# Morel questions



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I finally found my first morels in 3 years of searching.

I've been looking in 20-30 year old aspen woods with little to no understory vegetation and finding nothing. A forester that I know said that's where he finds them. I've looked in other forest types too. 

Today I found them in a pine plantation clearcut and most were light colored and small like thumbnail size. I didn't pick the small ones because I'm hoping that they are just emerging and will grow large. I rechecked some about an hour after finding them and they were darker and possibly a bit larger.

Is it possible that it's just too early for the ones growing in the woods and the reason I haven't found any in the woods is because the soil is still too cold from not having any sun exposure?

We're getting frequent rain. How long do they stay fresh once the emerge?


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Are you sure they are true morels and not false morels? We find false morels under our pines.


----------



## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

We normally look for night time temps in the 50's to start hunting morel. Of course the southern exposure will be the first to warm the soil. I'm thinking I've heard a soil temp of 50*.We find "spikes" around standing water in ditches etc,the "blacks seem to prefer growing around poplars and the "yellows" around ash,dying elm,apple or even open meadows.I have always heard where ever you find mayapple it's the right soil condition for morels,and I have found many growing under mayapple.Hope this helps.

Wade


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Cabin Fever said:


> Are you sure they are true morels and not false morels? We find false morels under our pines.


I"m sure these are true morels. They have the hollow stem. I did find 2 false morels in a different area last week.

The clearcut I was in today is a red pine plantation that had lots of aspen mixed in before the cutting. They mostly removed the aspen.

Tomorrow I'm going up the Grade to a clear cut that I visited last spring. I didn't think to look for mushrooms.


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

1shotwade said:


> We normally look for night time temps in the 50's to start hunting morel. Of course the southern exposure will be the first to warm the soil. I'm thinking I've heard a soil temp of 50*.We find "spikes" around standing water in ditches etc,the "blacks seem to prefer growing around poplars and the "yellows" around ash,dying elm,apple or even open meadows.I have always heard where ever you find mayapple it's the right soil condition for morels,and I have found many growing under mayapple.Hope this helps.
> 
> Wade


I think I've been seeing lots of mayapples in the thick aspen woods with no understory. The fiddleheads are popping up in those woods too.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We always waited till the may apples started to bloom to look. the may apples in my woods has bulbs and will probably bloom in a day or so.
We also look in areas with heavy maples over other trees although elm groves seem to be ideal if you can find elms.

Don't pass up the beef steaks either, My brother 3 hours north of me has been finding them for about a week now while out digging ramps.

 Al


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

alleyyooper said:


> We always waited till the may apples started to bloom to look. the may apples in my woods has bulbs and will probably bloom in a day or so.
> We also look in areas with heavy maples over other trees although elm groves seem to be ideal if you can find elms.
> 
> Don't pass up the beef steaks either, My brother 3 hours north of me has been finding them for about a week now while out digging ramps.
> ...


We wandered around the bottom land next to the Mississippi. I'm fairly certain those are elms but I wonder if it's too damp most of the time. I did see an old water line on the tree trunks that was 5' high. Right now it's dry enough to walk on. The main ground vegetation seems to be horsetail.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We startwed useing GPS to mare locations in 1996.

 Al


----------



## charliesbugs (Feb 25, 2007)

Friend of mine believes that the big yellow type grows from the grays and blacks if left alone. Does anyone have any info. on that?? I say they are diff. types.


----------



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I'd read that they are different species.

We went back to the clearcut today and only found 2. I think the rest were picked because I did find some previously found ones next to the road although some of those were missing and I don't think a picker would have missed them.

The ones I found today were pretty small so I left them.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Have any of ya'll did a search for Morel mushrooms to see what all you can learn about them.
I don't agree with all wrote about them in the books I got years ago but I don't disagree with every thing either.

 Al


----------

