# Ruckersville, Va Oyster &amp; Hedgehog in season



## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Been picking Oyster and Hedgehog mushrooms the past four weeks.


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## trailwalkerjulie (Oct 19, 2012)

wtg jamil!!!! post some pix? i am in ohio and have NEVER found a hedgehog!!


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Greetings Julie,
Thanks for the heads up. Lost my iPhone the day I placed the message on the board, thought I lost all, till your request. It looks like all were saved on iCloud. Now there is nothing that tops the images you post regularly during this year, I wonder if Ohio has the Amazon Tundra, because of the variety, beauty and size of the mushrooms you showed us. Now, without bothering our Admin. Jack, could you tell me how to upload the images. I will follow up with your request quickly. 
The trick with Hedgehog is their season, which coincides with no leaves on the hardwood, hence they are tough to find and usually referred to as a gem of mushrooms. I use light blower or light racking while searching for them. They can take cold weather very well and it takes them 3 to 4 weeks to get to its full size. Large ones get slightly bitter while young ones you can eat raw....given you did the correct identification. They are delicious... 
Show me the ropes to upload and I can share another found mushroom for this cold weather we are in Ruckersville, VA namely the Hypholoma Capnoides growing now on ground under conifer and decomposing pine cut two years ago.


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## trailwalkerjulie (Oct 19, 2012)

Jamil- the only way i know of to post pix is on my iphone. First i have to upload to photo bucket, file it in the right album, view the photo, and on the right hand side is displayed the htlm code, and those other codes. So i copy and paste the code in this reply box


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## trailwalkerjulie (Oct 19, 2012)

Jamil- i guess my photo instructions werent any help? Sorry! I only have my cell phone


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Julie,
I just got on my photo bucket successfully and copied the HTML address and was able to send it to my self...let us try this one and I will start load the rest:


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Okay, it looks I should get busy..


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## trailwalkerjulie (Oct 19, 2012)

Jamil-i cant wait to see!!


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

One more time: 
This year’s Chicken of the Wood, Beefsteak mushroom, oldy Birch Polypore “Piptoporus Betulinus” and Lobster mushroom:


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Hypholoma Capnoides growing off Virginia pine logs cut after 2010 storm…they are good eating and like Oyster and Hedgehog mushrooms can stretch the hunt well into the cold weather of December.
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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Ruckersville Va: Last of the Hedgehog mushrooms found, will load some good specimens picked in November and early October:
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Oysters Mushroom progression taken at three different spots:
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## trailwalkerjulie (Oct 19, 2012)

Great photos jamil!! Thank you for sharing! I especially like the lobsters and the beefsteak! Looks like a tongue! And i didnt realize anything exciting happens on pine wood!


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Julie, 
Yes it is also known as Ox Tongue mushroom, it is delicious...one mushroom that comes with natural lemon flavor. This year we found another stump to collect from next year. As far as the pine logs, there is another species of the Hypholoma that grows on hardwood logs called Red Brick "Hypholoma sublateritium" which is the cap color, but it is bitter...in either case it should only be picked as long as it is properly identified from multiple reference. The big give away for its identification, since both look very much alike at later stages, is the type of logs they grow on in clusters. If conifer log, then this is one Check Mark for me. This is the first year I cooked them, last year they where all over the pine sod, where 14 Virginia Pine tree branches went through a chipper and deposited.
Today we picked the two spots Oyster Mushrooms....the camera date is two days off and now fixed:

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## trailwalkerjulie (Oct 19, 2012)

jamil-WOW! those are glorious oysters!!! perfect condition too!! thanks for the info on the pine logs!! how did you find your first hedgehog? by accident? or you headed into the woods with the gas leaf blower and just started blowing?lol! no, really, how did you figure out which trees had the hedgehogs? and what kind of mesh container to you use?


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## trailwalkerjulie (Oct 19, 2012)

jamil- what is the first pix you posted? its a bright yellow stalk


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

July,
I would tend to agree with you, since it is the surprise of accidental finds in the woods that keeps us there when we have free time. I think taking daily walks with random paths helps a lot in stumbling on new spots for different mushroom species in a particular season. For instance where I pick Hedgehog, I never pick the Black Trumpets, but I do pick Chanterelles. There are few pine trees but mostly Oak, Beech, Maple and Poplar trees. The first Hedgehog was pretty large specimen at the foot of small Maple tree with surrounding oak trees (I will post photo later), but then it was early October where all the leaves were still hanging up there…there was another younger specimen that I left for almost two weeks before picking, it felt like eternity. The 3rd find was the largest and pushed through the leaves canopy, and from there on, you would have done the same… tooling for the hunt. I have not been able to pin them down to any particular tree...I picked them at the foot of large oak or that of maple as well as in between adjacent trees..
The mesh is a Laundry Container from TJ Max or JcPenny, do not remember..
The first Yellow club –like mushroom is my biggest mystery… I though for a while it is the sweet desert mushroom Flat Top, or the Clavariadelphus truncatus, but the flesh and color is so much like Chanterelles and white fibrous flesh inside. Frankly I did not confirm what it was and would love to hear its identification.


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Julie, Sorry about the "July"...sleepy user error of a spell checkers


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Here is a giant mushroom, courtesy of my fiend Lenny. It is an amazing radar mushroom!

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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

todays find is in Schenectady New York for the very first two images of a dead hardwood and they might be the hardwood Hypholoma sublateritium, did not pick, but the gills are whitish..so I'm not sure. The rest shows a Praying Mantis feeding on the bugs of a Hedgehog mushroom....or that's what I would love to believe...Merry Christmas everyone 


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Walking the woods yesterday...found this old Green-headed Jelly Club "leotia viscosa"...


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

This is the weekend to look for them... Ideal conditions. Happy shrooming.


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Four our hike between altitudes 2500ft and 3010ft, temperatures between 39f and 45f .. ...no leaves on the trees what so ever and that tends to make you spot very easily Birch bracket fungi "Piptoporus betulinus". But no Morels at these altitudes yet.....I do not believe there is a fungus Morels, it is not real and it is a rubberized figure that some folks buy and place in the woods for photo opt. TRUST ME....  

Do try to slice the Birch polypore and boil it....squeeze a quarter lemon and sweeten it and drink.....delicious. 
Do not give up....the quest to find the elusive Morels will continue tomorrow...


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Four our hike between altitudes 2500ft and 3010ft, temperatures between 39f and 45f .. ...no leaves on the trees what so ever and that tends to make you spot very easily Birch bracket fungi "Piptoporus betulinus". Also was able to find wood ears mushrooms "Auricularia auricula-judae". will post pictures. But no Morels at these altitudes yet.....I do not believe there is a fungus Morels, it is not real and it is a rubberized figure that some folks buy and place in the woods for photo opt. TRUST ME....  

Do try to slice the Birch polypore and boil it....squeeze a quarter lemon and sweeten it and drink.....delicious. 
Do not give up....the quest to find the elusive Morels will continue tomorrow...


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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

This is long over due answer that should close 2012 season and open the door for the 2013 seaon. The yellow stalk above is to the best of my search is <em>"Clavaiadelphus Truncatus"</em>. It is edible and supposed to taste sweet, one of the few mushrooms that are considered a desert mushroom. I welcome other's comments.

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## jamil (Nov 26, 2012)

Merry Christmas all. Oyster mushroom winter season is here along with the continued search for Chaga over the holidays in the North East...


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