On Oct 23, 11:28 am, "Michael Kuettner" > wrote:
> > schrieb> Michael Kuettner wrote:
> <snip>
> > I agree with you in general. But the only scientific study of
> > chanterelle harvest (the Oregon Mycological Society Chanterelle Study)
> > which has now been going on for the past 15+ years, suggests you
> > should PULL the chanterelle from the ground. This encourages -
> > slightly - more chanterelles in the future. Leaving much of the stem
> > in the duff encourages parasitic fungi such as Hypomyces to parasitize
> > the stem and the underground mycelium from which the stem arrises.
>
> You've misunderstood me.
> I always pick the whole chantarelle, including stem.
> But as they always grow in groups, I leave at least one chantarelle
> intact.
>
> > As for other mushrooms - please leave at least one or more mushroom
> > intact.
>
> Yep.
>
> > BTW, Dr. Eric Danell, who is one of the few people who has ever grown
> > chanterelles, has told me he has never been able to find spores on our
> > Cantharellus formosus or Western Golden chanterelle. So leaving a few
> > chanterelles is not necessarily going to encourage additional
> > chanterelle spores. How this species spreads is still a mystery.
>
> Yes. Our knowledge of mycelles and their symbiosis with certain
> trees is in its infancy.
> I do it the old fashioned way. Leave a few chantarelles on a good spot,
> you'll have chantarelles next year. Pick all and they're gone.
> Don't ask why it's so. It was trial and error for some centuries ...
>
> > Perhaps it requires ingestion from animals to help spread the spores,
> > like truffles.
>
> Might well be the case.
>
I apologize, Michael. It does sound as if you are knowledgeable about
chanterelles.

However, in my area (limited) I almost never find chanterelles in
clusters. There are sometimes one or two adjacent to each other, and
sometimes when pulling one I will find a baby one (which may or may
not mature later). I find many fungi in caespitose (multiple
individuals clumped together) clusters, but very rarely C. formosus. I
find up to several hundred C. neotubaeformis on the same rotting log,
though.

Daniel B. Wheeler