Puff balls

paulcarr · #1 (**permalink**) 30-04-2010, 01:30 PM

So as my morel and st georges hunting is getting me nowhere how about puffballs? According to my books etc there should be some around at the moment but yet again I can find nothing! Is it too early or am I just looking in the wrong places? Help please! I am getting disillusioned with this fungi hunting game !

Ditiola · #2 (**permalink**) 30-04-2010, 02:42 PM

Paul
Most of the larger fungi do not stand up to dry weather very well although Morels seem to be one of the exceptions. Toadstools have not got the waxy cuticle that many plant leaves have or the same vascular water system as plants. This means that most tend not start to develop in very dry conditions and those that do will shrivel and dry if exposed to the sun and wind. When its very dry like the last few weeks, very few of the larger fungi will be found. Most of the puff-balls along with many other larger fungi peak in the autumn when conditions are not so dry, but some may also occur in the spring and summer if conditions remain damp for long enough. I am afraid
If you continue to search for, and expect to find the larger fungi in such dry weather you will continue to be disappointed. It will take a few weeks after plenty of rain for any of the larger fungi to appear if at all, following a prolonged dry spell. You may have some more success if you search on the underside of damp logs looking for the small ascomycete fungi. But always be sure to replace the log to the original position, so as not to disturb the environment for all the other organisms sharing the log.
Peter

PeteS · #3 (**permalink**) 30-04-2010, 11:21 PM

Peter is spot on here. I can remember the last dry spring - 2007 - and there was very little about then. However, when the rains eventually came in mid-May there was an explosion of summer fungi. In this game you have to be patient and if it was predictable/easy I'd be off doing something else.

Pete

PeteS · #4 (**permalink**) 01-05-2010, 07:24 PM

Handkea utriformis (I think) found today out and about in the New Forest while dodging showers.

paulcarr · #5 (**permalink**) 09-05-2010, 01:48 PM

I understand the logic in respect to larger fungi and dry weather but I have found plenty of large mushrooms, inkcaps I think, some 6-7 inches high in the last few weeks so it must be wet enough for other fungi? I am very new to this fungi hunting lark but in my mind if these fungi can grow then the smaller puffballs which according to my book could appear from April onwards could well be producing caps?