Edith's Tips For Hunting Bear's Tooth
For starters Bear’s Tooth mushrooms (Hericium abietis) grow on Fir trees. Its close relative, The Lions Main (Hericium erinaceus), grows on Hardwoods.
While trees are alive they produce natural fungicides that prevent saprophytes from growing on them. Therefore, in order to grow mushrooms, the trees must be dead.
Start again in the wetter parts of your state where Fir trees grow. Find an area where trees have been knocked down or broken off (usually caused by wind or avalanches). The Fir trees should be recently downed and dead, although snags and standing dead trees can be just as good. The important thing is that you are not looking for just rotten wood laying on the forest floor. The dead trees should still have bark and still look like trees. When you find trees that match this description check the spots on the tree where it has been broken or the bark has been damaged. That is where you will find the Bear’s Tooth fruiting.
The good news is that once you find a spot matching this description that is producing mushrooms, Bear’s Tooth will keep coming back for several years. Thus giving you several years to find a new spot.
The mushrooms usually show up a little bit later in the Fall when the forest is good and wet and they stick around for awhile making them pretty easy to harvest. As with Chicken Of The Woods it is not a bad idea to bring along a flat head shovel. The shovel will allow you to harvest mushrooms that might normally be out of reach.
While trees are alive they produce natural fungicides that prevent saprophytes from growing on them. Therefore, in order to grow mushrooms, the trees must be dead.
Start again in the wetter parts of your state where Fir trees grow. Find an area where trees have been knocked down or broken off (usually caused by wind or avalanches). The Fir trees should be recently downed and dead, although snags and standing dead trees can be just as good. The important thing is that you are not looking for just rotten wood laying on the forest floor. The dead trees should still have bark and still look like trees. When you find trees that match this description check the spots on the tree where it has been broken or the bark has been damaged. That is where you will find the Bear’s Tooth fruiting.
The good news is that once you find a spot matching this description that is producing mushrooms, Bear’s Tooth will keep coming back for several years. Thus giving you several years to find a new spot.
The mushrooms usually show up a little bit later in the Fall when the forest is good and wet and they stick around for awhile making them pretty easy to harvest. As with Chicken Of The Woods it is not a bad idea to bring along a flat head shovel. The shovel will allow you to harvest mushrooms that might normally be out of reach.
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