No pine mushrooms this year in NSW. Why?
Hi reader, this is for you, if you'd love to know more about where things are at with the pine mushroom season around Sydney.
Not good.
I have been taking friends and family out foraging for wild mushrooms since the turn of the century and running mushroom foraging workshops professionally for about 7 years, and let me tell you, this season is one of the most challenging ones I've ever seen.
We had a fair start in March when a drop in temperature and a little rain meant I could run a couple of workshops just in time for Easter. However we then had a record-breaking hot and dry April and the mushrooms just stopped appearing.
There has been very little rain these past two months, and at times there were a few mushrooms here and there, but until we get a proper soaking of rain the season will not restart.
Scouting the forest floor and coming back empty handed is part of the learning experience.
Don’t get disappointed, but rather use this to understand how precious the ones you find are when they come out.
I know people who pop into the forest every weekend, in hope for some but come back with not very many (if anything at all).
Wild mushrooms are so good that it's worth the drive, even if there is little chance to find anything.
2017 season was good and long. We had mushrooms from early March to early June
2016 season was short, with a burst in the second half of May and no much after that
2015 season was amazing, from early March to late May and beyond. April had buckets of them.
2018 season will be remembered as a scarce time for wild mushrooms around Sydney.
If you fancy a drive I suggest going down to Victoria, where they are having a good season or further south-west, in South Australia, where they are having an excellent season.
Please see below for a couple of tools you might want to use:
More information about mushrooms in Australia and ID services:
http://fungimap.org.au/: This is the work of several universities and it functions as a portal for the collection of citizen data. You send your images and report of sightings and they will tell you what it is (if it is known). Small fee to pay to become a member
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AustralianWildMushroomHunters/: fantastic folks with lots of knowledge, great for easy-to-identify mushrooms. Please be nice to the people there and do not be demanding as this is folks offering their knowledge for free, answering all sort of dumb questions from people who just start up.
http://mushroom-collecting.com/mushroomcollecting2.html: a good general reminder to be nice with nature. simple yet very important
https://www.thewildfoodhuntress.com.au/edible-mushrooms/ : Kate Grigg is one of the most respected mushrooms nerd in Australia. Based in Adelaide, she is in the process of putting together a list of the most common edible mushrooms in South East Australia.
If you want to get yourself a book I recommend to check out the bookstore here> Welcome to Fungimap Bookstore and support fungimap in the process.
The weather link I check all the times to assess the Highland situation is here: http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/flood/greatersydney.shtml
You want to keep an eye on Moss Vale or Bowral.
