question for mushroom experts re. champignon mushrooms (agaricus bisporus)

Hello Permies,

I am lucky enough to have Agaricus bisporus growing freely in my yard, garden, and orchard. It most likely came with the land - my plot used to be part of a hay meadow, and on the land around us, still functioning as hay meadow, the locals are occasionally picking champignons in September / October (after the second cut of grass).

But the presence of champignons may also be (partly) due to my intervention - I spread manure and spent mushroom compost around the trees and on the vegetable beds, over a year ago.

Now, what's intriguing me - being ignorant about these mushrooms - is that they come up in new places all the time, and they don't surface in places where I picked them around this time last year.

My question: what can I do to encourage the growth of champignons - e.g., have more spots where they grow?

Thanks in advance for any advice !

Levente

Levente, are you 100% certain about the ID of these mushrooms? The reason I ask is because Agaricus is a very big genus and the cultivated mushroom (A. bisporus) has several wild look-a-likes that can be confusing for even the pros. Also, where do you live? For example, wild A. bisporus is common in coastal central California, but rare in the Pacific NW. Agaricus campestris, the Meadow Mushroom, is the species most commonly confused with wild A. bisporus.

At any rate, if you want more Agaricus, then I would recommend that you make spore emulsion and begin dumping it all around your property, especially grassy areas around compost piles. To make spore emulsion, throw a bunch of old mushroom caps into a bucket, add a spoonful of molasses and a pinch of salt. Then fill up the bucket with warm, non-chlorinated water. Stir it up, let it sit for a day or so and then dump it or spray it all around your place. I would also spread of a lot of lime around your place too, since Agaricus mushrooms LOVE calcium. And finally, if you don't have a sprinkler system, I would recommend getting one since Agaricus will really benefit from late summer watering. Running a mister on established patches can increase production, too. Do not let your grass turn brown or dry out. Good luck!

PS: Complete instructions for growing Agaricus and making spore emulsion can be found in the books by Paul Stamets. Growing kits can be purchased from Mushroom Adventures and used as spawn, too.

Here is some info about the Meadow Mushroom by Michael Kuo, at Mushroomexpert.com:

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/agaricus_campestris.html

Hope this helps!

Hello M.K.,

I'm in Romania, Eastern Europe.

Thanks for the advice, it makes sense and it should be fairly easy to put into practice (aside from the mister / sprinkler part - I hardly ever water the vegetable beds, let alone the grass...

It may be A. Campestris rather than Bisporus - I haven't really made an effort to identify them very precisely. At any rate, they are edible and taste like... champignon mushrooms.

Thanks again !
L_

Many of the agaricus mushrooms will make you vomit for 3 days. I don't want to take that chance. Also there may be long term liver or kidney damage that I don't want. I have been having a great time slowly improving my skills in terms of ID books, checking all the characteristics and trying to get better at ID until I am actually confident about it. I also have a local club with a group of experienced mushroom ID people, which I also recommend, including a photo ID site.
John S
PDX OR

John Saltveit wrote:Many of the agaricus mushrooms will make you vomit for 3 days. I don't want to take that chance. Also there may be long term liver or kidney damage that I don't want. I have been having a great time slowly improving my skills in terms of ID books, checking all the characteristics and trying to get better at ID until I am actually confident about it. I also have a local club with a group of experienced mushroom ID people, which I also recommend, including a photo ID site.
John S
PDX OR

Mine are definitely edible - I've already cooked and eaten them, they tasted good and caused absolutely no stomach upset. But before cooking them I did check my mushroom book and they ticked all the ID traits of the edible Agaricus.

Best
L_