Jump to content

PA Morels


Evan

Recommended Posts

Well, we didn’t have much of a fruiting of black morels this year. We found a grand total of one. Haha!! Harmony and I went out for a while yesterday and found some small yellows and half free morels. It was a great time spending a few, semi productive hours on the woods. Maybe some day we will have another great year. They have been few and far between. 

F52C5740-4A73-4228-AB00-47A73ABF9803.jpeg

C4F7C994-CC62-4868-9B2A-072EB3FB764C.jpeg

758AFF7B-3764-4BC8-943F-B725EDA2FC69.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That makes two of us Dave.  I have been out a few times and did not find one morel.  The only thing I accomplished was wearing out our Lab puppy, yeah and myself.  It did feel good to get back out there.  Think I'll check out a few apple orchards tomorrow. Have a list of them near me, figured I'd scope them out and if it looks good I'll call and ask permission to look closer.  Good Luck guys, hopefully things will look up soon!!  Nice pictures Evan!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isis, do you know about the issue with old apple orchards here in eastern NA? Some orchards had been treated annually with lead arsenate, for decades. This pesticide was legal for ~100 years ending in the latter part of the last century. If you don't know the history of an orchard where you want to pick morels, then it may be a good idea to test the soil for lead. (Testing for arsenic requires lab-work.) I used a relatively cheap lead-test kit to check the couple orchards where I pick here in NE PA and got favorable results. Possibly the small 2-4 acre orchards up here --adjunct to dairy farms-- mainly escaped the heavy pesticide use. Morels are know to uptake substances present in the soil. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the heads up Dave.  Didn't realize the risk involved.  Where can I pick up the test kit?  Just the thrill of finding them would be nice. I want to eat them yes, but just finding them would be wonderful.  Have yet to find a spot that produces more than a handful.  Thanks again!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got the kit online from a company in Canada, maybe 10 years ago. Forget the name. It was $35/12 applications. You could always harvest morels and dry them, label as per location, and wait until you get a chance to test the soil before deciding to use any of the mushrooms. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did some checking on line and found some kits, but yes that is a good idea. I will take samples of the soil and process the mushrooms and test before eating.  Going to give it a shot later this afternoon. Checked other sites and people are finding in other counties around me,  suppose to rain today maybe that will help them pop.  Thank you so much for the advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a similar observation last week thinking the black morel season was about over especially after hearing people were starting to find white ones . I only found two small ones but decided to let them there and come back this week. Yesterday I found these at the same spot. These were all fresh and no old ones.

 

IMG_0862.JPG.jpeg

IMG_0863.JPG.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow! Nice. maybe there's still hope for my blacks? It's supposed to stay damp with average temps for the next week. 

Checked to see if anything was starting up in one of my orchard spots. One freshly popped M. americana by a very large old apple tree that's been producing well for the past two years. I left it there to mature, though the snails will likely get this one. 

Morchella_americana_NT_4-25_1.thumb.JPG.eb7893154eee70eb309bc55defcfe599.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Found 5 blacks and yellows on Saturday & then on Sunday found a huge bloom of oysters on a standing dead ash, ? poplar?  Today I gave up on the gobblers  9 am,  walk up into the crab ap ples and found  37 yellows in an hour. The best trees were dead apple but there was also a mix of black cherry and elms there. Wow, It's on.

20190429_090028 - Copy.jpg

20190428_162238.jpg

20190428_162229.jpg

20190428_162659.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/26/2019 at 11:56 AM, Evan said:

Nice, BigGameHunter!! Maybe I should check again. I'm in SC PA also. 

Went back to the same spot yesterday & found 70 more. I looked at some of my other spots & only found a couple of black ones or none. I haven't found any white ones yet. Seems like a hit-or-miss year to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Things are still slow for me here in NE PA. Checked a tulip poplar forest yesterday. One brand new Morchella diminutiva that I left to mature. I think once it warms up and dries out a bit, things will really take off around here.   

 Morchella_diminutiva_LC_4-29.thumb.JPG.7960b81c3eb1cbe30cccbe0130345ac3.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 Tuesday and 21 Wednesday, 3 or 4 rejects per day. One uprooted dead apple had 11 keepers. There is what I'm calling large worm casings all thru this spot, a 1/2 inch hollow in the middle them. 2 to 3 inches high. Also found a nice plate of horse mushrooms under spruce. Made mushroom potato soup a couple times. It's awesome, like mock clam chowder.

20190501_105342.jpg

20190430_103506.jpg

20190501_105700.jpg

20190430_141431.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice finds! I have infrequently found the early-season Horse Mushrooms, but not as early as during morel season.

Not sure what you mean by "worm casings". Is this a hole or something in the mushroom, or in the soil? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I found a bunch of these in my landscaping and not sure what they are. It looks like black models and are edible. Can you confirm this is correct? I dont know that much about mushrooms.

Thank you

20190501_174445.jpg

20190501_174456.jpg

20190501_174504.jpg

IMG_20190501_162936312932130881842390.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Look at the photo with mud piled up. They can be a couple inches high. Sometimes they're wet and sometimes they have dried out but they have a .5 inch hole inside. Must be some kind of worm. Basic roux/milk recipe. I just made another pot & still have 2 more bags of morels. No morels today but  there were a couple interesting mushrooms. I'll list the recipe later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a couple photos of the bug making those mud piles. Looks like a larval form of the cicada. Tracey's black morels must be a western species. Her location is Bonnie Kake? As far as I know they're edible. Same old consumption rules apply.

20190504_155703.jpg

20190504_155620.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.