If your woods are all five hundred meters away, in August the app gives you 14 out of 100 and you close convinced that it's not a bad day. But a quarter of an hour's drive away, six hundred meters higher, the exact same day is worth 46. The weather hasn't changed: the altitude has changed.
The porcini mushrooms come down the mountain
It's not a bar saying: it's a curve, and it's measured. The band in which the porcini mushrooms are found drops by about six hundred meters per month, from August to November, following the heat that retreats downwards.
- August: they are high up. Only one find in ten is below 900 metres.
- September and October: the good range drops, week after week. It is the period in which the same share can be early, right or late within twenty days.
- November: they are now lower down, in the more sheltered areas, and the season ends with the first frosts.
The expert mushroom grower knows this and in summer it rises without even thinking about it. Those who start, no: they return to the woods where last year in October they filled the basket, they go there in August, and they gain the conviction that this year "there is nothing".
Why quota matters so much
The mycelium needs two things together: water in the soil and the right temperature range. Going up one hundred meters you lose on average just over half a degree, so altitude is the quickest way you can change temperature without changing region.
In August, lower down, the problem is almost never rain: it's just that it's too hot and the ground dries out in two days. Higher up the same rain remains. In November the opposite happens: it is already too cold at altitude, and the good zone has descended into the valley.
What you see in the app, and when
When it's still early in your seats, the card of the day adds a line:
«Porcini: today they are higher. Around 1350 m (about 19 km from here) they are worth 46 instead of 21.»
It's not a generic suggestion on the type of "mountain test": it's the altitude, the distance and the difference in scores. From there you decide if it's worth the gas.
Speak only when necessary
On the plains the line never appears, because there is no "higher" reachable. And it doesn't appear even when your seats are already good: if you have 70 at home, you don't need to go up.
It never sends you further than twenty-five kilometers. Advice that moves you eighty kilometers is not advice: it's another weekend.
It's not a place, it's a band
It must be said clearly, because the difference between this function and the maps that promise good woods is: the app shows you an altitude and a direction, not a place to go. You choose the forest, with what you know about the area.
And the best place, almost always, is not the new one at 1350 meters: it is an old place of yours, higher than those where you go in September, and which you had forgotten.
What to take with you when going up
Two practical warnings. The first: at altitude the signal disappears sooner, so it is convenient download the area while you're still in town. The second: where it can be harvested is decided by the region, and as you go up you change municipality, sometimes province - card and limits they change with them.
Frequently asked questions
At what altitude are porcini mushrooms born?
Not at a fixed altitude: the range moves with the season, descending about six hundred meters per month from August to November. In August it is high up - only one find in ten is below 900 meters - while in November it is collected low down.
Where does the price you suggest come from?
From hundreds of real Italian findings, cross-referenced with the weather of those days, not from a manual. It remains an indication of where to aim, not a certainty.
Does he send me to places I don't know?
No: it gives you an altitude and a distance, you choose the place. And it never sends you further than twenty-five kilometers.
Does this also apply to other mushrooms?
The seasonal decline is more marked on porcini mushrooms. Each species has its own behavior and calendar: the app follows sixteen of them, each with its own parameters.
If it hasn't rained in the mountains, is climbing still necessary?
No, and in fact the line also takes water into account: it appears only when the higher altitude really has a better score, not on principle.
