Evan Posted April 9, 2012 Report Share Posted April 9, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upsinker Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted April 13, 2012 Report Share Posted April 13, 2012 Thanks Dave. Would it be worthwhile returning in so many days to see if there is more? I wondered if this would be a good spot to look for the big yellows also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 I found another dead elm today with a bunch of bigger yellow morels under it. I about half killed myself getting to it , but the pay off was decent. In the end I took home 68 decent sized morels from under that tree. DS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyflyfsh Posted April 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 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!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 I am going to try stuffing some in the next few days. Tonight I am going flour, egg and bread crumb style. Thanks for the advice and good luck . Watch out for the stinkin ticks. I've been pulling them off me all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easternWA Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 It's still very early here but I couldn't resist checking a spot yesterday. I found 3 small blacks. At least that's something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualsetters Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 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. DS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted April 23, 2012 Report Share Posted April 23, 2012 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feral Boy Posted April 24, 2012 Report Share Posted April 24, 2012 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. Nice, Dave! We're pretty much played out here, found just a few between us all at "Morel Madness" up near Troy, Missouri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted April 27, 2012 Report Share Posted April 27, 2012 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. 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. Also spotted a dead elm on the perimeter of the orchard and there were two morels under it. 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. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtnmushroom Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted May 5, 2012 Report Share Posted May 5, 2012 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. Esculentas under apple. Deliciosas (Morchella diminutiva... or possibly M. virginiana) under Tulip Poplar and White Ash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormbourne Posted May 7, 2012 Report Share Posted May 7, 2012 Green Bay, Wisconsin this weekend. Wish I could have stayed. Too warm here in Columbus, Ohio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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