Little early for morels, I guess

[banknote]

but this verpa seemed awfully happy to see me.

verpa_double_640.jpg

[jehler]

If you know the proper name for a "falsie" you must know your shit, share the wealth brotha, put on some seminars

[assateague]

I have never been able to find any of those bastards.

[rebelp74]

We don't get many edible wild mushrooms around here.

[MuddyWaterWarlock]

We don't get many edible wild mushrooms around here.

In the Ocean?

[rebelp74]

We don't get many edible wild mushrooms around here.

In the Ocean?

I meant back home but there isn't any out here either. I need to start being more pacific!

[Westie25]

Guess ima have to head off into the woods to find em. What should I be looking for?

[capt1972]

Guess ima have to head off into the woods to find em. What should I be looking for?

these

[banknote]

If you know the proper name for a "falsie" you must know your shit, share the wealth brotha, put on some seminars

I know a little bit. Enough to stay alive/hang on to my liver, so far. There are only a handful of mushrooms I pick regularly. Morels and chanterelles top the list, along with matsutakes, king and admirable boletes, and oyster mushrooms.

Morels are the most coveted. They can be very prolific, year after year, where they occur, but finding those places is tough. I have one spot that's been bumper crop almost every year for the past 13 years. Yet identical types of habitat in the same general area never produce. In the mountains, morels are more typically found in recently burned areas, like last years forest fires or burn piles, but also under white pines.

Here in the valley I find them in mature cottonwoods with a lot of dead wood on and in the ground. Areas that sit just a little higher than surrounding swampy ground seem to be most productive. Fresh sprouting grass and nettles seem to coincide. If you find verpas, morels could just be coming up or about to within a week or so. Verpas look a lot like morels, but cap is only attached to the stem at the top, whereas morels are usually attached at bottom of cap, sometimes middle of cap, as well as at the top. Easy to see if you slice vertically.

Morels:

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Verpas: Wrinkled instead of pitted cap only attached at top.

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Some people are supposedly allergic to morels, so if you've never had them, try in a very small portion the first time. This goes for all mushrooms.

[jehler]

I can find morels and oysters, the rest allude me

[assateague]

I've only ever picked chicken of the woods. Everything else terrifies me, but that's most likely because I've just never been able to find morels.

[Westie25]

I can find morels and oysters, the rest allude me

I think ima go looking this week. I have a few hundred acres at my disposal.

[Bulldog0156]

Damn I love mushrooms! We had a burn close to town last year but the area is so dry I don't know if anything is going to come up. Should be fairly soon if they do since the area sits in the sun all day and the ground warms fast.