 1 foot (0.3 m) a day.)
Not trying to say you're incorrect, just trying to get a better handle on this. The thought that there are more destructive invasive plants in the US south than Kudzu is kind of blowing my mind.
You won't see swaths of honeysuckle or privet because it grows in the understory throughout the entire forest, choking out natives. Part of their destructive power is that they bloom earlier than most natives in spring, essentially stealing the available sunlight in those golden weeks before the overstory leafs out and reduces sunlight in the understory.
I guarantee you that if you've spent a meaningful portion of your life outdoors in the south you have seen Japanese Honeysuckle at the least, it is everywhere. But it's not a dramatic/easily identifiable shower like kudzu.
The data I'm citing is from my textbook for my Ohio Citizen Volunteer Naturalist program I did in the Fall semester, it cites the US Forest report but doesn't give a link. I think it's from this report [PDF warning]: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs178/gtr_srs178_3...
I would say that it's more accurate to say that kudzu is not poisonous. I definitely would not say it tastes good. It's got that "green plant" taste that you get from just chomping on any ol' leaf you might find. I mean, if you're poor and starving you could maaaaaybe survive on Kudzu, but it will be rough, it's not very calorie dense, even for a leafy green. Goats won't even eat it unless there is literally nothing else to eat. This whole, "oh you, can eat kudzu!" thing is just crunchy-mom Instagram influencer bullshit.
I’ve proposed that someone open a restaurant of invasive species. You could make some decent dishes with lionfish, blackberries, golden oyster mushrooms, venison, etc
Wonder if I'll be able to add a new entry to the list of "mushrooms that supposedly grow in my region but cannot be located within 100 sq miles of my home" soon.
I would have thought all the fungus had long ago traveled around the world? Don’t they move easily on the wind or on items shipped from place to place.
Wind is not a homogeneous movement, there are highways and slow lanes. Spores (as from fungi), pollen (from wind pollinators such as grasses) and dust-like seeds (e.g. from orchids) are ideal nucleation points for condensation. So when wind is forced up (because of changes in the terrain) these are the particles that get filtered out: either physically as precipitation or functionally by freezing.
For those interested, there have been a number of studies that put numbers on the action radius. When genetic manipulation of wind pollinators (e.g. wheat, corn and others grasses) came in vogue they needed to put a number on the dispersal of modified pollen.
Airplanes and cargo ships have removed all the geographic isolations this world once had.
Fungus, although exploratory, definitely prefer ideal environments (and inherently are co-operative, at least form a intra-species hyphae POV) — why would they attempt wandering across oceans/mountains/deserts (yes, certain fungi inhabit these niche environments).
The author starts out depicting themselves as some sort of cloning scientist... and clearly not only isn't that, but isn't very informed on mushrooms.
Many, if not most, wood-decaying mushrooms (those that break down dead wood) rely on killing nematodes to supply nitrogen, which is otherwise short supply in their diet. They use adaptations that resemble glue pads, tripwire nooses, or even hydro-pumped harpoons to trap the "helpless nematodes" (oh, the humanity! Won't somebody think of the worms?). It's not rare; it just wasn't known until circa 2000. And it's not unique to the invading fungus; our native oysters were where this discovery was first made.
Spare me the "poor defenseless prey animal" BS, and tell me about the known or suspected ecological impact - the reduction in fungal diversity is relevant, at least.
I tried to read TFA to learn about what's going on. It's an article about an invasive species of mushroom, right? I'd like to be informed.
The first sentence is:
"The razor blade of the newly unpacked surgical scalpel glints in the late Autumn light."
So I just immediately stopped reading.
This style of writing is exhausting and too common. It's an article about mushrooms, not a spy action thriller.
It feels like there had been some shift over the past decade that has been pushing / encouraging this style of writing, and I'm not sure what's caused it or what the solution is.
It's getting to the point that I'll need to use an LLM to summarize any article I care about to just extract the relevant info.
That would be particularly ironic if it was an LLM that generated the article.
The vast majority of writers at the end of the day write these stories to sell them. The old venues that sold advertising to places where you would read the stories you are talking about are long dead. Google, et al, have sucked up all that money making them a trillion dollars. Now anyone that wants to sell a story is left fighting for pennies on clickbait.
We are constantly learning more about how utterly vital fungi are to all the various land ecosystems on the planet. I fear that we could see some ecosystems collapse due to the large and fast changes in their fungal makeup.
A company grows these (and other mushrooms) in a warehouse here in Zurich to supply restaurants and grocery stores, which is probably one of the reasons these mushrooms are now found in the wild.
I "hunt" (in German you use the verb "collect/gather") mushrooms in the forests around Zurich and I haven't seen these yet. They also don't appear in my Pilzfürher app specific to Switzerland. But I have heard they are here. From pictures I've seen of them in the wild I might dismiss them from a distance because I could mix them up with two common yellow mushrooms here - one poisonous.
(I'm going out to search for morels this weekend)
The verb I've most commonly heard for this activity in English is "forage". What's the equivalent German word?
"Mushroom hunting" is a fairly common phrase in English, too. It appears to have the top-level title for the page about that activity, on Wikipedia, even (mushroom foraging, mushroom picking, and mushrooming are all given as alternative terms)
Plus it's the title of a song on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, so it has that going for it.
Sadly a missed opportunity for calling it mushroom pilfering.
Or mushroom requisitioning. Or mushroom commandeering. Or mushroom pillaging.
Thank you for clarifying!
The German term is "Pilze sammeln" which literally translates to: collect mushrooms.
There are many dialects of the German language - where I'm from, we would use "Schwammerl suchen" ("Schwammerl" as another term for "Pilz(e)"). This literally translates to: searching for mushrooms.
"sammeln" can have multiple translations. "Collect" would be more like "einsammeln". In the context of "Pilze sammeln", you'd use "forage". You forage for food.
and "Schwammerl" is even a term people use for other people
> I'm going out to search for morels this weekend
I don't have any addictions in my life, but one. That's when morel season is in swing, I am in full hunt mode.
To me morels seems just scary enough to avoid completely. I love other forest mushrooms but i'd just avoid morels.
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/health-disease/...
https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investi...
Morels are find as long as you cook them and don't eat look-alikes. The look alikes that I'm aware of (false morels and mule tails) don't really even look like morels.
They're 100% worth the very negligible risk.
Those are gruesome diseases and I would not trust that the morels are not related.
A friend of mine went to a local mushroom picking course and among things they mentioned that morels are difficult to cook from fresh, because of the gastro problems. Apparently, the advice was to dry them before using in recipes.
What's up with that?
Superstition/caution.
They aren't 'difficult' to cook. They are dangerous to eat if uncooked (and thus undercooked).
While true morels themselves can be dangerous while uncooked, there are similar looking species that are both less and more dangerous.
Species of Gyromitra or "false morels" like Verpa Bohemica will commonly all be called "morels": both as an intentional cultural colloquialism or simple misidentification.
Depending on which hemisphere you live in, some Gyromitra species may be more dangerous than true morels. They can also be more dense and harder to cook thoroughly.
Most mushroom species will cause an upset stomach if undercooked. Drying is an effective way of reducing both dangerous and uncomfortable compounds. It's suggested for morels out of an abundance of caution, but it is not a necessary step.
(Note that not all compounds are destroyed! "Magic mushrooms" are famously traded dry for example!)
The advise to add an additional preparation step also increases the chance someone will notice the wrong species hiding in their ingredients. Undesirable species can have overlapping habitats and climates so its not uncommon for a careless or ignorant forager to pick the wrong thing.
> some Gyromitra species may be more dangerous than true morels.
People have died from eating them; they contain a powerful liver poison. Even claiming they are 'called "morels"' is ridiculous and irresponsible.
> Note that not all compounds are destroyed!
Mushrooms, like all matter, is made of "compounds". Dehydration is typically used to remove the dreaded dihydrogen monoxide!
Despite many people such as you and I yelling at random hippies and hillbillies online, they continue to call everything "morels". Reread my comment again: it is true that people colloquially misname dangerous species. I cannot help this. I can only point this fact out.
Morels contain several volatile compounds which cause gastric distress. (Forgive me for not looking it up at the moment, but one of them is/was a compenent of rocket fuel, which teenage me loved.) They have to be thoroughly cooked to burn those off. Or else dried.
Specifically for soup - which is, arguably, their best use - most people won't saute morels long enough before adding liquid, so it's always best to use dried for that. Otherwise, standard, boring, dry-sautéed + butter until tender works great, and has never given me a hint of upset.
The instructor of your friend's mushroom course may have been giving maximally-cautious advice, rather than trying to communicate nuance to the general public. That's often a wise choice. :-)
PS. If you're at all interested in foraging mushrooms, buy a copy of All the Rain Promises and More, by David Aurora. (If you're elsewhere than North America, buy a local guide, too, but still get ARPM.) Aside from the mushroom content it's wonderfully entertaining.
> Forgive me for not looking it up at the moment, but one of them is/was a compenent of rocket fuel, which teenage me loved.
It's hydrazine.
That advice makes no sense but it is way easier to cook with dried mushrooms. Maybe that's where the folk wisdom came from. When you us mushrooms your goal is to remove as much mushroom juice as possible and replace it with fats oils etc. When you start off dried it's easier
It does make sense; the poisons in morels (and many other "edible" mushrooms) are highly volatile. Heating them in a pan drives off the harmful compounds; heating them more gently in a large volume of liquid captures the compounds.
There's a variety of mushroom that has killed in the US, but is reportedly sold in Scandinavian markets. My theory is that Scandinavian recipes specify pan-frying or drying them first, and the unlike USian skipped this step.
Is there a secret to mushroom hunting?
One secret is that the more you do it, the more you see mushrooms everywhere. You develop an aptitude for noticing fungus absolutely everywhere, and you'll wonder how you ever missed it.
Another is that you need to get a feel for the conditions your local edible species like. Mushrooms will appear most of the year where I live, but the worthwhile hunting times fall into fairly narrow bands in spring and fall, though prolonged rains and cooler weather in summer will rapidly generate huge stands of some species too. You kind of get a feel for it over time.
Finally, you need a good guide, ideally human at first and then a credible book that's ideally specific to your region to some degree. As an example, North America is a huge area to make a book for! They exist though, and they're still useful if you can't find anything more specific. British Columbia helpfully narrows it down, then Vancouver Island even further. Sometimes you'll find books specific to regions within your state like that, and that's the best in my experience. Look for a local mycology club and they'll have the best literature and guides on lock. They'll also probably welcome you out for some group hunting and guiding. These people are almost always extremely helpful, friendly, knowledgeable, and excited to have new members.
Like with fishing, making it about getting outside and enjoying nature rather than requiring each outing to be a huge success helps. At first you might get skunked pretty frequently and have no idea why. Over time you'll get a feel for things, find reliable stands of species you love, and get better at spotting what you're looking for.
>As an example, North America is a huge area to make a book for!
I think AI/LLM with RAG is the ideal solution for this mushroom hunting/foraging.
With mobile phone fine-tuning multi-modal app capability and NTN satellite connection to the cloud, you're loaded for the bear, err mushrooms.
Check this video on Golden Chanterelle mushrooms hunting in Santa Barbara, Southern California where one lb can cost around USD20-30. The guys managed to gathered around 80lb for the trip or about USD1600 minimum if sold [1].
[1] Mushroom Hunting Catch and Cook (80lbs Found!):
https://youtu.be/BH1Uc4_e718?si=x1KrdSg8Mfr32nr1
80lbs of fungus would take the fun out of being outside
what i could get behind is if this is used in a nice culinary experience thats unique to a region
like shiitake mushrooms
what about the canine guides
I often read about invasive species from a Western point of view and some of the most aggressive and hard to keep under control species come from Asia. Is the Asian ecosystem equally invaded by Western species? Are forests, gardens, or lakes in Asia overrun by European carp and grey oyster mushrooms? Or is there something about the environment and ecosystem in Asia that makes those species uniquely invasive and resistant?
For example the Japanese knotweed evolved to grow on the side of volcanoes and survive the occasional lava flow. It's a uniquely harsh environment which prepares it for thriving in any "gentle" garden in the world. But the mushrooms didn't evolve in any particularly bad environment, so why are these species outcompeting local ones? Why are they so fit for a new environment?
I know I have some selection and survivorship bias because I only know of the species that made it, not the ones which try to invade and fail so that's why I'm curious if this is a special situation, or more or less expected because a known percentage of species from any part of the world end up outcompeting local species from another.
I had a mushroom farm in Northern Michigan some years ago and we grew Golden Oysters, among other species. I think our winters are too cold for them to really establish themselves, but I was hearing reports of them 'going native' in Southern Michigan as long ago as 15 years.
Like the farmer in the article, I also wondered about the apparent lack of effort in growing native species. My area has a wonderful native oyster Pleurotus populinus; exceptional in taste compared to other oysters, but I have never heard of anyone cultivating them.
The reason they're growing the golden oysters is simple: they're prettier by far than gray, native oysters.
They both cook down to a boring beige, but package of yellow food will always outsell gray food.
They were a hot seller for us, but they had some notable downsides compared to other oyster varieties. Their self life in particular is quite short, and they tended to bruise black, which really kills the aesthetic value.
I've been thinking about farming in Michigan. If global warming takes off, we should have a nice environment and plenty of water to grow...
I just can't imagine doing agriculture in 2026. I have a masters in Mechanical Engineering and 2 decades of experience. It just seems like something for uneducated people.
Modern farming is much closer to science and engineering than most realize. Rowcropping in particular is heavily reliant on gps, soil chemistry, and genetics to put the right seed, in the right soil, with the right nutrients to maximize output.
One big reason I got out of mushroom farming was a great big mushroom 'factory' was set up not too far from me. They produced literal tons more than we could have ever dreamed, at a much lower cost. They are a highly technical, industrial enterprise. For a while one of their selling points was: 'mushrooms never touched by human hands', to emphasize how automated their system was. I felt like John Henry against the steam shovel.
Michigan already has a pretty great environment for agriculture. I used to always hear we were second only to California in terms of output. If current climate disruptions continue(we've had two "once in a lifetime" catastrophic ice storms just this past year in my area) I may searching for 'greener pastures' myself.
There are all kinds of degrees for farming
Why do you think that?
[dead]
2026 was already quite interesting and now I have marked “Unstoppable Carnivorous Mushroom” on my Bingo Card.
Wikipedia: "The Last of Us is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise created by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.[a] The series is set in a post-apocalyptic United States ravaged by cannibalistic humans infected by a mutated fungus in the genus Cordyceps."
I don't recall if The Triffids were delicious when fried in a little butter.
The larger picture is: we humans are fighting an oncoming tsunami (exponential fungal growth) with sandbags. And puny ones, at that.
It's the same with any invading species. Go pluck all the Japanese honeysuckle and knotweed (not the fault of the Japanese, BTW: we planted them!), kudzu, golden oysters, garlic mustard, invasive rose, and so on that you like. Smash all the spotted lanternflies in your entire city! Etc.
Those populations will barely hiccup, and then continue.
We have no real plan, maybe not even a real ability, to stop any of them. They are establishing themselves high up in native populations, largely due to lack of controlling pressures (generally a lack of predator/grazers, and parasites).
We're in a painful transition point, spurred on by human travel and long-range commerce (shipping by ground, sea, and air). Even if we began (somehow!) bio-filtering everything we shipped right now, it's too late.
There will eventually be a new balance, or at least a new temporary equilibrium. Unfortunately, a lot of things we like are going to be displaced or even extincted by the pressure of this rapid change, whether it's songbirds or oranges or a significant percentage of the human species.
I’ve enjoyed reading up and growing various mushrooms. They vary from tasty, medicinal, to deadly. Lions mane is a blast to grow and tastes pretty good, some say lobster, and you can cook them like steak. Plus they just look awesome. Supposedly has various health benefits too.
The scariest stories, beyond the usual “oops I ate a death cap,” to me are people growing oyster mushrooms and finding their house infested. Oyster mushrooms popping their heads out of every crack and nook in bathrooms, crawl spaces, and kitchens. Basically any crevice with moisture.
[]https://www.reddit.com/r/mushroomID/comments/rlozpo/these_gr...
[]https://old.reddit.com/r/microbiology/comments/lwpjas/theres...
TIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_citrinopileatus
The iNaturalist.org map tab could help you determine whether it has been found in your area. [0]
I was hoping it had not made it to Texas since it was reported mostly in the NE US but it looks like some people have started cultivating it here and it may have escaped cultivation sometime during the last few years.
Considering that it is an invasive fungus that is known to degrade all the natives in the area it should be no surprise that the questions about whether the fungus was found growing on a grow block are rarely or never answered in the Texas reports. This could be due to the questions being asked by researchers trying to identify spread mechanisms from posts that are several years old. The original poster may not respond either because they don't remember or they are not as active as they used to be.
I think there are 8 reports in the state today and at least one is obviously in a grow medium of sawdust. [1] The fact that people placed most of their sitings on parks instead of home gardens when more than one case clearly shows a residential setting may suggest that they are growing something that they know can escape but they would like others to think they found it in the wild so it isn't their problem.
I have a great natural environment for them with several live oak widowmakers standing dead for around 25 years. I have not seen any yellow mushrooms though, yet. I think the native mulch industry in Texas will probably be their main spread vector since hardwoods are mulched locally and sold all over the state. As far as I know there are fewer restrictions on mulch sales from infected areas than there are on firewood sales across county lines. I think mulch may incorrectly be classified as compost in this case where the assumption is that there has been large scale degradation sterilization of weed seeds, fungal spores, etc due to decomposition temperatures.
[0]https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/504060-Pleurotus-citrinopil...
[1]https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/163199817
The good news is that's edible and apparently tastes good.
The Himalayan Blackberry produces untold numbers of very large fruits and it's still so aggressive you have to ruthlessly clear it before it grows under your foundations and into your driveway and walls. It takes over every patch of ground it gets access to and it will send runners down 20 or 30 foot concrete walls from the top of the freeway. I once saw it grow a runner up to the top of a 40-foot tree and then back down to the ground 10 feet away. The thorns are so thick it will penetrate everything but duck cotton. I have to wear welding gloves when I'm clearing it because it can go right through gardening gloves. It is a hell plant sent to torment us for our hubris.
If you've ever bought or eaten "marionberry" this plant is where it grows.
Same with Kudzu, and apparently that's an unstoppable plant too
Kudzu's threat has been long overstated. It thrives especially near forest edgelands which are always visible on highways, so concern of prevalence was partially based on individual sampling error. In reality, its presence in southern forests is higher than desired but still not disastrous (~0.1% of southern forestland), which is a fraction of worse invasives: Japanese honeysuckle (4.4%) and Asian privet (1.4%).
Genuinely curious, source for this?
> ~0.1% of southern forestland), which is a fraction of worse invasives: Japanese honeysuckle (4.4%) and Asian privet (1.4%).
Sample size of 1 here (I know), but I've spent a meaningful portion of my life outdoors in the south and I have _never_ seen swaths of the landscape covered with Japanese Honeysuckle or Asian Privet like I have Kudzu. It absolutely dominates _everything_ in areas where it's present here (not surprising when it can grow up to a 1 foot (0.3 m) a day.)
Not trying to say you're incorrect, just trying to get a better handle on this. The thought that there are more destructive invasive plants in the US south than Kudzu is kind of blowing my mind.
You won't see swaths of honeysuckle or privet because it grows in the understory throughout the entire forest, choking out natives. Part of their destructive power is that they bloom earlier than most natives in spring, essentially stealing the available sunlight in those golden weeks before the overstory leafs out and reduces sunlight in the understory.
I guarantee you that if you've spent a meaningful portion of your life outdoors in the south you have seen Japanese Honeysuckle at the least, it is everywhere. But it's not a dramatic/easily identifiable shower like kudzu.
The data I'm citing is from my textbook for my Ohio Citizen Volunteer Naturalist program I did in the Fall semester, it cites the US Forest report but doesn't give a link. I think it's from this report [PDF warning]: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs178/gtr_srs178_3...
EDIT: Another good read (https://gardenrant.com/2023/10/kudzu-not-the-evil-creeper-we...) which links to a very popular article from the teens: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kud...
Thank you for this detailed reply. I really enjoy learning about this sort of thing, going to dig into those links later! Much appreciated!
Unstoppable until you acquire a bunch of goats.
But what if your goats become unstoppable?
You start an unstoppable business cleaning up dams and freeways of brush.
Then you have found the goat
Apply wolves!
If they became unstoppable, we'll need unstoppable humans! Wait~~
We must continue this chain until we reach unstoppable sapient topological "aberrations" in space-time with reversed arrows of time.
Christopher Nolan, is that you?
But what if the wolves become unstoppable?
We turn them into dogs.
Goatherd's pie.
I would say that it's more accurate to say that kudzu is not poisonous. I definitely would not say it tastes good. It's got that "green plant" taste that you get from just chomping on any ol' leaf you might find. I mean, if you're poor and starving you could maaaaaybe survive on Kudzu, but it will be rough, it's not very calorie dense, even for a leafy green. Goats won't even eat it unless there is literally nothing else to eat. This whole, "oh you, can eat kudzu!" thing is just crunchy-mom Instagram influencer bullshit.
You might want to tell the japanese and vietnamese that it doesn't taste good then, they seem to have been using it as food for quite a while now
The root, not the leaves.
Well it's lucky I didn't say anything about the leaves then
I’ve proposed that someone open a restaurant of invasive species. You could make some decent dishes with lionfish, blackberries, golden oyster mushrooms, venison, etc
Wonder if I'll be able to add a new entry to the list of "mushrooms that supposedly grow in my region but cannot be located within 100 sq miles of my home" soon.
I would have thought all the fungus had long ago traveled around the world? Don’t they move easily on the wind or on items shipped from place to place.
Wind is not a homogeneous movement, there are highways and slow lanes. Spores (as from fungi), pollen (from wind pollinators such as grasses) and dust-like seeds (e.g. from orchids) are ideal nucleation points for condensation. So when wind is forced up (because of changes in the terrain) these are the particles that get filtered out: either physically as precipitation or functionally by freezing.
For those interested, there have been a number of studies that put numbers on the action radius. When genetic manipulation of wind pollinators (e.g. wheat, corn and others grasses) came in vogue they needed to put a number on the dispersal of modified pollen.
Airplanes and cargo ships have removed all the geographic isolations this world once had.
Fungus, although exploratory, definitely prefer ideal environments (and inherently are co-operative, at least form a intra-species hyphae POV) — why would they attempt wandering across oceans/mountains/deserts (yes, certain fungi inhabit these niche environments).
Wonder if this will have the Wolf phenomena: Where wolf populations explode until there is no food left.
For the most part, these mushrooms eat dead trees, so
Here's one for "The last of us". The fungi will get us all.
In Interstellar as well, I think. The blight felt like a similar fungi.
At last, a story about an invasion of delicious aliens!
The author starts out depicting themselves as some sort of cloning scientist... and clearly not only isn't that, but isn't very informed on mushrooms.
Many, if not most, wood-decaying mushrooms (those that break down dead wood) rely on killing nematodes to supply nitrogen, which is otherwise short supply in their diet. They use adaptations that resemble glue pads, tripwire nooses, or even hydro-pumped harpoons to trap the "helpless nematodes" (oh, the humanity! Won't somebody think of the worms?). It's not rare; it just wasn't known until circa 2000. And it's not unique to the invading fungus; our native oysters were where this discovery was first made.
Spare me the "poor defenseless prey animal" BS, and tell me about the known or suspected ecological impact - the reduction in fungal diversity is relevant, at least.
You've put "helpless nematodes" in quotes despite the article literally not once saying that. It says:
> Oyster mushrooms also happen to be one of the few carnivorous mushrooms – preying mercilessly on nematode worms.
That's it. That's the one sentence related to the topic. You have imagined things to get mad about.
Silly aside, even New Zealand has exported an invasive species: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_flatworm
I tried to read TFA to learn about what's going on. It's an article about an invasive species of mushroom, right? I'd like to be informed.
The first sentence is:
"The razor blade of the newly unpacked surgical scalpel glints in the late Autumn light."
So I just immediately stopped reading.
This style of writing is exhausting and too common. It's an article about mushrooms, not a spy action thriller.
It feels like there had been some shift over the past decade that has been pushing / encouraging this style of writing, and I'm not sure what's caused it or what the solution is.
It's getting to the point that I'll need to use an LLM to summarize any article I care about to just extract the relevant info.
That would be particularly ironic if it was an LLM that generated the article.
i would peg it as “new yorker syndrome”. every story needs to have an e2e narrative mixed into the info dumping. fun to read but lots of time
> and I'm not sure what's caused it
Why aren't you?
The vast majority of writers at the end of the day write these stories to sell them. The old venues that sold advertising to places where you would read the stories you are talking about are long dead. Google, et al, have sucked up all that money making them a trillion dollars. Now anyone that wants to sell a story is left fighting for pennies on clickbait.
I was hoping the mushroom grew razor blades, but immediately disappointed.
Lovecraft himself couldn't have imagined such a horror.
We are constantly learning more about how utterly vital fungi are to all the various land ecosystems on the planet. I fear that we could see some ecosystems collapse due to the large and fast changes in their fungal makeup.
https://youtu.be/ZcJjMnHoIBI