Map of mushroom places in the Moscow region. Mushroom picking

Mushroom hunting in the Moscow region usually begins in July and ends at the end of September. In the Moscow region there are the most different mushrooms- from ordinary moss mushrooms to milk mushrooms. It's just not so easy to find them. As mushroom pickers say, you need to know the places.

Leningrad direction

To the north and south of Pokrovka station there are porcini mushrooms, boletus mushrooms and chanterelles. Near the Firsanovka and Frolovskoye stations, mushrooms can be found right along the railway track, from which, of course, it is better to move a little to the side for 1-2 kilometers. The same applies to the Berezki Dachnye station. From the station, move west to the Istra Reservoir or east to the village of Terehovo. There you can collect a good mushroom harvest. If you get off at a station called Golovkovo and move north to the village of Ermakovo, then the basket will definitely not remain empty. In the area of ​​Podrezkovo station, on the right bank of the Skhodnya River, there are also mushroom places.

Riga direction

The forests near the Yadroshino and Rumyantsevo stations are favored by porcini mushrooms, boletuses and honey mushrooms. The area near Opalikha station is also rich in all kinds of mushrooms. Only to these places you will have to walk 2-3 kilometers to the south. From Lesodolgorukovo station to the mushrooms you need to walk almost the same distance, but not to the south, but to the north.

Yaroslavl direction

If you move from Sofrino station to the village of Novovoronino, then after 3 kilometers you can find a lot of honey mushrooms, as well as russula and chanterelles. These same mushrooms should be hunted near the Semkhoz station, moving 2-3 kilometers away from the railway track in any direction. The same can be safely said about the Pravda and Ashukinskaya stations. There are a lot of mushrooms in the area of ​​the Yaroslavl highway. It is better to stop at the 76th kilometer station, go to the highway and move along it to the Gremyachy waterfall. The forests located near the village of Sharapovo will also delight you with porcini mushrooms.

Savelovskoe direction

Not far from the Morozki, Lugovaya and Turist stations there are porcini mushrooms, boletuses, chanterelles and boletus. From Lobnya station you will have to walk about three kilometers east to the Pyalovsky reservoir. And from Nekrasovskaya it’s a stone’s throw to the mushrooms – just a kilometer along the road to the village of Ozeretskoye. Two kilometers west of the stations Katuar, Vlasovo and Iksha there are also many mushroom places.

Paveletskaya direction

A wonderful mushroom place of the Paveletsky direction is located near the Belye Stolby station. You only need to walk about 3-4 kilometers in a western direction. There are honey mushrooms, aspen boletuses, boletus mushrooms and porcini mushrooms. You can pick mushrooms near the railway tracks near the stations Velyaminovo, Zhilevo, Privalovo, Stupino and Mikhnevo.

Belarusian direction

These places are proud of boletus, boletus and porcini mushrooms. From Sushkinskaya station to Portnovskaya station there is a forest rich in mushrooms, so you can choose any stop on this section. In the southwest near Khlyupino station you can get hold of chanterelles. And if you go to the Petelino station and, having got off at it, move towards the Petelino poultry farm, you can collect a fair amount of honey mushrooms.

In Russia, mushroom picking is almost a national species sports According to statistics, every third resident of our country goes out into the forest with a basket in the fall. But if before the revolution in Russia there were up to 40 kg of mushrooms per capita per year, today it is only 3 kg. Why?

Looking in the wrong place!

Mushrooms (especially high nutritional value- white, boletus, boletus) are not so easy to find in the forest. A lucky few get a full basket of boletus; most come out of the forest with russulas and pigs.

“The main thing in a “quiet hunt” is to know the mushroom places,” says Vera Mokeeva, candidate biological sciences, Researcher Department of Mycology and Alcology, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University - Mushrooms reproduce using spores, which, when they fall into favorable conditions, form a mycelium. New mushrooms subsequently grow from it. Such myceliums persist in the soil for quite a long time, so experienced mushroom pickers remember the place where they once reaped a rich harvest, periodically visit there and do not tell anyone about the “place of mushroom power.”

How to find a mushroom place?

There is no point in looking for mushrooms in thick grass and forest thickets. They usually grow in clearings, sunny meadows and forest edges, in moist but not soggy soil. Some types of fungi - mycorrhiza-formers - are closely associated with the root system of certain tree species (boletus, boletus), others - xylotrophs - with living or dead wood (honey mushrooms, oyster mushrooms) - and the older the tree, the greater the likelihood of finding mycelium under or on it .

It is known that the mushroom yield is not constant. The fertility of mycelium depends on the weather. If the summer was hot and dry, there will be few mushrooms in the fall. Moderately warm and in moderation rainy summer promises a rich mushroom harvest.

Take valuable ones

A mycelium is a sponge that absorbs all the nastiness from the environment.

"Most edible mushrooms the mycelium is located near the soil surface and absorbs a large number of moisture from the environment, explains Candidate of Pharmaceutical Sciences Igor Sokolsky. “If the soil is contaminated with water-soluble xenobiotics, they easily penetrate the mushrooms and can accumulate in quantities that render edible mushrooms inedible.”

Autumn mushrooms are the safest and healthiest. The mycelium “gives out” all the accumulated negativity with the first harvest, later autumn mushrooms you can safely collect. They are the safest. Exceptions are mushrooms collected along highways, railroad tracks, landfills, landfills, etc. Eating them is extremely dangerous.

Another important mushroom nuance is edibility. Unlike other products, mushrooms are conditionally edible. By the way, this term has taken root exclusively in our country. All over the world, sow mushrooms, volushki, russula, lacticaria, morels, milk mushrooms, rows (and other mushrooms that have a poisonous or acrid taste in their raw form) are considered inedible.

— Toxins conditionally edible mushrooms are resistant to heat treatment (that is, neither frying nor boiling can neutralize them), explains Elena Tereshina, Doctor of Biological Sciences, - you can eat them (if you really want to) only in salted form and exclusively in “ at a young age"(that is, rotten wormy mushrooms- overgrown plants should be left in the forest “bed”).

Mushrooms of the first and second nutritional value - porcini, boletus, boletus, saffron milk caps, chanterelles - are not only tasty, but also extremely nutritious product. They are rich in vegetable protein (dishes made from them are recommended for fasting), carbohydrates and minerals.

Moderation and caution

Mushrooms are considered “heavy food”. Mushroom protein is enclosed in chiton shells, which are not affected by gastric juice, so their dietary fiber is practically not digested, through gastrointestinal tract pass through and impede the digestion process.

An abundance of mushrooms on the table is fraught with eating disorders and indigestion.

To get the maximum benefit from mushrooms, begin processing them immediately after collection (the contents are biologically active substances higher in freshly picked mushrooms than in stale ones). Remember that young mushrooms are more nutritious and healthier than old ones, and the caps are more nutritious than the stems.

Most useful way mushroom preparations - drying. When drying, moisture is lost, but the nutritional value increases. Mushrooms are best digested in crushed form - prepare mushroom powder by grinding dried mushrooms in a coffee grinder or mill.

Get treatment for your health

The medicinal properties of mushrooms are no less known than the recipes. Mushroom decoctions, tinctures and powders have been present in the arsenal of doctors since time immemorial. Chronicles indicate that Vladimir Monomakh treated with a decoction of chaga for a tumor lower lip. Mushrooms were also used by personal healers Empress Catherine II And Alexandra Fedorovna. Even before the revolution, about 50 species of mushrooms were considered medicinal.

Nowadays, a whole direction has emerged - fungotherapy (mushroom treatment). It is based on a solid evidence base. Penicillin, which saved millions of lives, was isolated from molds. After this discovery, it became clear that many fungi have antibiotic activity. The antibiotic agaridoxin, which acts on many pathogens, was obtained from the meadow champignon. The antibiotics drosophyllin, nemotin, biformin, and polyporin were also obtained from fungi. More recent studies have shown that mushrooms can regulate blood pressure and reduce cholesterol and blood sugar.

The discovery of the antitumor effect of mushrooms was a real sensation. Scientists discovered this property in the last century, drawing attention to residents of several Japanese villages in which there was not a single case of cancer. It turned out that the basis of the diet of their inhabitants is mushrooms. Today, the antitumor effect of mushrooms is being actively studied, but what biological compounds of mushrooms have such an effect is not yet known for certain.

Supporters of fungotherapy believe that mushrooms can help with heart and lung diseases, boost immunity, and beneficial properties Almost every mushroom has it.

Raincoat is a hemostatic agent. Pieces of mushroom applied to the wound stop bleeding, prevent suppuration and help rapid healing.

Honey mushrooms are effective against E. coli and staphylococcus. Autumn honey mushrooms are used as a mild laxative. Morels help improve vision.

Mushroom picking has long been popularly called mushroom hunting or silent hunting. And this is not at all surprising, because you still need to be able to find a healthy mushroom - large, fresh, strong. In a quiet hunt, not only information about edible/poisonous mushrooms is important, but also knowledge about the rules of collection. There are plenty of tricks in a quiet hunt!

The mushroom picker's shoes and clothing should in no way restrict movement, since mushroom picking involves constant moving from place to place. Due to incorrectly selected shoes, your feet can suffer greatly: it is best to give preference to sports shoes or any worn-in shoes. To avoid chafing your feet, you should choose cotton or wool socks (depending on weather conditions). It would not be superfluous to provide additional protection from rain and wind. Mushroom hunting is often carried out in large areas forest areas. For such trips, it is advisable to have matches, a knife, a whistle, a compass, paper and a pencil with you.

But When picking mushrooms, the forest itself requires special attention. It is necessary not only to carefully search for the object of collection, but also to vigilantly monitor environment and the road under your feet, since there is a risk of tripping over brushwood and roots overgrown with grass, falling into a hole, or getting caught on a sharp branch, because mushrooms grow in thick grass.

An indispensable companion for any mushroom picker will be a basket made of willow, bast or birch bark. Under no circumstances should they be replaced with a backpack, plastic bag, bucket and other containers in which mushrooms can get crushed - picking mushrooms requires care. It is very important not to damage the integrity of the mycelium, so the collection object is cut with a knife so that the lower end of the leg remains in the ground, which is subsequently sprinkled with earth and compacted. This will prevent you from losing yield in the next mushroom season.

Mushroom picking time

You need to start picking mushrooms early in the morning in order to catch them before they heat up under the sun. This will allow them to be stored longer long time. If mushrooms heated by the sun are spread over the surface in a thick layer, they will quickly deteriorate - they will become covered with mucus and begin to emit an unpleasant odor.

It is a mistaken assumption that mushrooms grow in the forest only in autumn period. Already from mid-May you can collect morels, in July - russula, and in early August - boletus, milk mushrooms, boletus and boletus. Beginning in September, boletus mushrooms, moss mushrooms and honey mushrooms appear. But a dry June foreshadows a mushroom-free July.

Mushroom season

All mushrooms grow in “layers” or “waves”. The first of the year begin to appear in mid-May. spring mushrooms. In July, in the last ten days, in the forests where birches are found, you can collect veils, which are well known as constant companions of porcini mushrooms; in small-leaved and relatively light-colored ones - pigs, in broad-leaved ones - pepper mushrooms and podgrudki. The harvest of porcini mushrooms in July is not rich, since their layer is waiting for its time.

Over the summer in middle lane Russia has approximately three to four layers of mushrooms, with August being the main mushroom month. At this time, all July varieties begin to actively bear fruit, and in addition to them are added the most valuable, new ones - boletus, aspen, saffron milk caps and boletus. The white wave is the first herald of the approaching autumn. Therefore, in part, September and August in general are the time when you can actively begin quiet hunting.

Mushroom picking places

The most mushroom places traditionally considered light deciduous groves- birch, aspen, etc. Porcini mushrooms can be found near anthills and fly agarics. It should also be remembered that in dry summers the mushroom grows as close to the trunk as possible, and in damp summers it grows away from it. Most of them grow to the north of the tree, to the west and east there are slightly fewer of them, and on the south side of the trunk they are generally extremely rare.

Rules for collecting mushrooms

When picking mushrooms, you need to remember that excessive caution will not hurt in this matter. You should not take an unknown mushroom or try a well-known one. Based on the same precaution, it is best to give preference to a young harvest, since the old one tends to accumulate toxic substances: pickling, salting and drying require only whole and strong mushrooms.

For greater convenience, the search can be carried out using a stick, reaching a length of about 1 meter, with a spear located at the end. Mushrooms, especially tubular ones, are placed in a basket so that their caps are facing upwards, and small mushrooms are left whole, while the cap of large ones is cut off and placed next to the stem.

Once a mushroom is found, it must be cleared of debris and soil - this will make working at home much easier. In the forest you need to behave calmly and not run in a hurry from tree to tree: silent hunt requires special concentration, attention and patience. Often Where one mushroom grows, many others can be found. But don't forget about the danger poisonous mushrooms.

Collected mushrooms should not be stored for too long (more than 2-3 hours). This is due to the increased moisture content (about 89-92 percent). The unprocessed harvest is stored in the refrigerator or cellar. If there are none, any cool place will do.

Most mushrooms, including russula and lamellar mushrooms, must be cut off only with the stem. This is done in order to make sure that there is no special membranous ring, which is characteristic of some poisonous mushrooms that are similar in appearance to russula - for example, toadstool, which is considered the most dangerous. One fourth of her hat is enough to kill her from poisoning.

Before pickling, mushrooms such as conditionally edible ones are placed in a large enamel pan and filled with cool water. The latter helps remove milky juice and bitterness from the fruit. Aluminum and galvanized utensils should never come into contact with mushrooms. Immediately after delivery from the forest, the mushrooms must be sorted. If this is not possible, then they are doused with salted boiling water. This prolongs their life by a day.

emptiness inside

I am 27 years old. I have been living alone since I was 21 in my own apartment. She graduated from technical school and two institutes. Universities are different. One is economic and the other is artistic. And both were on topic. I love studying. 3 years ago I graduated from...

The Bryansk minibuses are crowded - everyone is occupied by mushroom pickers. In the aisles there are baskets filled to the brim with milk mushrooms, russula, chanterelles...

– Where do so many mushrooms and mushrooms come from? - I ask a pensioner with two ten-liter buckets full of mushrooms.

“Yes, I dialed it near Svenya,” the interlocutor boasts. “I came to a mushroom spot and collected it in two hours.” Tomorrow I’ll go again, to Suponevo - there are a lot of russula there.

Komsomolskaya Pravda found out where Bryansk residents can get mushrooms.

To Navlinsky district for saffron milk caps, to Pogarsky district for honey mushrooms

“There are a lot of mushrooms in the forest; there hasn’t been such a harvest for five years,” says experienced Bryansk mushroom picker Svetlana Kuzhekina. – This year the weather at the end of summer and beginning of autumn is the most suitable - warm and humid. The forest is full of boletus mushrooms, honey mushrooms, russula, and chanterelles. Recently we were in the Navlinsky district near the village of Revny. The fields there are overgrown, and there are a lot of butterflies and saffron milk caps in the grass. Even with a sideways scythe!

“This year I picked mushrooms in the Karachevsky district at the turn to Krasnaya Polyana,” says another experienced mushroom picker, Elena Moshchenkova. – There are a lot of mushrooms in the suburbs of Bryansk. Boletus, chanterelles, and black and white milk mushrooms were particularly abundant this year. Milk mushrooms grow in whole “families”. So if you find one, look for others nearby. Sometimes one such “family” can only fit into a ten-liter basket.

“It’s better to look for honey mushrooms near the Vygonichsky village of Novonikolsky,” says Svetlana Kuzhekina. – There are a lot of these mushrooms near the village of Dolbatovo, in the Pogarsky district, as well as in the vicinity of the Krasny Rog railway station. You can also pick porcini mushrooms and boletus there. The other day, a mushroom picker I knew brought seven buckets of honey mushrooms from the village of Odrino in the Karachevsky district!

For boletus mushrooms, mushroom pickers advise going towards Seltso. there in pine forests You can also pick up saffron milk caps.

Freeze, can, dry

“Porcini mushrooms and saffron milk caps have always been considered the most delicious, no matter how you prepare them,” says Svetlana Kuzhekina. – They can be salted, dried, pickled. By the way, saffron milk cap is a delicacy mushroom - you can fry it without boiling it. But finding it is not so easy. Saffron milk caps love to hide in the grass at forest edges. The main thing here is to be careful, one mushroom noticed - there will be others nearby.

Housewives recommend marinating mushrooms with a dense texture.

“I usually pickle boletus, honey mushrooms, russula, boletus, milk mushrooms and saffron milk caps,” says Elena Moshchenkova. – They retain their shape for a long time. For added spice, I add cloves and pepper to the marinade. Moreover, when preserving in one jar, it is better not to combine different types of mushrooms. Otherwise, the taste will mix or they will lose it altogether.

Nowadays, housewives more and more often do not put mushrooms in jars, but freeze them.

“It is believed that more nutrients are preserved this way,” says Elena Moshchenkova. “However, before freezing, the mushrooms still need to be boiled. All mushrooms can be frozen. Except perhaps for boletus and aspen boletuses - they “go limp” when defrosted.

Another popular way to store mushrooms is drying.

“When dried, porcini mushrooms, boletus and aspen mushrooms are especially good,” says Svetlana Kuzhekina. “I like to add them to soups for flavor. True, the drying process can be very long - up to ten hours in the oven or several days fresh air. To ensure that the mushrooms dry evenly, they can be divided into slices. After drying, it is better to keep them closed glass jar. This way the mushrooms will not lose their taste and aroma and will not absorb foreign odors.

Ask for documents

This year, mushrooms in the Bryansk region can be found at almost every step: both in the forest and near stops along the road...

– Under no circumstances should you pick mushrooms along highways or roads. railways, they say in regional department Rospotrebnadzor. – They absorb and accumulate harmful substances from exhaust gases in the cap and stem: lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals. And they can cause poisoning.

It is not recommended to collect mushrooms in radioactive zones, in areas affected by the accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant. These are the southwestern districts of the region: Krasnogorsky, Zlynkovsky, Novozybkovsky, Klintsovsky, Gordeevsky.

You also need to be careful when buying mushrooms at the market.

“All mushrooms that are sold at markets and fairs undergo the necessary veterinary and sanitary inspection,” the KP correspondent was told at the Veterinary Department for Bryansk region. – If you buy mushrooms at the market, ask for documents confirming their safety. Periodically, together with the district administration, we conduct raids and check amateur mushroom pickers who sell on the street. If they don't have necessary documents, they are given a fine, and the mushrooms are taken away for examination. But, unfortunately, we cannot control all street vendors, so it is not worth buying mushrooms outside of stores and markets.

It’s probably no secret to anyone that mushrooms, being a natural product and very free of charge, don’t grow anywhere. In terms of their demands on conditions, they are many times more capricious than plants, so give them special, mushroom places. I will try to tell you how to find the latter in this article. But first, I strongly recommend “smoking” the theory, which, despite its futility, is designed to help the mushroom picker analyze a specific landscape and determine its “mushroom potential” by eye.

Conditions for mushrooms

All mushroom places rest on a kind of “three pillars”, which are the three main conditions necessary for the full existence of mushrooms:

It would be possible to add soil composition to the above conditions, but for most forest mushrooms it is not particularly critical. And in general, in any forest land there will be almost all the necessary substances for them. However, some mushrooms prefer soils that are particularly rich in organic matter, such as champignons and dung beetles. I will write more about mushroom soils below - in the section “Where mushrooms grow.”

So, these same “three mushroom whales” are very dependent on the type of landscape, topography and seasonal weather. These factors are also worth considering in more detail, and at the same time their influence on each other. Let's start with the first of them - landscape.

Mushroom landscapes

Over the entire history of the Earth's development, mushrooms have adapted quite well to various types terrain, which is why they can be found not only in the forest, but also in the tundra, and even in the steppe. They also grow in swamps and on the surface of lake rafts. First, let's look at the forest area, since the lion's share of mushrooms collected by humans grows there.

Mushroom forests

In terms of heat and humidity, all forests, regardless of the tree species growing in them, can be divided into three categories of mushroom places:

small forest

Such forests arise in old clearings or in open spaces that have been withdrawn from agricultural use. The main condition is a forested area and mature trees located nearby, the seeds from which are quickly sown former field, and after a few years a low growth of young trees appears on it.

Artificial forest plantations can also be classified as small forests. You can distinguish them from self-seeding ones by the way the seedlings are located. In artificial plantings they stand less frequently, are almost the same height and are usually ordered, but in natural plantings, as a rule, all the trees stand close to each other and their height varies. Well, of course, there is no order in the arrangement of trees, but complete chaos reigns.

Typically, small forests are young self-sown pine forests, birch forests, aspen forests, or a mixture of various species. Their age is no more than 10 years, the height of the trees has not yet reached its usual value for real forests, and the undergrowth as such has not yet developed. As a rule, such forests are well heated by the sun and evaporate moisture no less well. Therefore, in flat areas there is plenty of heat, but there is usually a minimum of moisture in the soil, which, however, does not prevent small forests from being normal mushroom places under favorable weather conditions.

Open Woods

Overgrown small forests, or forests where the density of trees is relatively low. The undergrowth can be sparse or dense. Examples of such forests are tall, fairly sunlit birch or aspen forests.

The warmth and humidity of the soil here are kept at approximately average levels. These forests are quite successful as mushroom places.

Taiga

Spruce or fir, or mixed. And in general any forest where the tree density is high. Only a minimal part sun rays reaches the surface of the earth here. Therefore, twilight and coolness reign in such forests, and soil moisture reaches maximum values ​​for the forest. The taiga is quite a mushroom place, but special “taiga” species of mushrooms grow here.

Sometimes it happens that a swamp intersects with the taiga and Urman- another type of landscape, different high humidity, and another very good mushroom place. Such forests are less dependent on atmospheric precipitation, and therefore - more promising in terms of mushrooms in dry years.

Summarizing all of the above about different forests, we can say with confidence that the most promising mushroom places are forests of the second type. And indeed, it was here that the yields of mushrooms (especially white mushrooms) were always high.

Open spaces

This can include all those types of landscapes that do not have trees or have them in minute quantities. There is an abundance of solar heat here, but with moisture it can be different.

1. Moss swamps or lake rafts. The wettest and most mushroomy places among all open spaces. All that is required for mushrooms is just the sun's heat. In terms of symbiont plants, as a rule, there is no shortage, because swamp soil is usually penetrated by the roots of various tree-like shrubs, ranging from small heathers (cranberries, blueberries, crowberries, etc.) and ending with fully established trees, such as small birches, pine trees and others.
2. Tundra. There is a slight change in moisture here. However, this in no way prevents this type of landscape from being an excellent mushroom place. Including thanks to the symbiont trees that grow here in a dwarf form.
3. Dry open spaces, steppes. Mushroom places appear only in favorable seasons - when sufficient rainfall falls from the skies.

It is quite obvious that the first two areas are very tempting for mushroom pickers.

Relief and mushrooms

Height and slope earth's surface also influence whether a particular area can be classified as a mushroom area.

That’s right - the most mushroom places are usually the lowlands. There are usually more mushrooms growing there than in mountainous areas. Near bodies of water, heavy dew falls in the morning - this has a beneficial effect on soil moisture.

Mushroom weather

Summer can be different. Sometimes it’s normal - when there’s a lot sunny days and periodically there are heavy rainfalls (the most mushroom weather). And sometimes it’s cold and rainy. And it also happens that for the entire July-August - not a drop from the sky. But the heat is abnormal and naturally “dries out” everything, even the grass burns out. And once I observed a generally “unique” summer, when there didn’t seem to be much rain, but the weather was cloudy and cool all the way.

The yield of mushroom areas also greatly depends on what the season will be like. In this regard, four types of summer can be distinguished:

Manifestation of weather in different mushroom places

Now comes the most interesting part. I didn’t just list it above different types mushroom places that differ in landscape and relief. As the practice of mushroom picking shows, in different seasonal weather they manifest themselves completely differently. And here we get a rather funny sign:

Another very funny moment here is connected with the time of year, or more precisely with autumn, or with how quickly mushrooms disappear with the first cold weather. As it turned out, nature has its own reservoirs of heat, which can somewhat “stretch” the mushroom season in time. These are swamps, as well as large bodies of water. It has been noticed that mushrooms can be picked near them even in October, and sometimes even from under the snow.

Where do mushrooms grow?

Forests are forests, fields are fields, weather is weather, but do not forget that the nature of the soil also affects whether a place is mushroom or not.

Rich organic substances forest litter is the best soil for mushrooms. However, litter differs from litter. It not only turns out to be diverse in itself, but can also retain moisture important for mushrooms in different ways. And well-rotating soil is also a source of heat, because as is known, the rotting of any organic residue releases it in sufficient quantities (remember the “smoking” piles of manure or sawdust in collective gardens).

Fallen needles

Its top layer is blown quite well, so most often it is dry. In terms of nutrients - so-so. The rotted needles are located deeper - that’s where things with moisture and nutrients are much better. This is where the bacteria have worked hard, and this is where the fungal mycelium is usually located. The most common mushrooms found on fallen pine needles are russula and other milk mushrooms, but there are also porcini mushrooms, moss mushrooms, etc.

fallen leaves

It retains moisture better than the previous point, and - apparently - richer in nutrients. There are noticeably more mushrooms here; moreover, their “assortment” is clearly more diverse.

Well, of course, such litter does not arise on its own, but accompanies deciduous trees, all of which are symbionts for mycorrhizal fungi. Such as whites, obabki, milk mushrooms and others.

Moss areas

It has been noticed that where moss (sphagnum moss or something else) has grown on the ground, mushrooms appear many times more readily than on ordinary soil. This can be clearly observed when collecting saffron milk caps, especially in small forests. This is explained quite simply: moss, being a lower plant, and therefore moisture-loving, itself tries to take care of preserving water in the place where it grows. His jackets are organized like dense pillows, well permeable to water from above, but, alas, not particularly permeable to water back. In addition, moss is a good heat insulator - it’s not for nothing that in the old days they put it between logs in log houses, or even covered the roof with it.

From this we can also conclude that moss is one of the external signs mushroom places.

Grass

This means “a natural version of the lawn.” Mushrooms also grow in such well-developed grass, but they don’t particularly like it. Perhaps because of the dense turf, through which throwing out fruiting bodies is a complete hassle. Or maybe the grass somehow competes with mushrooms, “taking away” moisture from them, nutrients or place? But this is not so important. The main thing is that when picking mushrooms you always notice that they are rarely found in dense grass, with the possible exception of umbrellas and champignons. But if the grass is sparse, mushrooms are often found in it.

However, if the grass does not grow haphazardly, but in occasional clumps, you should know that this is a clear sign mushroom place, and to top it all off - one of the signs for porcini mushrooms.

Dense forbs, weeds

As a rule, this vegetation occurs in old wastelands or in low-lying meadows that are well-fed with water. Sometimes there are such thickets that even walking through them can be difficult. But they retain moisture very well - even the dew at the very roots does not evaporate during the whole day. For mushrooms, this is the promised land. Only here there are all kinds of toadstools growing here, or species that are not usually collected in our area (all sorts of umbrellas, meadow mushrooms, etc.). It turns out that this type of landscape is not included in mushroom areas.

Where to pick mushrooms

Photo 2. The outskirts of small forests consisting of self-seeding young pine trees. In a warm, rain-rich season, such a forest produces a good harvest of buttermilk in the summer and an equally good harvest of saffron milk caps in the fall.

Now is the time to talk about tactics for finding mushroom places. This tactic most often has to be used in forests, because this is the most “difficult” landscape in terms of gathering. In other places where mushrooms grow, the search is greatly simplified.

The first thing a forest collector should pay attention to is the local (shallow) topography, as well as the density of trees. On small hills such as hillocks, hillocks and “ridges”, average temperature It is always a little higher than in the lowlands. Clearings, “windows,” or places where trees grow less densely or are filled with young growth are more open to the sun, and therefore also warm up better than the rest of the forest. It is here, on the hills and shallow clearings, that you most often come across “witch circles” and other mushroom accumulations.

Photo 3. A typical mushroom place: a loose birch forest with a well-developed rowan undergrowth, with moss areas and a thin grass cover consisting of meadow grasses and stones, as well as with small differences in relief (hills, hollows) and clearings. A river flows a few meters from this place. Types of mushrooms growing in such a forest: chanterelle, milk mushroom, honey fungus, boletus, White mushroom.

If there are large clearings in the forest overgrown with grass, then the mushrooms are concentrated along their edges, especially along the northern edges. The same is observed in clearings. If the latter are oriented from south to north, then the mushrooms simply form plantations along the border of the forest and the cleared area. If the clearing is overgrown with undergrowth, there will be mushrooms throughout the entire area of ​​the thicket, since this is where they have “both home and table” (these places not only warm up well, but also contain symbiont trees, and also retain moisture better). In clearings oriented by latitude (from east to west), as a rule, mushrooms adore the northern edge, since it is better warmed by the sun. In addition to clearings, mushrooms can be concentrated in decent quantities in narrow forest belts among vast fields, as well as along the boundaries between fields and forests.

Photo 4. Dense mixed forest (birch, spruce and fir), or rather its outskirts, bordering a huge meadow. Good mushroom place. Growing mushrooms: saffron milk cap, milk mushroom, porcini mushroom, honey fungus, honey fungus.

Rocky outcrops in the middle of the forest form partially open, well-heated spaces. In addition, the stone under the forest soil acts as a kind of “bowl” for rainwater, retaining it for some time. Fungi can concentrate in such places, but not always. The main indicator of mushroom spots is moss. If the base of the stone is covered with it, then everything is fine with the mushrooms.

Photo 5. Young pine forest near a rocky outcrop. Moss and ferns grow on the stones, which indicates good humidity, so this is quite a mushroom place.

Cleared areas can turn out to be very promising mushroom areas. Especially if the timber was demolished and the undergrowth was left alone. The clearings warm up very well and contain a long-established mushroom biocenosis in their soil, but in turn, they require more moisture. This should be taken into account in seasons when precipitation is below normal. The situation is almost the same with the places where the fallen man walked through the forest. But most often it is useless to look for mushrooms in fresh burnt areas, since the upper horizon of the soil, in which the mycelium lives, usually burns out.

Another tendency has been noticed - in more or less open places (for example, in small forests), small depressions can become places where mushrooms are concentrated. So, once, when collecting butter in one similar place, a small (half a meter deep) ravine lined with stones and moss turned out to be very promising. This ravine was the bed of an annually drying forest stream, but apparently it contained a little more moisture than the flat area bordering it.

In dry but hot seasons, areas near springs, forest rivers and streams, lowlands with swamps that have not yet dried up, coastal forests of lakes and reservoirs remain mushroom places. In short - all those places where there are sources of moisture. They work especially well when cool nights- when dew falls. When looking for such places, pay attention to the moss growing on the ground, stumps and at the roots of trees. It is the primary indicator of moisture.

Now there are no words about places where there are no mushrooms, or if they are found, they are in scanty quantities, unworthy of the mushroom picker’s attention.

Firstly, there is no point in looking for mushrooms in places frequently visited by people, because everything there has been trampled and cut off long before you and me. Distinguishing such places from normal ones is easier than a steamed turnip: the small forest vegetation here is broken and crushed, it is clear that a “herd of elephants” ran by the day before. Also noticeable are “stumps” of mushrooms, or cut worm caps lying on the ground. Garbage like cigarette butts, crumpled cigarette packs, and some other rubbish also indicate frequent visits to these places. This is mainly observed in forests bordering settlements or busy roads.

Photo 6. Typical forest, often visited by people (located near big city). The grass cover is trampled, the undergrowth is stunted, paths and places where trees have been cut are visible. There is all sorts of rubbish lying around in the middle of the forest. It is useless to look for mushrooms here now, but in the past this forest was probably a good place for mushrooms.

The next competitors of the collector are wild boars. In forests densely populated by these animals, picking mushrooms can turn out to be not only futile (because mushrooms are found and eaten by these beasts many times faster than humans!), but even dangerous. I know a case when a mushroom picker I know came across a whole flock of wild boars with cubs in the forest. Out of harm's way, he left the forest with lightning speed.

Photo. 7. Boars are serious competitors for mushroom pickers. They love to raid mushroom places. Mushroom eaters in action.

Typically, wild boars give out their presence by characteristic marks on the ground (it can be seen that they have trampled and rummaged), heaps of droppings, as well as worn, mud-stained trees. Well, of course - grunting and cracking of branches. However, unlike people, they never litter. Despite the fact that they are the most real pigs.

Important: where you can’t pick mushrooms

I definitely don’t recommend going mushroom hunting within a radius of 30 kilometers from large industrial enterprises, polluting environment with their emissions. Because the entire periodic table accumulates in mushrooms in these territories (an example of this is the legendary mushroom “”). I can also say about places along roads, especially busy ones, and about forests near large landfills.

Photo 8. Beautiful, coniferous forest, which is a good mushroom place. But it is located in the pollution zone of a large metallurgical enterprise.

Collecting mushrooms in such ecologically unfavorable areas can only be done according to the “cut it and throw it away” principle, or for scientific purposes - for a herbarium there, etc. Well, even for collecting spore powder - although it contains all sorts of chemical rubbish, but being “sown” in an ecologically clean place will produce normal, safe mushrooms.

But eating mushrooms from contaminated areas is extremely dangerous. It happens that harmful substances accumulate in the fruiting body in such quantities that the mushroom, although edible and harmless according to its passport, becomes naturally poisonous, and after eating it immediately causes symptoms of normal such poisoning. Keep this in mind when picking mushrooms, so as not to accidentally end up in the hospital or to avoid health problems in the future.

conclusions

Photo 9. Mushroom spot found.

It turns out that the most mushroom places can only be wet, well-warmed areas by the sun, with an abundance of symbiont trees and soil rich in organic matter. Moreover, these places should be as little dependent on weather conditions as possible.

Finding them is a difficult task, but seasoned mushroom pickers develop a “smell” for these places, but in fact this phenomenon is of a purely subconscious nature. The human brain, being a masterly analyzer of situations, over years of experience identifies patterns and develops a specific algorithm for detecting mushroom places based on external, seemingly uninformative signs, and ultimately gives its unsuspecting owner ready-made forecasts. He, perceiving this as a kind of “sixth sense”, unmistakably finds huge accumulations of mushrooms. In my time, I have not only heard stories about such people, but also known them personally. And in all cases, they were not just avid mushroom pickers, they had been picking mushrooms since childhood. Some of them were born in the taiga villages of our region - their sense of searching for mushrooms was so developed that it simply aroused genuine admiration.

Hence the main conclusion - if you want to always be with mushrooms, look for them. And the more often you do this, the faster you will understand where the most mushroom places are. And even if you don’t understand, your subconscious will do it for you.