After two dry autumns, will the rain of recent months make 2024 a mushroom year? “We can hope so” according to Yves-François Pouchus, member of the mycological society of the West, guest of France Bleu Loire Océanthis Thursday morning.
“Everything comes together so that we have a nice growth of mushrooms”
We had water, which is good for the mushrooms, but didn’t we have too much water? “No, everything comes together so that, for us to have a nice growth of mushrooms. The undergrowth, for them to be really soggy, you need a lot, a lot, a lot of rain. Because the water is eliminated and sent back into the sky by the trees, by all the vegetation. And so it’s much less humid in the undergrowth than what you could have in the next field.”
“More patience for the porcini mushrooms”
Is this rain good for all the mushrooms? “We are nearing the end for the chanterelles, it is a summer mushroom. So, there were some this summer. And now, we are waiting for the porcini mushrooms which should come out. So there, there is perhaps still a a little early, but, within a few days, a few weeks, we should have, I hope, porcini mushrooms.”
With climate change, is there a change in the types of mushrooms we find in our country? “It is certain that the climate affects the emergence of mushrooms and that we risk seeing species appear here that we only saw in the south of France. Like the bloodthirsty ones that we are already seeing a a little bit in Vendée.”
Distrust of applications to recognize mushrooms
The risk with mushrooms is making a mistake, picking those that are not edible. There have already been 400 poisonings since July 1 in France. To recognize them, can we rely on the applications that we now find on mobile phones? “The applications work very well for plants with plante.net, it’s remarkable. But, for mushrooms, it’s not yet ready. As it’s based on a user database, I think that comes from there. In any case, for mushrooms, it sometimes gives you completely eccentric identifications and it’s even dangerous.”
