Jump to content

The Morels are Coming...The Morels are Coming....


Recommended Posts

Nice finds, guys. Things are a little dry and cold here right now. I'm hoping this doesn't end our season for blacks. Last year wasn't that great, either. It was cold and very rainy last year, but the yellows were great. Maybe we'll get lucky again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been itching to get pick some morels here in CT but so far no luck. It's been very, very dry and none to warm... oh well. I got a good lead on a big old apple orchard I want to check out, just hope we get a little rain. Only thing worth picking I've found lately is ramps. At least the fishing's been decent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally had a little luck. I went to a local wood to look under some sycamores in a wash out and noticed a huge dead old tree. I was taken back when I saw my first morel and immediately took a picture of my find. Looking around I noticed a few more and in the end I found 33 all around that tree. They all seemed fresh and I found no rotten ones. They looked to be all types too which surprised me, but I am not sure. There was an equal amount of black, grey and yellow ones. Im hoping this will be a good spot to return to. Im not sure if I should return in 3 days or be patient and wait longer.

DS

IMAG0123.jpg

IMAG0130.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice! Congrats! These look to all be the same species... formerly known an Morchella esculenta (in most manuals), but currently being reclassified under new North American species name. This type occurs in a variety of colors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice find, DS. The first batch looked like, what I call, deliciosas. The second batch definitely look like esculentas. Congrats!! I hope we get a chance to find more this year. We've had almost no rain and it's been cold. The next few days are supposed to be warmer. Gonna go check soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Evan and good luck on your hunting.

I believe we are supposed to hit the 80s here tomorrow and although it was supposed to, it didnt rain much here today. I am still going to check the other dead elms I have been watching tomorrow, but am more than happy with what I have found so far. I got some real nice mushrooms for stuffing today and am going to try using a syringe to stuff them with crab meat stuffing once and hot sausage stuffing once. There will be a few left for breading and grilling also. If I am fortunate enough to find some more I am hoping to dry some and put them aside until Fall/Winter. Then I believe I can concentrate on boletes until the summer mushrooms come. Ill have to keep listening to everyone here so I can get my timing right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those are primo DS! A good way to stuff morels is by jamming in the stuffing using a chopstick.

So dry here... We found a dozen blacks in one small patch, which is probably gonna be the last of these for us this year. No rain and heat on the way. We may still have a good season for the big esculentas... if some rain eventually gets here.

I think the North American "half-frees" are now being called Morchella punctipes. See "research/literature" thread for Tasso's post of a link to a publication which decribes the new NA morchella taxonomy.

post-20-0-91776600-1334506634_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-53670600-1334506653_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-88580600-1334506669_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DS, I usually use a zip loc bag with a corner cut off for stuffing morels. Just twist the top of the bag and use it like a piping bag for decorating cakes. We finally got some rain last night and this morning. I hope it isn't too late. I might try the woods one more time to check for blacks, but I have my doubts. Who knows, though. Maybe there will be a great flush of blacks and half frees.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Evan,

I'm getting closer to leaving FL and heading to PA...what do you think? Is it still too early or with the heat about to come, should I come now? So hard to guage the right time so hoping you guys can help.

Mary

DS, those are beauties!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mary, I think with the warm temps on the way, the morels will be ready to pop in southern PA. But some areas are very dry. So many of the morels may hold off until we get more rain. Long-range weather forecast calls for significant rainfall next weekend. If the rain moves in a little earlier, this next weekend could be pretty good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mary, Dave's right. Things are so strange here this year that it's hard to say. I didn't find many blacks and haven't even bothered to check again due to the lack of rain. We have had rain all day today, but not even enough to really wet the ground. I hope the rain comes tghis weekend so that we can get a flush of yellows in the orcchards. The farm manager for my boss' orchard pushed out a bunch of trees so I might check there if he let's me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me and Tina visited the trees where I found the morels last week. I didn't think we'd find many, but was hoping there'd be s few straglers popped up to take home. I hadn't been to the tree where I found the 68 yellows since last Sunday so went there first. We found 5. Same as I had guessed. Next was the tree where I found the first 33 and grabbed 6 from when passing by earlier this week. Surprisingly we found another 25. So we ended up bringing 30 more home. They weren't as fresh and I cut s few soft spots off of a couple, but not a bad day. animal047.gif

DS

IMG_1120.jpg?t=1335141864

IMG_1123.jpg?t=1335141824

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Took a drive west of our county to where there's lots of elms. Not too many morels just yet. It had become so dry. This has been a really difficult morel season to get a handle on. First, March was so warm and sunny. Then the extremely dry conditions. Then chilly. Now we're getting torrential rainfall, to be followed by cold temps. So... I just dunno. It's all part of the fun... not really knowing.

I think that the elms and the apple trees will still have one real good flush. The ones we found today were fresh.

post-20-0-76192700-1335147279_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Took a drive west of our county to where there's lots of elms. Not too many morels just yet. It had become so dry. This has been a really difficult morel season to get a handle on. First, March was so warm and sunny. Then the extremely dry conditions. Then chilly. Now we're getting torrential rainfall, to be followed by cold temps. So... I just dunno. It's all part of the fun... not really knowing.

I think that the elms and the apple trees will still have one real good flush. The ones we found today were fresh.

post-20-0-76192700-1335147279_thumb.jpg

Nice, Dave! We're pretty much played out here, found just a few between us all at "Morel Madness" up

near Troy, Missouri

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drove 45 miles to an elm spot yesterday. One shady area had some nice ones... 25 good enough to eat/preserve and another 10 old ones that i took home to spread around a couple apple trees on my property.

post-20-0-76080300-1335568717_thumb.jpg

Checked my favorite local orchard today. Not that many morels, but at least some fresh ones are sprouting. The two batches are fom the two trees that were producing.

post-20-0-24655800-1335568758_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-11346900-1335568801_thumb.jpg

Also spotted a dead elm on the perimeter of the orchard and there were two morels under it.

post-20-0-23579900-1335569334_thumb.jpg

Photo shows my best apple tree for the past 3 or 4 years. The elms die quickly, and produce morels for a couple years or so. The apple trees die slowly, and a good tree may produce good numbers of morels for 5-10 years.

post-20-0-48010100-1335568772_thumb.jpg

Maybe the warm weather that's predicted to come around this week will tease out a few more. This is one of those years when finding a few is a real accomplishment.

Colorful little critter.

post-20-0-27519200-1335568789_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:veggiedance:

It will be a long time before the morels come up here in Washington. This picture was taken a last week and there has been a lot more snow since then.

The snow is melting fast, some resivors are filling up fast. check the blewett pass cam, the snow has just melted there. It is looking more like a normal spring which we haven't seen here in wa in a while. I plan on picking this weekend, may 5-6, got to check my early patches on the east side of the cascades. I found 1 morel here in oly, wa... 1 hour before our mushroom club meeting on april 18th, but I hear stories of people finding them in their yards. I'm looking forward to a great season.

Mushrooms Rule the World!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's one or two spots here that get late-occurring yellows. Weather for the past week or so has been close to normal for this time of year. So maybe we will still get a few. But, most of my best spots are just about done producing. Numbers are way down, but it doesn't bother me that much. I've got plenty of dried ones from the past few good years.

Esculentas (Morchella esculentoides) under elm.

post-20-0-62425800-1336236715_thumb.jpg

Esculentas under apple.

post-20-0-08450900-1336236738_thumb.jpg

Deliciosas (Morchella diminutiva... or possibly M. virginiana) under Tulip Poplar and White Ash.

post-20-0-63027300-1336236753_thumb.jpg

post-20-0-30135600-1336236770_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.