When does honey fungus season start in Ukraine?

Honey fungus is a special mushroom. It grows in clusters of several dozen, so one lucky find fills your basket in no time. That's why “when will the honey fungus come up?” is the question foragers ask most every autumn.

Let's look at when honey fungus season starts in Ukraine, what triggers the first flush, and where to find these sociable clusters.

When the first honey fungus appears

Honey fungus (Armillaria mellea and related species) gets going once the summer heat breaks and the nights turn cool. In most regions of Ukraine that's late August — at first just the odd cluster on old stumps and around roots.

The main trigger isn't the calendar but the weather: honey fungus needs moisture from rain combined with cool nights and morning fog. After the first proper cold snap with rain, it can appear within just a few days.

Rather than guessing, check the mushroom radar: it shows when moisture and temperature line up for mushrooms in your region.

September–October: the main flush

Honey fungus season peaks in September and the first half of October. That's when clusters come up en masse: on stumps, fallen trunks and at the base of living trees — birch, oak and alder are particular favorites.

Honey fungus often comes in “flushes”: one cluster fades, and a few days after the next rain another appears. In a good autumn you can harvest the same spot several times. The season winds down in the second half of October, when night frosts begin, and ends for good with the first lasting freeze.

Sheathed woodtuft and velvet shank: in brief

Autumn honey fungus isn't the only one.

• Sheathed woodtuft appears as early as June and keeps going all summer on rotting wood. For more on how sheathed woodtuft differs from autumn honey fungus, see our separate article.
• Velvet shank (Flammulina) grows in late autumn and even in winter during thaws — this remarkable winter mushroom has its own article too.

So in one form or another, these wood-loving mushrooms keep the forager company almost all year round, but the autumn flush is by far the most generous.

Where to look for honey fungus

Honey fungus is tied not to a type of forest but to wood.

• Stumps and fallen trunks. The most reliable spot. An old stump that had honey fungus last year will almost certainly produce again this year.
• The base of living trees. Honey fungus often parasitizes living trees — look for clusters around the roots of birch, oak and alder.
• Damp deciduous and mixed forests. Honey fungus loves moisture, so you'll find more of it in wet hollows and near water.
• The same spots every year. The mycelium lives in the wood for years. Remember your lucky stumps — they'll keep producing for more than one season.

Careful: false honey fungus

The main danger of the autumn season is mistaking true honey fungus for its poisonous lookalikes. False honey fungus also grows in clusters on stumps, but differs in the color of its gills and has no ring on the stem.

The key feature of true honey fungus is a ring (a “skirt”) on the stem and creamy-white gills. Before anything goes in your basket, always check the features: how to tell true honey fungus from false. Once you've picked them, it's worth rereading how to clean and cook honey fungus properly, since it must always be boiled thoroughly.

Sources

• “Key to the Fungi of Ukraine” (Kyiv, Naukova Dumka publishing house).
• Armillaria mellea in GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
• Armillaria mellea in MycoBank, the international fungal nomenclature database.
• Honey fungus on Wikipedia.