North Rhine-Westphalia: Slow start to the mushroom season

North Rhine-Westphalia
Slow start to the mushroom season

10.09.2024, 04:08 a.m.

There are more mushroom pickers out in the forests again. At the moment they often have to search for a long time before they find what they are looking for.

Warburg/Königswinter (dpa/lnw) – Despite ideal weather conditions, the mushroom season in North Rhine-Westphalia has got off to a slow start. “Actually, moisture and warmth offer the best growth conditions,” said Jan Preller, forester at the Hammerhof forest information center of Wald und Holz NRW. “But even though they have been so well researched, mushrooms do what they want and are unpredictable.” So far, for example, he has only found a few porcini mushrooms.

Mushroom coach Melanie Korte from Königswinter also confirmed this: “The boletes are still a long way off.” Mushrooms in this group in particular do not necessarily form fruiting bodies every year. “The slow start does not mean that it will be a bad season,” said the mushroom expert from the German Society for Mycology. Chanterelles have already been plentiful this year. The classic mushroom season lasts until the onset of frost.

Poisonous doppelganger

Mushroom pickers have a good chance of being found, especially in places with a diverse tree population, said Korte. You can also look where it has rained a lot in the previous week or two.

Collectors should follow a few rules: mushroom picking is prohibited in nature reserves and in the Eifel National Park, and some species of mushrooms are protected. Collecting is only permitted for personal use.

And of course: If you don’t know much about mushrooms, you shouldn’t go picking them on your own, advises the State Forest and Wood Authority. Because some mushrooms have poisonous counterparts – for example, the poisonous death cap mushroom could be confused with the button mushroom.