Why do most mushrooms grow in the autumn?
In: Biology
Mushrooms don’t like lots of light, but they *do* still like nice warm, moist soil to grow in. Summer is too hot and dry, and spring and winter are too cold, so autumn is pretty much the perfect combination of conditions for them.
The other commenter addressed why autumn is good for mushrooms so I’m going to talk about other seasons.
Lots of mushrooms grow in the spring and summer! Morels are a prized edible that grow in the spring. You can find oysters of different species all year round. In the summer there are ganoderma (artists conk and also reishi) and field+horse mushrooms (two species closely related to the ones you find at the supermarket). There are fairy ring mushrooms, which are fun to look at, and puffballs which fun to play with and to eat (at different stages of their life cycle). I could go on.
Winter is the one season mushrooms don’t grow, though some mushrooms (mostly shelf like mushrooms such as turkey tail and other polypores) last through the winter (they overwinter).
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