At What Time of the Year Do Mushrooms Grow?

The Right Conditions

• Mushrooms need plenty of moisture. Most species appear on warm, sunny days just after a significant rainfall. While decaying leaves and downed trees in the forest provide an ideal habitat for mushrooms, they may also grow on lawns, brush or dying trees in the backyard. March though November offer enough warm days and rainfall for many species. However, some mushrooms -- such as oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) -- grow during mild winter weather.

Spring

• Many mushroom varieties come up in the spring. One edible species, the morel (Morchella esculenta), tends to show up around mid-spring. By May, morels disappear in most parts of the United States. A fan-shaped edible known as chicken of the woods (Laetiporous sulphures) is a shelf-like structure that grows from late spring through November in temperate climates.

Summer

• Chanterelles (Cantharellus lateritius) and black trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides) are two edibles that grow during the summer months. The chanterelle pops up between June and early August, while black trumpets typically last from June through September. A jack o’lantern (Omphalotus illundens) looks very much like a chanterelle, but it is poisonous. Jack o’lanterns appear from July through October.

Fall

• Fall mushroom species include the ringless honey mushroom (Armillaria tabescens), with a season that lasts from September through November, and resinous polypores (Ischnoderma resinosum), which appear between September and October. The latter species exudes a thick, dark liquid that eventually forms a crust on the mushroom. Both of these species are edible, but some people find that ringless honey mushrooms cause an upset stomach.

Year-Round

• Winter weather conditions in some parts of the country do not favor mushrooms, but some species grow throughout the year in areas that get more rain than snow. Examples of year-round mushroom species include split gills (Schizophyllum commune), which are not edible, and witches’ butter (Tremella mesenterica), which is edible but adds more color than flavor to cooked dishes.

A Word of Caution

• Many mushrooms are edible and delicious. However, many more are poisonous, and some of those are deadly. Several edible mushrooms have poisonous look alikes. Never pick or consume mushrooms unless you can positively identify them. If you are uncertain of a particular mushroom, ask a university extension office or local mycological society for help identifying the fungus.