# Plastic bags, mesh bags and the myth



## Blutters

So I'm not buying the myth of spreading spores with mesh bags. I'm saying it doesn't happen, and the nature of morel growth directly contradicts this theory. Can anybody offer any proof this method has worked? Not anecdotal evidence, but legit proof? 
If it was possible wouldn't someone figure out how to grow morels industrially?


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## Already Gone

Blutters said:


> So I'm not buying the myth of spreading spores with mesh bags. I'm saying it doesn't happen, and the nature of morel growth directly contradicts this theory. Can anybody offer any proof this method has worked? Not anecdotal evidence, but legit proof?
> If it was possible wouldn't someone figure out how to grow morels industrially?


Many of us have been doing this long enough to see areas go sterile. 
We have also seen spore prints under morels cut hours before.
Why not error on the side of conservancy? Do you also deny climate change?


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## Already Gone

Let's just end this right here. I took this picture of the newspaper a friend had laid out for his haul. Fresh haul. Plastic bags. They laid flat for an hour at the most.







Did any of these spores miss out on their opportunity to feed us?


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## Zabz




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## MycoMania

Already Gone said:


> Let's just end this right here. I took this picture of the newspaper a friend had laid out for his haul. Fresh haul. Plastic bags. They laid flat for an hour at the most.
> View attachment 5975
> Did any of these spores miss out on their opportunity to feed us?


 Only if you didn't toss em outside!


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## Old Elm

Already Gone said:


> Many of us have been doing this long enough to see areas go sterile.
> We have also seen spore prints under morels cut hours before.
> Why not error on the side of conservancy? Do you also deny climate change?[/QUOTE
> 
> Areas going sterile as you say has nothing to do with spore avaiblity, but rather if there are host trees in the right condition to feed the mycelium. Once a host tree is dying/dead they only produce for a limited time, and then they can no longer host.
> Not sure how climate change got into the bag conversation.
> ✌ Peace all.


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## Boiled Owl Eye

Already Gone said:


> Let's just end this right here. I took this picture of the newspaper a friend had laid out for his haul. Fresh haul. Plastic bags. They laid flat for an hour at the most.
> View attachment 5975
> Did any of these spores miss out on their opportunity to feed us?


Hmmmm. Seems kinda grandious to say the “ spores missed an opportunity to feed us” Pretty sure the spores aren’t really here for us.


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## Caroo

I learned mushroom hunting from PhD professors, and they could talk to you for days about the benefits of spores being dropped at the site of pickings


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## MycoMania

What I was told was by the time they're decent (3-5 inches)size a majority of the spores have been released. Container type matters mostly for keeping mushrooms in good condition. We're talking about something a few microns in size, all it takes is one good wind to sweep them into the upper atmosphere and to parts unknown.

It doesn't matter if the spores end up in your garbage..eventually they will end up somewhere the atmosphere can do it's thing with them. One mushroom can produce several million spores, and perhaps one will land somewhere where it has a small chance to establish itself.

When we look at those odds and think about how many are picked, and try to imagine how many are left unpicked every year simply due to law of averages perhaps we are looking at this on too micro of a scale. Our impact on things is most likely far less than we perceive it to be.

One misconception I will address is this. The spores aren't producing mushrooms. They're producing mycelium which produce the mushrooms. A mycelium will take years to get established and requires a dying host to fruit. We are hunting subterranean upside down apple trees whose apples only appear when the host is giving off stress hormones signalling the mycelium it needs to try to "migrate" away to a healthy host.

Sorry for the short novel. Not trying to fan the flames, I've seen this discussion every year and it tends to get heated. More of an effort to put peoples minds at ease. IMO the real problem is picking them too small or the indiscriminate facebook hordes who go out and trample the woods down the minute someone posts a pic of something that looks like a booger I flicked on the forest floor.


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## Already Gone

I liken this discussion to climate change discussion for one reason:
Science denial.
The facts are simple. With all other factors constant, _more spores_ distributed _in the right areas_ will grow _more mushrooms_.
Dutch elm has been around for over 80 years and has taken it's toll, yet elm trees still abound in some areas. The number of nests don't change a thing if there are no eggs in them. Spores are not omnipresent.


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## deleted

I prefer doggy bags. if you dont find any shrooms...you still have a tasty treat..lmao


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## Old Elm

vern said:


> I prefer doggy bags. if you dont find any shrooms...you still have a tasty treat..lmao


 Seems we always get an expert to take the bait in the annual bag debate ! Ha Ha
Ha Ha
Vern your doggie bag idea is a first though & I think it's awesome.
THX'z for the laugh.


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## Already Gone

MycoMania said:


> When we look at those odds and think about how many are picked, and try to imagine how many are left unpicked every year simply due to law of averages perhaps we are looking at this on too micro of a scale. Our impact on things is most likely far less than we perceive it to be.
> 
> *You do not know the areas we hunt. They get picked over thoroughly and repeatedly by bag draggin' stump thumpers. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 million people reside within 50 miles of most of my spots. Few remain to rot.*
> 
> One misconception I will address is this. The spores aren't producing mushrooms. They're producing mycelium which produce the mushrooms. A mycelium will take years to get established and requires a dying host to fruit.
> 
> *Gee, thanks! Who knew?*


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## Already Gone

I am no expert. I am no fool either. 
I heard the drag squealin' as soon as i hit send.
*This conversation should be had every spring. Loudly.*
Your shrooms come home fresher, cleaner, and fewer spores are wasted. Why would one not error on the side of conservancy? Is there a plastic bag lobby? Tell me why your way is better, would ya?


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## MycoMania

Already Gone said:


> I liken this discussion to climate change discussion for one reason:
> Science denial.
> The facts are simple. With all other factors constant, _more spores_ distributed _in the right areas_ will grow _more mushrooms_.
> Dutch elm has been around for over 80 years and has taken it's toll, yet elm trees still abound in some areas. The number of nests don't change a thing if there are no eggs in them. Spores are not omnipresent.


#1 I use mesh so Id be part of the Political Action Council for Mesh Manufacturers.

#2 What are the right areas? Scientists can't even agree. The assumption Elms are the only hosts is false. My biggest flush ever was found around a lightning struck cottonwood. As Emerald Ash Borers grow more prevalant we will see a lot more ASh-centric flushes.

Even with a mesh bag those spores are at the mercy of factors beyond our control. If you think they just drop to the ground and take root like a seed youre mistaken.

My comment inr egards to them sprouting mycelium not mushrooms is I always see the assertion-
"mushrooms grew right where I sprinkled spores as I walked the next year."

which is ludicrous with morels.

Furthermore, Fungi in general are far more resilient than you give credit. The one Kingdom of life on the planet we as humans could never successfully wipe out even if we tried.

#3- If it was such a huge deal the morel would have been wiped out decades ago. For a long time plastic bags and 5 gallon pails were the go to.

#4- Your areas might get hit extremely hard, but there are millions of acres that never see a human footprint in the course of a year, do you think no morels grow there? The point is, spores from thousands of miles away can colonize trees in your neighborhood.

#5- If you want to talk conservancy, try to educate people to leave smaller mushrooms behind. As the mushroom ages less and less spore is viable much like sperm in mammals. Even then, our impact is laughable. Picking the mushrooms is doing the creature a favor, whether youre putting them in plastic, glass, or shoving them up your butt. Those spores will survive almost anything.

This is as silly a debate as cutting vs. pulling. 

#6- No reason to be salty or snide. I should have done what I do every year when I see this debate and realize it's not worth the time to reply.


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## Already Gone

MycoMania said:


> #1 I use mesh


Why? Please explain.


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## MycoMania

I go through a lot of very thick growth hunting, it stands up better than plastic, dissipates heat/moisture better, and is way easier to handle than a basket on long treks.

I do applaud your passion by the way, but another thing to be more concerned about from a conservancy standpoint is educating the facebook locust horde to stay out of the damn woods until the things are bigger than a pinhead. Destroying them before they have a chance to release any spores at all is a greater danger than anything else. But it still doesn't amount to a species threatening thing.


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## redfred

Blutters said:


> So I'm not buying the myth of spreading spores with mesh bags. I'm saying it doesn't happen, and the nature of morel growth directly contradicts this theory. Can anybody offer any proof this method has worked? Not anecdotal evidence, but legit proof?
> If it was possible wouldn't someone figure out how to grow morels industrially?


ok there is no direct proof... and some will claim they can " grow" morels... what do you think ????? I want to say i don't want to get in to this but here i be ..i like what i hear from both sides and i like the idea of debate and it should be every year.. if we took this process to Washington and treated each other with respect and the feeling that we all may learn something..... never mind ....we are all screwed.... have a nice day.....


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