The first day of spring has past increasing my spring fever this year. It has been a long cold winter and I am ready for spring. Last year at this time I was finding morel mushrooms. Not going to happen this year still way too cold ground temperatures. Morels need around 55 F soil temp to pop. So I thought I would bring back some of last year's mushroom memories. Above is a nice black morel hiding in the grass.
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False Morel do not eat!
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False Morel do not eat!
Most mushroom species are toxic so if you are not 150% sure do not eat any mushrooms. It isn't worth your life they are good but not that good. The false morels are often called "elephant ears" or "red ones". I know people who eat False Morel mushrooms with no ill effects but the problem is the toxins build up in your system. You can eat them all your life and then one day drop dead from eating them if you cross your tolerance level. Other people die the first time they eat them. I have never and won't ever eat one. It is just not worth the risk. I consider these mushrooms poisonous and tell everyone I know that hunts mushrooms the same thing I am telling you. Never eat a mushroom unless someone has shown you for sure that it is a safe mushroom. Watch them eat it and wait 24 hours. If they are still alive then it might be ok to eat lol. Mushroom joke. Seriously though if you don't know for sure then don't risk it. They may not appear exactly as shown and there are others that look similar to morels so I am not responsible if anyone eats a bad mushroom. Just to get that out of the way.
Grey morel mushrooms are the earliest of the morels around here. They start appearing soon after the "Red ones", false morels. I don't usually find many greys so I don't have any photos of them. They are on my list though this year. Last year I was lucky enough to find a wild turkey's nest. You can see the eggs partially covered with leaves. The hen played injured and ran the opposite direction trying to lure me from the nest location I was heading toward. Her actions seemed weird at the time but after I found the nest it made sense. I kept my distance so I wouldn't disturb the nest or get too close to it. First time I had ever seen a wild turkey nest.
The black morels start soon after the greys begin popping up. The mushrooms are smaller when each type first begin popping up. As the season progresses the mushrooms get larger. Typically when you start finding the really big ones the season has peaked and the numbers begin to decrease. Sometimes it may be a week for each type or 2-3 weeks if the weather conditions stay in the optimal range.
The yellow morels begin near the end of the black morel cycle. They overlap usually. The yellow morels are the most numerous and the largest around here. Warm weather causes the grass and weeds in the woods to grow higher hiding the mushrooms making it increasingly difficult to find them later in the season.
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White morels appear about 1/2 way through the yellow morel cycle and end the season. Usually by then the weeds have taken over and by then I have found plenty of mushrooms for the year. I dry the mushrooms and them use them in soups and stews in the winter. This was a peak season haul last year. Notice that it is mostly yellow morels.
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