Tis the time to get out the dried Morels. I have been digging in after the holidays and enjoying the dried Morels I had stocked for the off season. It won’t be long till the season rolls around again. Hope this year was as good as last. Enjoy the off season Morels and the new ones are on there way real soon.
Spring is the season for hunting morels. Of course, spring is relative depending on where you live. In the U.S., morel mushroom season begins first in California and the Pacific Northwest, then southern states, then concentrates roughly in the Midwest, stretching to a few eastern states.This is based on 2004 maps from Michael’s web site that reflect morel discussion board postings. Based on the 2004 maps, morels sprout from January to early June, with March 23 to May 3 being the most dense.
Here’s a map of April 20 to 27, 2004, which was the most dense week for that year:
Kuo, M., Zordani, R. & Bartlett, R. (2004).
Reported morel distribution & progress, 2004. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morels/maps/progress_maps.html
Please note, however, that Michael’s maps are based only on postings to his morel discussion board and four other discussion boards: morelmushroomhunting.com, morelmania.com, michiganmorels.com and morels.com. The maps are not intended to be scientific; in other words, they’re based on info provided by individuals who hunt morels and chat on Internet discussion boards! There are likely hoards of mushroom hunters who have never been on the Internet. Take Fred Baker of southern Indiana, for example; he’s been hunting mushrooms for more than 55 years and has never logged on to the Internet–and has no intention of ever doing so!
In Canada, morel season usually starts in May, and can extend to July, as the snows recede slowly in different regions. In southern Ontario and Quebec (the Lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Valley), Maritimes and southern Manitoba, morels have been found from May 4 to June 6. In the nothern coniferous forests, May 28 to July 8. Western mountainous regions, April 24 to July 5; and along the coast of British Columbia, April 18 to July 15, although morels have been found along the west coast of Canada as early as February. Further north, in the Northwest Territories and Alaska, morel season runs June 1st to July 30th, peaking at the end of June.
Generally speaking, the best time to begin looking for morels is when daytime highs in your area have been in the 60’s, with nighttime lows no colder than the 40’s. Rain is important, too. Mushrooms like it warm and moist–but not soggy. Morels grow where soil is moist yet well-drained–not oversaturated. If you have a dry spring, the crop will be sparse. If you have ample rain–but not an unusually wet spring–the crop will be plentiful. As Larry notes ( in Morels: True or False, pg 31), “Extended rains. . .frosts and freezes, droughts and heat waves all can have adverse effects. And remember, those effects are felt years down the road.” (Remember, it takes morels five years to grow.) Many mushroom hunters know to head out after receiving warmer rains.
As Fred says, “Warmth and moisture are the secrets for a good year.” He says morels need moisture, warm days and “warm nights, especially.” He adds, “If it’d get up to 80 and come a rain, they’d pop up in the concrete!” Spring 2004 was warm and moist, and Fred and his wife Tona found 440 morels that year.
| Carl Robinson, the Mushroom King of Mesick, Michigan, the Mushroom Capitol of the World, has even found morels near these pine trees on his property. Photo by Denise R. Baker, www.smartypantswrite.com |
At the time of this writing (Spring 2005), it’s been unusually warm in northwest lower Michigan for late March and early April, with highs from the 50’s to 70’s and lows in the 40’s. In an interview with Carl Robinson, 85, the Mushroom King of Mesick, Michigan–the Mushroom Capitol of the World–he reports that he’s going out mushroom hunting in a couple of days. “I don’t want anybody to see me!” he says. That might be tricky, as his Bronco sports a red and white magnetic sign in spring that reads: “C.G. Robinson, the Mushroom King.” Carl says, “Sk88 [his word for ‘scads of’] people want me to take ‘em out in the woods and show them where they’re at!”
When asked whether he pays attention to the weather or to what plants are blooming to know when to go morel hunting, Carl simply points to his head. “It tells me when to go,” he says. (So that’s how he got to be Mushroom King! The morels communicate with him through telepathy!)
SUMMARY: Morel hunting time begins around the average date of last killing frosts in your area and can be dependent on the temperature and moisture. Moisture, warm days and warm nights, the first blooming of wildflowers, can signal that it’s time for the first morels to appear.
Here is a quick post but helpful. When hunting for morels you should be following a temp map. Here is a link to a map source http://www.greencastonline.com/SoilTempMaps.aspx
Temps in your area should be in the sixties in the day and no colder than 40 at night. A rain before hand will sure help.
Happy Hunting
Jim
The Morel is one of the most sought after wild mushrooms in the world. Not only are they found in the U.S. they are found worldwide. They morels are found mostly in wooded areas buy also can be found along roadsides,fence rows,riverbanks,orchards,and even in cemetery’s. In The U.S. we have the dead elms that are highly prized areas. The elms were hit with Dutch Elm Disease years back. When you find an elm with the bark coming off there is a good chance you will find morels in that area. But don’t be afraid to search places that you might not think you will find them. I have found morels in a friends backyard. This was a total surprise to me,but just goes to show that you can find them about anywhere. Just keep looking and you to will find these sought after mushrooms.
Happy Hunting
Jim
For all you Morel hunters out there. Now is the time to get prepared for the upcoming Morel season. Get out and search the areas you want to hunt. Start by looking for your dead elms in your areas and make note to were you have found them. This will make it much easier to find once the foilage starts. Get your gear ready now don’t wait till the last minute to get prepared. I no this is something that slips some of us by. If you are finding Morels in your area please leave your comments and will give other hunters an idea that they are up in your state or country.
To Your Success
Jim
This may come as a surprise to some people, but many of the expensive, special gourmet mushrooms that you will pay a lot of money for in a top restaurant are actually available to you completely free of charge, and many of which could be growing not very far from your current location!
Wild mushrooms such as the Bolette variety, considered to be one of the most delicious mushrooms of all, will usually grow in many different kinds of forests at around summer/autumn time, depending on the weather. Mushrooms like wet, damp, moist conditions, and the Bolette variety like to grow in a close proximity to Oak and Beech trees, amongst grass. These mushrooms are very highly sort after, especially the Penny Bun variety, which tastes just as nice as it looks.
Another delicious and still somewhat mysterious type of fungi is that of a truffle – this is a small round dark (or white) fruit body which appears at the base of old beech trees, sometimes they are a few centimeters below the surface (and therefore invisible and very hard to find), yet with the right knowledge they can still be discovered. People sometimes use dogs or pigs to help sniff out a truffle, thanks to their strange yet potent smell, and it is a very lucrative business as decent, good quality truffles have been sold in the past for several thousand pounds!
Morels are another kind of tasty, edible mushroom, again highly used by top restaurants, and again not too cheap either. These are slightly different in their growing parameters compared to your typical mushroom, in the fact that they appear in Spring time, and by the fact that they prefer an urban environment. Morels have been known to appear in many strange locations, such as popping up by a concrete pavement, or in a car park, and so you are unlikely to find many of these in a forest – they may actually be much closer to you, maybe even appearing in your garden.
The reason that the 3 above kinds of fungi are all so expensive and sought after is down to one point – they currently only grow in the wild, that is to say that no-one is able to cultivate either Bolettes, Truffles or Morels (however some people are spending a lot of time researching how to grow Truffles, and so you could expect these to be available in the future). But its still amazing to think that these expensive and delicious forms of mushrooms are available to you for nothing, in the wild, and yet still you could pay incredible amounts in a restaurant to be able to taste any one of these delights.
|
Learn everything you need to know about growing mushrooms yourself, in your own home or garden. Keep up to date with the current mushroom season by visiting our wild mushroom blog. |
Powered by WordPress