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Early Spring Mushrooms ?


4rum

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I live in southern WV. Any suggestions on what to look for first? I am very familiar with morels, but would like some input on other very early varieties of edible mushrooms for my area. I've found Dryad's Saddle early but many claim that it's not very good to eat. Some parasols are very early, but I have to be careful with ID'ing them. The field guides I've purchased since last year should be a big help there.

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I'd call that a good day Adawg. Sorry to say it appears to be shaping into yet another 'no morel' season. Just when we need temps at night to hover in the 40's they're headed back into the 20's. I can remember so many years that we found a few morels in March here. Not many, that's where we learned to mix 'em with scrambled eggs, but a few and sometimes even a good skillet full. I believe my total take for the entire season last year was 4 :(. At exactly the time we don't need it we seem to always get that late blast of bitter cold winter.

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It's still early, at least at this latitude. A week of well-timed warm weather could make a big difference. Up here in PA the first three weeks of April are key. But if the ground gets just about warm enough, and then the bottom falls out again... the morels don't like this.

I think there are differences among the types of morels.

The blacks --Morchella angusticeps, earliest-- need early warmth without a cold relapse in order to really get going. My best years have been the ones where the blacks got going really well around April 13, and the nights stayed above 40F for awhile.

The half-frees --M. punctipes-- like it when a period of very warm weather occurs around the end of April. Good years are not so frequent for this type.

The "deliciosas" --M. diminutiva and M. virginiana-- small grays/yellows, seem to do best after a sustained period of warmth and moderate rainfall occurs around the beginning of May. But a badly-timed cold spell can set them back.

The large grays/yellows --M. americana and M. ulmaria-- occur mainly in two types of habitat here... forests of (mainly) healthy Tulip Poplar and White Ash, and around recently dead American Elm or dying apple trees. There is a difference. The ones in the diverse forest seem to require significant rainfall during the first two weeks of May, without any sub-freezing relapse. Sunny warm days are good. The ones under elm/apple are not so finicky. The time window for fruiting stays open for about 3 weeks, early through late May. Cold weather setbacks seem to be less of a detriment for these. Amount of rainfall is the one factor that influences how many pop.

The forest-morel types --blacks, half-frees, deliciosas-- seem to occur primarily in association with living/healthy trees. Morchella species are believed to form symbiotic relationships with living trees. The fungus draws nutrients from the roots of a partner tree. It has been theorized that some morel mushrooms fruit as a result of nutrient deprivation caused when the partner trees monopolize nutrients for the purpose of putting out new leaves. The explanation that seems to make sense is that the fungus reacts to getting cut off from its food by devoting extra energy to reproduction. Kinda like a perceived late-life crisis on the part of the fungus. Timing of morel flushes in forests supports this hypothesis. But temperature/moisture need to be conducive to the formation of morels. So these types tend to be finicky about putting out mushrooms... small window of time when temp/moisture need to be be just right.

But the large yellows found under elm/apple exhibit a much more profound reaction to nutrient deprivation... because in these cases the host tree has either died quickly or is in the process of dying. So the fungus "perceives" that its food source is being terminated and reacts by devoting all of its stored energy to reproduction. These types are not so finicky; they are ######-bent on reproducing while they still have the chance. Elm trees that have been dead for 2-3 years often produce no morels, even if they were good producers 1-2 years earlier, because the associated Morchella fungus has likely also died by then. But my largest hauls of large yellows have been under first-year-dead elms. Apple trees tend to die more slowly... in piecemeal. Morels tend to come out in good numbers under dying apple trees for 5-15 years running... but not in the massive numbers I sometimes find under a really good newly dead elm.

A drought in April/May can keep even the elm/apple yellows from coming out in good numbers, and the ones that do occur under adverse conditions tend to be small.

In southern PA or MD, the timings described above should be adjusted about one week sooner. Also, a morel-producing north/east-facing slope tends to produce later than a south/west-facing slope. Western PA tends to run a bit ahead of eastern PA.

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Dave our experiences are strikingly similar. I've had years when weather permitted a large crop to start, then turned cold and that was that. It seems that even if it stays cold and the season is late, as long as temps cooperate once started the season is ok. It's that 'false' start then a jolt of cold that seems to shut things down here.

70's yesterday, forecast to be warmer today .... then 20's over the weekend with a high only in the 30's Saturday. Not good. :(

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