Morels

[Dave W]

Soil temperature just a hair below 50F. (See previous post; page 1).

I had thought the recent cold weather would have brought things to a halt. But, today --while not even looking for mushrooms-- I ran across the morel pictured below... on my property... a first! Near an apple tree where over the last 19 years I have often spread morel scraps or water used to wash spores off the shelves in my dehydrator. But the most interesting thing is, I think this morel may represent a species I have not ever brought home (since living here). Maybe just a an unusually large immature specimen of M. angusticeps (eastern Black Morel), but I think it's not this species; probably some related saprobic species. 

[bobby b]

Crazy looking. Does it have the groove or sinus like the blacks?   I saw a video on youtube last week about growing morels. This man had morels growing all over his yard.

[Evan]

Dave, the stalk of this one doesn't remind me of typical black morels. Although the cap, other than color, is perfect. Maybe it's due to the weather this year being so different. It's only been above 65 a few days here and people are finding large yellows in orchards. We found some of the smaller species in our woods the other day. I'm not up on all of the Latin names anymore since they changed. Not as many as we had hoped, but still the most we’ve found at home. 

[bobby b]

Evan they look like M diminutiva. I found them for the first time last year in tulip poplars but I found them in the first week of May. The largest was 7 inches high. ??? That being said I thought all grays, as stated by mushroomexpert, were really just immature M esculentoides.

[Dave W]

I agree, Evan. The stalk on my strange morel does not look like an eastern NA Black Morel (Morchella angusticeps). There are some relatives of M. angusticpeps that are found in natural settings in western NA. I think this is one of those species... or maybe some sort of hybrid. I scoped material from it, and waited for a spore drop. But, I haven't found a single spore. Unusual, since this looks like a mature specimen, and mature morels typically drop a lot of spores. I wonder if this may be some hybrid species that produces sterile fruit bodies...? Thinking about it today... I purchased a grow kit about 15 years ago. I thought I recalled planting it in one particular other spot. But it occurs to me that I had split it up into 2-3 batches that I buried in different spots. I'm now pretty sure the spot where I found the morel was one of the places where I planted some of the kit. I have heard accounts of grow kits producing morels only years after they were planted. But in this case it's like 15 years! 

Bobby, I did not remember to check for the slight overhang/depression where the cap attaches to the stalk. Good suggestion. If I find another one I'll check. 

M. esculentoides was a name that Kuo had hoped would replace the name M. esculenta in NA. But Clowez et. al. published a new name --M. americana-- before Kuo submitted his proposal. Kuo did get the name Morchella diminutiva published; the ones we used to call "deliciosas". Evan, your smallish yellow/gray morels are probably M. diminutiva. Except, there is a similar species, M. sceptriformis (Clowez et. al); virtually identical, said to be a little larger. There are also at least one or two cryptic species that are virtually identical to M. americana. One of these is M. ulmaria (Clowez). What we used to call M. crassipes is probably just a very large version of M. americana. Eastern NA "Half Free Morels" are now M. punctipes. There's probably a few other undocumented species out there. There's a spot in an old orchard --apple trees all dead for years, totally overgrown-- where I used to find these strange little Black Morels, I think something other than M. angusticeps. Never saw this type in any other place, and the spot dried up before I got my first digital camera (no photos). Ate all the evidence. 

A couple weeks ago, I thought we were headed for a good early morel season up here in NE PA. Nice warm days, plenty of sun, occasional rainfall. But then, cold weather returned. Last week one morning it was 21F. Tuesday morning it's supposed to be 24F. Thursday 27F. Looking forward to the yellows/grays... next warmup. 

[RAU]

I found my first morels ever this afternoon. Found them in northeastern Pa. I found 53. Many are small I picked them because I’m not going to be able to get back at least not for a week or more and they’re the 1st I’ve ever found.   Pretty happy with these 

[Dave W]

RAU, would yo mind sharing some general info on habitat? Types of trees?

[bobby b]

With these cold temperatures the white morels are slow growing. On 4/8 I took a picture of one & then again on 4/19. Left it there to see how big it gets.

You can also see the color change. Some of them that were clean gray showed browning from the cold, maybe a frost.

[RAU]

Sure, these were near old apple trees. Area is overgrown with some may apples present along with multi flora rose and other brush. Some dead ash and maple here too. I’m amazed how hard these are to spot. Whenever I spotted 1 I’d take a knee and really look close and I’d find atleast 1 more and often several. What color are the morels I found? White? Do the other strains often fruit in same spot? I can assume that their just starting here in North East Pa correct?

[Dave W]

Thanks RAU. I'll need to start checking my apple tree spots and elm spots. It's way earlier than usual. Mostly, the morels that grow under old apple trees are Morchella americana (formerly M. esculenta). Color varies gray/white/yellow/tan, even slightly greenish sometimes. Also, color often change as one of this type morel matures. 

Bobby, your photos show this color-change phenomenon very well! See how the small gray morel first observed on 4/8 has become more yellow. Also, very useful seeing how slowly they are growing in this chilly weather. 

[Bowguy]

Interesting

[Foulhook]

Some Small half frees under tulip poplars yesterday in western pike county PA. Nothing to write home about. Need some regular 60 degree days and some 45* nights. 

[Dave W]

I drove south to MD yesterday. I know a good morel spot down there. Did pretty well.  

[Foulhook]

Wow! Very nice haul Dave! Some beautiful specimens there as well. 

[bobby b]

Looks like a mix of yellows and M diminutiva. ??  What kind of trees Dave? I found a little tiny M diminutiva under a pignut hickory a couple days ago. Left it to grow.

Yellows today under dead crab apples. 18 of them. These were the biggest.

Soil temp was 50 degrees today. Still haven't made it back to 54 degrees on  4/8/20.

[Dave W]

My MD morels are all "tulip morels", named for tulip poplar,  the type of tree they typically grow under. There are probably two species seen, M. diminutiva which tend to have thin conical caps and M. sceptriformis which tend to have wider barrel-shaped caps. Here is n excellent account of the two species  http://www.fungusfactfriday.com/226-tulip-morels/ . The author says that sceptriformis is known to occur only under tulip poplar, whereas diminutiva --although favoring tulip poplar woods-- is also found under an assortment of other types of hardwood trees. I know of two spots --100 miles apart-- where diminutiva grows under live apple trees with small black cherry trees mixed in. 

Bobby, your large yellow morels found under dying crab apple are almost certainly M. americana (formerly called by the European name M, esculenta). Those are nice big ones. They look to be fully grown but not moldy or decomposing. This is one of the tricky things about harvesting the large yellows, letting them grow to maturity but getting them before the snails or mold damage them. Here in NE PA I think we are set up for early next week to be the peak. Lots of rainfall predicted for Thursday into Friday, then a warmup. Hope it's not too much rain! 1.0-1.5 would be fine, but in my experience 2-3 inches can be detrimental. 

[bobby b]

This crab apple spot is a pretty good size area but grows morels in a small 50 yard  section. Last year was the first time I found M diminutiva like morels & found them in tulip poplars. I think I posted this photo last year. About 8 inches. Perhaps M sceptriformis.

[bobby b]

Looks like M virginiana is a synonym for M sceptriformis.

[Dave W]

Yep, Clowez called it sceptriformis and Kuo called it virginiana. Clowez published his name before Kuo did. 

Wow that's a really big tulip morel! One of diminutiva or sceptriformis, probably the latter. 

[bobby b]

Today's morels.

Under pignut hickory, tulip poplar & elms.