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I found over 25 black morels today!!!  It's a theory of mine, but I think they come out around here just as the redbuds are starting to bloom.  The redbuds started early so I went out to my land today and checked the area I've found them in the past.  It worked.  I'm in central Virginia.

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Mutual occurrence of red-buds and morels is something I have heard about, and seen. I don't see red-buds up here in NE PA. But, over the past 10 years or so I've been off-and-on meeting my friend Evan in S PA to hunt Morchella angusticeps, usually a week or so before I find any up here where I live.  Those years when the pickin' was good down there the red buds were in bloom. 

Thanks for sharing info about this early find, angela!

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I've hunted the Shenandoah VA area for morels for over 25 years and used to keep very detailed records. Soil temp., rain amounts for the prior year and especially the last month or so prior to normal fruiting time, the trees and other plants and their stages of growth, etc. I was always told that the White morels, M. americana  and M. diminutiva fruited when the red bud bloomed. 
This is often true but not always. I've found out the Red bud blooms within about a week each year. The morels fruitng can sometimes be a week or even 2 weeks later than the red bud blooms. The most accurate plant stage I rely on is when the May Apples leaves flatten out  is prime time. 
Remember there will always be someone report their early morel finds. These are the ones who have hunted them hard for many years and know some early patches, but the major or widespread fruitngs will be a week to 10 days later.

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TimG,

 

That is interesting about the May apples.  I don't see many around here.  I think they grow along the James River in the parks in the city.  I'm in the Richmond area, and my black morels are in Amelia County.  I found a few more black morels yesterday.  

Angela

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I looked around at least 50 tulip poplar last weekend and didn't see any. Found a few black ones under black cherry trees last year. Don't get it. I thought the poplar forest would have a lot.

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Camille, do you generally find black morels under tulip poplar? Tree associations for eastern NA black morels seems to vary regionally.  Presumably almost all of them found east of the Rockies are the same species, Morchella angusticeps. I have read many accounts of folks in the Midwest who find them under cherry. Here in NE PA and NJ I have never seen a single black morel under cherry. 

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No I haven't. Just heard people have found them under tulip poplar and thought I had a good place to look. The trees were around creek bottom areas too. I've only found a few small blacks under cherry.

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No half frees or blacks under tulip poplars yet. Today under dead apple at Burrgettown PA. Small yellow.  Cicada shells are i20200408_151832.thumb.jpg.0a426d226a21c7912f04f2cd7907824c.jpgn the soil and on the limbs. The turkeys are gobblin.   

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Went to my early spot for blacks yesterday; none seen. This is a tulip poplar area, open forest, southern aspect along the bottom of a ridge. Last year I found 0 blacks there. Back between 2000 and 2010 I was getting mainly 50-150 per year, one year 450. Other spots where I had found blacks haven't been producing these past few years. Anybody else noticing a steep decrease in Morchella angusticpes (black morels) these past few years?

Weather seems very good this spring. 

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I'm still new to mushrooming. I walked many poplar stands the last 5 to 6 years without seeing a morel.  Last year from April 21 to May 8 I finally saw 5 blacks, 11 half frees and about 50 diminutiva in the poplars.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Mycowalt identified my yellow morel pictured with the garden thermometer  as M americana,  Esculenta clade. 

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New this year, so I don’t have any established morel spots. Checked tulip poplars, wild cherries and a lovely stream floodplain with huge dead ash and haven’t seen any yet. May be too early here or these spots might not produce, or both. Will continue to check these spots as the season matures. 

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North of the Pocono ridge, I think it's still too early for any morels except for the blacks (Morchella angusticpeps). Yellows --M. americana, M. diminutiva-- generally don't show up at my latitude until around the end of April. 

Bobby, I think your soil temperature near Pittsburgh is significantly higher than here in NE PA. Still, this is pretty early to see any yellows, even in SW PA.

GCn15, I suspect part of the problem here in my area is that winter tends to hang on for too long. We had a decent warm-up early last week.  Things were looking ready to burst into spring; buds on trees not quite opening. Then... car covered in snow this morning. 

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Back down to 46 degree soil temp in the local poplars today. Saw a Gyromitra under a dead elm, Galerina on hardwoods  & a pheasant back starting on a dead elm. Also saw a Psathyrella at the base of a dead black cherry 2 days ago. Spring is here.

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Soil temps dropped back down, 45 to 47 degrees. One group of morels under the dead apple trees, as identified by mycowalt, are M americana. They are grayish to whitish. Then there's another group that has blackish pits and lighter colored ridges. A variant or different species?

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The one seen in the photo is likely to also represent the species Morchella americana. When this type first pops out of the ground the pits are often quite dark and the ridges very pale gray, like the one seen here. As the mushroom matures it may or may not become more yellow. There are a few eastern NA "cryptic" species of Morchella that are difficult --if not impossible-- to distinguish from M. americana on the basis of gross morphology. One such species is M. ulmaria. This one is said to feature broad/flat ridges and tends to stay gray throughout it's life span. I have applied the name to some of my morel collections, but honestly I don't really know if this has been a correct application. 

Here's a couple links to morels I collected in the same 3 acre elm grove. They look different; I used the name M. americana for the yellow ones and M. ulmaria for the gray ones. But... I'm not real confident about them representing different species.  https://mushroomobserver.org/165338?q=1AtWa        https://mushroomobserver.org/165336

It's only about 20 years ago that all the large yellow/gray eastern NA morels were classified as M. esculenta, a name that is currently considered to not apply to any NA morel. M. americana is the most common of these types in NA, and in addition to M. ulmaria I think there may be one or two other names applied to cryptic NA species. People often distinguish these morels by color... grays, yellows, whites. These classifications almost certainly lack scientific credibility

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Found 3 black morels under elms today near the Oakmont Country club. There were some black cherry nearby. One was firmly attached to a stick. A medium sized tulip poplar was also nearby but a little too far to be considered an associate. The soil was about 49 degrees.

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