TOPIC: Sign that it's time for Morel's to show up

Hey Folks,

I am sure looking forward to finding and eating more of those morel mushrooms this spring.

Did not have much luck last year, only found that one little black morel but cooked it up and ate it and MAN that was some good eatin. I just gotta do more of that this year.

I was looking around at some youtube vids the other day and a guy was finding some (over in East TN) and said his tip for when it is right to find morels is when red buds are blooming - that is the right time to be looking.

I took a pic of that little black I found last year and the date the pic was taken was 4-10-2011. I expect that is about right for red buds blooming here in Middle TN too.

Just thought I would check with some of you more expreienced shroomers and see if you have any other \"signs\" that the time is right to start looking hard for morels ?

Thanks

TNHunter

Hey thats probably about right, i'm not a 100% on the exact time they do but its around the same time. But here in east ky, we start looking in late march. Now we do find some this time of year, but not a lot. We do our best picking in the second week of April throughout the month.

I would try and post a pic or two but appearently i have forgot how, been trying to post pics on another thread.

Not sure about the redbuds. Seems like around these parts they are blooming a little earlier than what the morrels start. Shorly after the mayapples start pushing through the ground the blacks begin showing up here. Generally around the middle of April around these parts (South-Eastern Ohio). By the end of April or the first part of May the yellow ones come on strong. I'm usually done by the middle of May. I'm sure that to the south of here things will start a little earlier and a little later to the north. Here's some I found last spring...

TN is where I start picking Black morels right around the first week of April I'm picking pop can size. Pick my way North and hit PA last week of April and switch to yellows and finish 2nd week of May. The Black Morel will start fruting at 52F soil temp. When picking Blacks look for red buds starting, may apples just pushing and Tulip trees just starting to push leaves.

Thanks Guys...

I will be putting down some gypsum on my wild simulated beds the next few weeks.

It sure has been nice and warm here the past week or two and I was wondering if those morels ever pop out this time of year if it is unseasonably warm for a few weeks.

I am going to keep my eye out for em, even though they may not be out in full force until first week in April.

When the mayapple and redbuds start up I will sure be out there covering some hillsides.

Also, the youtube vid I watched, that guy said he found most of the morels he found that day around hickory and poplar trees.

I have seen several saying look around dead elm trees, but I don't think we have many elm trees around here. Got lots of hickory and poplar though.

I do know where there is a old apple orchard, and I am going to see if I can get permission to look there too.

TNhunter

Hey hillbilly,

Before you can post a picture here you hvae to re-size it to be no more than 800x800 (best I remember).

I usualy just set my camera to take pics at 640x480 and they post fine here.

If you are trying to post pics and that is failing, I am sure it is because your pics are too large.

Re-size them to be small enough and they will post fine.

TNhunter

TN
I start out every year the last week of March and end up doing a lot of walking for nothing. 5prong hit it right on the head as far as the dates for here in Ohio in his previous post here on your thread. Pretty much right on track for what my schedule looks like each spring for finding them.

You should be looking in TN about the first week of April as you are about a week to two weeks earlier than we are here in Ohio depending on the weather. But I would say April 10th will be when they are up in abundance for you down there.

I drive 60 miles south to find them around Tar Hollow in southern Ohio a week before they come up here in central Ohio. Amazing what 60 miles south will do.

Some may get lucky and find a few here and there really early but they will be small and few. It's better to wait until they grow anyway.

Some will say mushrooms will not grow after they come up but they are so incorrect. They will grow and depending on the morel species some continue to grow until quite large.

With this thread and this weather I am thinking about mushroom hunting and I cannot wait for April to come.
Good luck everyone,
Latt

TNhunter watch those old orchards the chemicals they used back in the day are still present in the soil and show up in the morels. I've commercial picked black morels for over 15 years.. The way I target them.. I hunt strickly Tulip pop. stands and use a method I call barrier hunting. Look for roadway's, towerlines, logging roads, rock outcrops, springs in hollows, lake, etc. The morel mycelium grows to these area's and can't go any farther the only method it has to jump this barrier is form a fruit body and spore out. These are the area's I target up and down the East coast with great results. Google Earth is a great research tool!

TNhunter... Check out Morels.com they have a very active TN message board with many people posting finds by county. This will give you the time you should be out looking.

trahn007 and others..

I am taking notes, all the tips you guys are giving and saving them in a document on my PC.

That lil black I found last year was back behind my house a littl ways, there is a fairly dense stand of tulip poplar on a north facing hillside that sort of plays out as it gets near the bottom of the hollow. There was a medium size poplar tree near the bottom of that range that had some damage on it, and that little black was just out from the base of that tree.

It was the only one there, man I looked hard for others, got down on my knees and looked, but found no more.

I waited 4-5 days and went back and looked again, still no more.

I searched that stand of poplars and around the edges 3-4 times after finding that one but never found another.

I looked in several other places too, in big old timber around a creek bottom, over in another area where I have 15 acres of 30 year old white pine that runs along a creek bottom, man I looked hard and found no more.

For someone that can find seng so well, it was really frustrating not to be able to find those yummy morels.

Here's to better luck this year !

TNHunter