Tips: Spring Mushroom Hunting In Michigan

DETROIT (WWJ) - Springtime in Michigan means baseball, barbecues and mushrooms.

Peak "mushroom hunting" season is almost here, according to Mike Schira, with Michigan State Extension Service

Schira says from morels to portabellas, mushrooms are ubiquitous.

"You can find them almost anywhere," he told WWJ's Jayne Bower. "I worked down in the southern part of the state — Branch County and St. Joe County  — and certainly there's morels down there. And I'm currently in the western Upper Peninsula, and we have morels up here."

Where's the best place to look?

"Generally along fenced roads, wooded areas...there's certain habitats where you're more likely to find them in than others," Schira said, "and that's part of the mystery and secret of mushroom hunting."

Schira said mushrooms love warm, moist spring weather. If there are a lot of active mosquitoes, he said, there will be a lot of mushrooms; and mushrooms grow well after wildfires.

For newbies, Schira did offer this word of warning:

"Although some of the mushrooms we have in Michigan are edible, there's a lot of varieties that are not," he said. "Some of them are mildly toxic or poisonous, and some are extremely toxic or poisonous."

So, get your mushrooms checked out by an expert and invest in a good mushroom hunting guide.

"The morels are pretty distinctive, and puffballs are pretty distinctive, but there's some similar looking ones, and you really need to work with someone who knows what they're looking at, especially when they're starting out so they're eating something safe," Schira said.

Get more from MSU Extension on mushroom hunting at this link.