Learn to pick mushrooms correctly without harming nature
Mushrooms grow in deciduous forests. The mycelium develops on the trunk of trees. What people used to call a mushroom is actually its fruiting body. The mushroom itself is underground, at a depth of more than 20 cm. This is the center of the mycelium. It looks like a potato tuber, but soft to the touch. The color of the center of the mycelium depends on the variety of the mushroom. The white truffle has a creamy mushroom, the champignons have a brown one.
From the center of the mycelium leaves the mycelium - threads that spread over a distance of 30 cm.The area of an adult mycelium is from 10 cm2 up to 15 cm2 depending on the type of mushroom.
The mycelium forms the fruit body in order to grow spores, which ripen one and a half months after the appearance of the aerial part of the fungus.
Collect mushrooms in several ways. Some mushroom pickers cut off the fruit body with a knife, others twist it entirely out of the ground. In the Russian language there is a persistent expression "to break mushrooms". It appeared because in the 16th century, people picked mushrooms by breaking them off by hand.
According to popular belief, it was considered bad form to take all the mushrooms from the forest, supposedly it would bring bad luck, and the next time they went to the forest, mushroom pickers would only find poisonous mushrooms.
Read also the article in the topic: mushrooms are false and edible (photo) - how to distinguish?
Cutting mushrooms
Supporters of cutting mushrooms argue that it is impossible to twist the fruit body out of the ground. Then the filaments of the mycelium are damaged, and there will be fewer mushrooms in the clearing. In fact, damaging the mycelium is even beneficial for humans. When the filaments are damaged, the center of the mycelium triggers a defense reaction and forms more fruiting bodies with spores.
There are more mushrooms in those places where anthropogenic work was carried out:
- a fire ditch was dug;
- the soil is loosened;
- logging was carried out.
After cutting, up to half of the fruit leg may remain in the ground, which will rot over time.
Picking edible mushrooms off busy roads where cars are not allowed. Fruit bodies absorb exhaust gases very well, so you are guaranteed to get poisoned with such mushrooms.
Twisting the fruiting body
Other mushroom pickers believe that, due to rotting, the mycelium can become infected with pathogenic bacteria and dangerous mold. This is a misconception. Most of the mushrooms rots entirely, but the next year the mycelium forms a large number of fruiting bodies that are safe for humans.
Collect mushrooms the way you like. In any case, you will not harm the mycelium. It is imperative to cut off only poisonous mushrooms so that their mycelium does not trigger a protective reaction and does not grow. The fruiting body of the poisonous mushroom is burned after harvest.