Whats up with all these mushroom poisionings?

[nzoomed]

Second time this has happened.

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/04/17/mum-w...lia-named/

[king1]

Welcome, come on in, we look after your wellbeing here in very creative ways, just sign here. Now, try some of our mushroom soup, it's delicious and opens your soul to our teachings - gulp, thud...

[harm_less]

Between the cost of living crisis, natural diet fads and so many people trusting what they see online without due diligence it's not surprising a few 'enthusiasts' get it wrong.

Terry Pratchett — 'All Fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.'

[Lilith7]

Its enough to put anyone off mushrooms altogether. Clearly someone didn't know which are safe to use.

I think I read somewhere that in France, any pharmacy will check mushrooms for people - seems like a good idea.

[harm_less]

Its enough to put anyone off mushrooms altogether. Clearly someone didn't know which are safe to use.

I think I read somewhere that in France, any pharmacy will check mushrooms for people - seems like a good idea.

There are resources available to check the edibility of foraged mushrooms. It's more a case of so many people now having lost their ability to be responsible for their own actions.

Wild mushrooms are a wonderful way to appreciate our own environment and little different from harvesting the wide range of plants available on our own doorsteps. We found good quantities of Tawaka mushrooms sprouting from a stand of Poplars on our property last Autumn. We did due diligence including from a fungi expert via the iNaturalist website and were rewarded with some very tasty meals as a result. Plenty of advice to avoid from those largely ignorant of mushroom foraging, and one friend who advised us to tether ourselves to a heavy piece of furniture prior to tasting, which said more about a mis-spent youth in her case than any real fungi knowledge

[Zurdo]

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Slicing up my little buttons tonight I did make sure they were all those generic wee things...

[nzoomed]

Its enough to put anyone off mushrooms altogether. Clearly someone didn't know which are safe to use.

I think I read somewhere that in France, any pharmacy will check mushrooms for people - seems like a good idea.

There are resources available to check the edibility of foraged mushrooms. It's more a case of so many people now having lost their ability to be responsible for their own actions.

Wild mushrooms are a wonderful way to appreciate our own environment and little different from harvesting the wide range of plants available on our own doorsteps. We found good quantities of Tawaka mushrooms sprouting from a stand of Poplars on our property last Autumn. We did due diligence including from a fungi expert via the iNaturalist website and were rewarded with some very tasty meals as a result. Plenty of advice to avoid from those largely ignorant of mushroom foraging, and one friend who advised us to tether ourselves to a heavy piece of furniture prior to tasting, which said more about a mis-spent youth in her case than any real fungi knowledge

What's really scary is there is very little knowledge about the toxicity and compounds found in many mushrooms. Apparently we only have an understanding on the most common types and is an ever increasing field of research. 
I sent some samples of field mushrooms up to mushroom gourmet once and he paid me for the trouble!

[Zurdo]

Fungus, the 3rd kingdom - without them all life, animal and plant, wouldn't be able to function. They are very important on this planet.

An early Piers Anthony trilogy was about sentient fungi.

[nzoomed]

Some experts day the mycelium from fungi can allow plants to communicate with each other, but I don't know how accurate that is. What I do know is it's vital to proper soil health.

[harm_less]

Some experts day the mycelium from fungi can allow plants to communicate with each other, but I don't know how accurate that is. What I do know is it's vital to proper soil health.

Fungi are essential in soil biological function and its physical structure. I heard it claimed there are kilometres of hyphae in just a teaspoon of biologically healthy soil and these fungal strands serve as extensions to plant roots acting in a symbiotic relationship to allow plants to access far more water and nutrients than they are otherwise able to.

The mushrooms and toadstools we see are just the reproductive organs ('flowers') on a far larger organism. For this reason good observation of the environment from which you're harvesting mushrooms provides valuable information on what the fungi are living in symbiosis with in order to accurately identify them.

[nzoomed]

Some experts day the mycelium from fungi can allow plants to communicate with each other, but I don't know how accurate that is. What I do know is it's vital to proper soil health.

Fungi are essential in soil biological function and its physical structure. I heard it claimed there are kilometres of hyphae in just a teaspoon of biologically healthy soil and these fungal strands serve as extensions to plant roots acting in a symbiotic relationship to allow plants to access far more water and nutrients than they are otherwise able to.

The mushrooms and toadstools we see are just the reproductive organs ('flowers') on a far larger organism. For this reason good observation of the environment from which you're harvesting mushrooms provides valuable information on what the fungi are living in symbiosis with in order to accurately identify them.

Yes a classic example of this is seeing red amnitas under pine trees, they have a symbiotic relationship, as you say to transport nutrients into their root systems.

[harm_less]

Fungi are essential in soil biological function and its physical structure. I heard it claimed there are kilometres of hyphae in just a teaspoon of biologically healthy soil and these fungal strands serve as extensions to plant roots acting in a symbiotic relationship to allow plants to access far more water and nutrients than they are otherwise able to.

The mushrooms and toadstools we see are just the reproductive organs ('flowers') on a far larger organism. For this reason good observation of the environment from which you're harvesting mushrooms provides valuable information on what the fungi are living in symbiosis with in order to accurately identify them.

Yes a classic example of this is seeing red amnitas under pine trees, they have a symbiotic relationship, as you say to transport nutrients into their root systems.

Forested areas have a highly fungally dominant soil biome, as opposed to grassland or herbal soils in which bacteria dominate. The epitome of fungal dominance is in the boreal forests of the Northern hemisphere which are a crucial component of Earth's carbon cycle.

A demonstration of the reliance of forests on soil fungi is that the first planting of coniferous forests (on previously grazed land) is usually slow to progress whereas a previously forested area that is replanted grows faster as the soil has remaining fungi from the previous crop and so the symbiotic benefits are already established.

[nzoomed]

Yeah that makes alot of sense.
I noticed a huge difference after adding mulch to my garden.
It's full of mycelium and mushrooms of all kinds are popping up everywhere, must be doing something beneficial.