mmmmmMorels

[Shroomeup]

I'm going to checkout some recently burnt off areas right now.

Ive only found a couple once. Last year. That was down Inverloch way

[PD.]

Good luck mate, if you have found them before then i reckon this spring youll find them again.

[Zen Peddler]

Cool mate Ill go have a look now.

[Shroomeup]

Well, No luck yesterday.

Here's the couple of older specimens I found down the coast last year 4/10.

Morchella semilibera I believe.

I'll prolly head down there for a proper hunt in a week or so. It'd awesome to get a good load like yours PD. I'm yet too taste these guys they sound delicious.

[Lord Mayonnaise]

Top finds PD!

[Zen Peddler]

I had a look and despite having maybe 1000 or so greenhoods now there wasnt one morel. How do they go as they decay and die? There was a couple of kinda grainy slimy things - i assumed some sort of something that had rotted out there. Ill keep an eye out though and hope the dog doesnt eat anything that pops up. I burn off near this area but not on it.

[Sola]

Great to see the pics, I also went out looking at Pterostylis and found a nice patch of what I now know to be

morels. If I were to layer old wood, straw and cow manure could I get them to colonise by sacrificing one

of the mushrooms by burying it? I thought I might be able to prolong the fruiting period by adding a little water and have them more often.

[gecko]

Thanks PD.

Bloody nice haul there mate.

Morels are worth playing with as far as trying to establish patches in and around home gardens and orchards.I still haven't managed it yet but will keep trying

They can pop up in the wierdest of places around dwellings and sheds etc.

I saw a pic of some growing in the ash and charcoal of pot-bellied stove!

According to Stamets (Mycelium Running), Morchella grow from stembutts.

following the method for 'natural culture'as described in Mycelium running, if you didn't have sawdust spawn, you could use stem butts, or even fresh fruits.

check out

video of morels ejecting spores.

They're also very easy to clone and are such fast runners on agar that they always outrun contaminants.

I've had colonised agar plugs stored in distilled water for up to 3yrs be able to wake up and grow.

A good read on Morels is Michael Kou's book 'Morels'. (available here)

Although it's about Morels (and related species) in USA much relevant info can be gleaned from it.

There's an interesting section on the taxonomy and using DNA mapping to determine the different Morchella spp. occuring throughout th USA.

[Shroomeup]

Heading out of IGA this arvo I got quite a shock to find these guys growing out of a fairly new garden bed mulched with tanbark. There was lots of shrivled up there oldies too.

I'm a bit unsure whether i'll eat em or not as theyre on the older side and theres quite a busy road about 15 metres from where they grew. Would you eat?

[synchromesh]

Congratulations. Being that I've never tried Morels before, I'd probably just cook up the healthiest looking one, and go from there.

[Shroomeup]

Yeah mate I cooked em all up with some butter and seasoning. They were delicious, almost meaty tasting.

[synchromesh]

Sweet. Nothing like cooking food you've found in the wild, eh.

[mutant]

[Shroom-Aura]

sweet! pretty rare to find them out of season isn't it? did you get many?

[NSF]

sweet! pretty rare to find them out of season isn't it? did you get many?

 

It's not out of season in Greece.

[mutant]

^^ wut he said!

I got 40 something pieces, many young but I am going again for sure when it stops raining! it seems like a good season were I am at!

Edited April 27, 2011 by mutant

[mysubtleascention]

I'm keen to find some around..

The L. sulphureus are popping out already..

Edited August 21, 2013 by mysubtleascention

[MindExpansion]

Ok to resurrect a thread, After the intensely wet winter we've had I'd imagine this is the prime time for morels, and I'm looking for any hints on where to go looking, South central NSW.

I've heard: Granite country, after fires (of which there have been none in the are to my knowledge so far this year), near the greenhoods, more open grassy areas, with little to no cover,

I'm really after any hints more than this. I am thinking of heading either to the snowys or to northern vic wodonga area, but really want to know what area to look for.

Is it more forest areas, or more parky/cleared land/grasslands, is it along water tracks or above them, flood planes or not, preferred altitudes, preferred undergrowth density and type, clue trees/plants (such as the greenhoods, e.g under ferns, in grass as in the pics, in fields, gum or pine).

I'm also very very interested in people finding L. sulphureus and where this has been found in Aus, I'm on a mission to find Morels, black trumpets and chicken.

Any help would be greatly greatly appreciated!

Peace

[Anodyne]

Morels may be hosted on some grasses apparently - I don't think cheatgrass is big in Oz, but it probably grows on other kinds too - their symbiotic relationship didn't seem to be exclusive, so to speak. Might be something to look into.

But the only time I've ever found one was popping up out of a crack in the tarmac in the middle of Sydney!

[NSF]

Apparently now is peak time in Vic and several hundred kilos have been found.

You need to look for somewhere damp but not wet, if there are tree ferns, probably move on, look more where the bracken is.

At this time of year you are most likely to find fire morels, so go where there was a fire this summer (not the one before). For vic high country it's probably still a little too cold for them. Grampians have turned it on though.

Look for areas of TALL trees on slopes (not STEEP) where a fire has raced through with some intensity and taken out the canopy. If the fire didn't reach the canopy or didn't take it out, keep driving.