St. Patrick’s Day in lowland PNW.
Joyous day when they raise their wrinkly heads!
Beginning of May in Hunterdon county
In NJ
I mentioned them to some colleagues at work, and got blank stares in response, so I described them. One of them said that they used to grow where they lived as kids, and they used to see how far they could kick them!
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There isn’t one…they don’t grow here. sobs
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Whenever my friends gift them to me, usually late spring after a previous summer fire in RM west.
Morels emerge here when the soil is approximately 50-54°F (10–12° C). The Black Morels grow under very old Tulip Trees, (Liriodendron tulipifera). The Club-Footed, Yellows, Whites and others prefer mixed hardwoods, old apple orchards and where American Elm once grew, ( American Elm has been largely wiped out by an Asian disease, unfortunately called “Dutch Elm Disease”. The Dutch were just the first to identify the pathogenic fungi. Morels often come up for years after the elms have died.
In most years, Black Morels emerge first, followed a couple weeks later by the other types. When the soil is about the right temperature, I wait 3–5 days after a good rain. However, for many years, we’ve had what I call “The Morel Drought.” It stops raining right before morel season and starts raining after the season, when it’s too warm! That’s why I grow shiitake mushrooms and gave up hunting morels most years.
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The first morels of the season were in the store today, for $34/lb. I’ll wait.
Sounds like what we did with puffballs.
They are literally everywhere in SoCal, like weed.
In the Angeles National Forest, chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, and morels are aplenty.
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Good information. Thank you!
I went looking for the answer and found this
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Cool! Thanks for posting that. We had rain a few days ago. Maybe I’ll look around.
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Usually they show up in farmers markets in the DMV early April through some time in May. I didn’t see any this past weekend.
Upper midwest should be a few weeks yet. They’re prolific where I live and I enjoy them. I also have a secret patch of woods on the south side of Milwaukee I doubt I’ll get to. Always got 10-40 lbs. there. They love elms where I live. If the elm burned, almost a guarantee they’ll be around. They are a rare heterotrophic fungus, meaning they need a host, like an elm tree’s roots, to “feed.” Not like the agaricus we buy in stores that I can get the spores washed out and throw on my lawn for free mushrooms. morels won’t do that. Preformed organic soil with a host is what they need. Otherwise, they’d be all over in stores. Finicky is what they are. Nice seasonal treat, though.
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Typically early May where I grew up in the Midwest. Here, much farther South, it’s supposedly mid-March. They were thick on the ground in the Midwest but here, I spent several days each the first few years when we first moved down and rarely found any - 1 to 2 at most. I’ve checked some local chat boards and the “big hits” are finding 3-4… mushrooms, not pounds. Bummer.
Shhhhhhh!
I hang my head in shame, but two days ago I bought 3oz of Tibetan morels from our local mushroom store for 20 bucks.
(In my defense, my wife and I both travel a lot, and yesterday we intersected at our Cambridge home. It seemed a special enough occasion for that, plus a $100 porterhouse and white asparagus at $6 a stalk.)
I’m told that local morels will appear in a week or so, and the price will plummet to half.
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Eataly Boston is showing them (via Instacart) as $82.49 for fresh, but don’t specify provenance.
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