Events

Colorado Porcinis, Western Morels and Italian Truffles! How each region works, what to expect, 'Motherloads', cooking and lots of tips & tricks and fun personalities...

The conditions for growing the black Périgord truffle are suitable in multiple American regions, and the demand for the truffle remains high worldwide. Still, the cultivation of Tuber melanosporum has been largely underwhelming. While establishing her truffle orchard, Jasmine Richardson has spent several years learning the ins-and-outs of truffle cultivation of highly productive orchards in Europe and newly productive orchards in North America. Jasmine will give a presentation on her observations of Northern American-specific challenges in domestic orchards, the limitations of establishing her own orchard, and regional-based solutions for American farmers and mycologists.

This presentation will offer some interesting information about members of this genus. After viewing this presentation, folks should have a better understanding of the differences in the appearance of members of this genus and knowledge of the salient features present in the species that comprise the seven known sections contained within this genus.

The cold wind-swept tundra above tree-line on mountain tops and in the Arctic, is not the usual place to look for mushrooms. These are some of the coldest places on earth. But the mushrooms are there: tucked under willows, nestled among mosses, lying exposed in meadows, and poking up on bare wet soil. These cold-hardy fungi play critical roles as decomposers and nutrient gatherers for alpine plants in these extreme environments. Their diversity is surprising given the harsh conditions. This talk will display these Arctic and Alpine beauties in their natural habitats primarily in the scenic Rocky Mountains and the open landscapes of the Arctic and discuss how past glaciation has influenced their distribution.

Gary Lincoff said to 'Quit your job and devote your life to mushrooms'. I heeded this advice back in 2014 and have been happier ever since. Last year at a few Forays I met multiple people that were ready to follow Gary's advice but didn't know how to do it or where to start. Hear stories of other devotees and see to what key values & tools they attribute their success. Take the next steps toward your fungally devoted future and discover real ways to realize this dream that many of us share.

This talk acts as an introduction to resinicolous fungi, with a focus on species present in Northeastern North America. Interesting, recently described, and/or underreported exotic species will also be discussed. In particular, I will discuss my recent taxonomic work on the recently-described class Sareomycetes and the discomycete Bisporella resinicola.

Pyrophilous fungi are fungi that appear predominantly after wildfires. Some of these are triggered by heat, some have pH and nutritional profiles that lend themselves to post-fire soils and some exhibit sudden fruiting in response to host death. Where these fungi reside in the absence of fire has been a mystery. We surveyed pyrophilous fruiting bodies appearing after the 2016 wildfire in the Great Smoky Mountains National park. We also surveyed endophytes and mycorrhiza in pines germinating after the fire. I’ll cover some of the pyrophilous fungi we observed and show some pyrophilous fungi may actually be endophytes in non-fire conditions.