The “king of forest mushrooms”, that’s what the porcini mushroom is also often called. There is no such thing as “the” boletus mushroom, because experts distinguish between a total of seven different types of boletus mushrooms, which grow at different times of the year and also prefer different habitats. For this reason, the boletus season starts in June with the summer boletus and lasts into October until the first frost.
How do I successfully find porcini mushrooms?
To successfully find porcini mushrooms, look in beech or spruce forests with dead wood, little grass and sparse areas. Pay attention to the right season (June to October), ideal weather (humid) and the presence of indicator plants such as fly agarics.
Where can you find porcini mushrooms? – This question is not easy to answer
It is probably a truism that passionate mushroom collectors do not reveal their favorite locations to everyone. In fact, even experienced mushroom experts regularly go on forays and are always on the lookout for new places to find them. If you want to look for and find mushrooms, you need a lot of patience, perseverance and also knowledge of the habitats and conditions in which porcini mushrooms thrive best. Only those who know where porcini mushrooms thrive can look in the right places - and find them there at the right time. In addition to the location conditions, whether you find the mushrooms you want or not also depends largely on the weather.
It depends on the right weather
Basically the rule applies: mushrooms love it moist. A good or bad mushroom year can often be predicted in spring. When the snowdrops bloom and the birds start singing in the morning, it should rain heavily. Young porcini mushrooms develop early in the year as pin-sized lumps underground and then need a lot of moisture. If there is no rain in the spring, the mushrooms will also be missing in the fall. If, on the other hand, spring was blessed with sufficient rainfall, you can often expect a good harvest from June onwards. It is particularly worth looking for a nighttime thunderstorm: the forest is then so heated by the sun that the rain creates a true greenhouse climate.
The right time of year to collect porcini mushrooms
The first boletus of the year is the summer boletus (Boletus reticulatus), which, weather permitting, often grows from May / June and then into September. In milder weather it also occurs in late autumn. The spruce boletus (Boletus edulis), on the other hand, can be collected between July and November - as can the black boletus (B. aereus) and the rarer pine boletus (B. pinophilus). Porcini mushrooms only grow until the first frost, after which the season is over and you have to switch to winter mushrooms.
The ideal location for a rich boletus harvest
Particularly promising locations for porcini mushrooms are beech forests with a lot of dead wood on the forest floor, as little grass cover as possible and gaps in the canopy where warming sun rays can reach the forest floor. Ceps love such bright, warm places, which often lead right next to forest paths. In general, you can recognize a good porcini mushroom forest because there are trees of different ages and lots of dead wood on the forest floor. But you also have a good chance of collecting lots of porcini mushrooms in spruce forests. Spruce is omnipresent in the low mountain ranges, and there are particularly large populations in southern Germany. In northern Germany, on the other hand, pine forests predominate, where with a bit of luck you can come across the pine boletus.
Mushrooms live in symbiosis with certain tree species
But why do porcini mushrooms mainly grow under beech, oak, spruce or pine trees? Quite simply, the boletus lives with these tree species in a community in which both partners feed each other. Experts call this system “mycorrhiza”. Mushrooms grow with their cobweb-thin fungal threads hidden in the ground or in wood. In contrast to plants, however, they do not need sunlight to grow, but get the nutrients they need directly from the tree - which in turn they supply with nitrogen and other substances. In the course of evolution, many mushrooms have adapted to certain tree species, which is why you can now find porcini mushrooms primarily near certain tree species.
Pointer plants show you the way
But don't just pay attention to the trees, because the presence of certain “indicator plants” indicates the possible presence of porcini mushrooms. The tasty porcini mushrooms often grow right next to the poisonous fly agarics - if you find fly agarics in the forest, it is usually not far to the porcini mushroom. This is because both types of fungi live in symbiosis with the same tree species and also form fruiting bodies at the same time. If, on the other hand, there are a lot of nettles and/or jewelweed in the area you are visiting, you can safely turn back: both plants indicate nitrogen-rich soil, in which porcini mushrooms do not feel comfortable at all.
Tip
If you want to successfully collect mushrooms, you have to get up early: Passionate mushroom pickers go into the forest at sunrise, so that only the leftovers are left for those who arrive later - if they find anything at all. You also have to look very closely because, especially with young porcini mushrooms, only the inconspicuous brown cap sticks out of the ground. The fleshy, thick stem is often still deep in the substrate.
