As per my last post, I found a couple black morels last Friday. That was four days after tax day, when Bob had told me he usually begins to look in earnest. We had a nice shower after I got home but it was spawned by an approaching cold front. I pondered if the added moisture would induce further fruiting, or if the cooler temperatures would inhibit further fruiting. As I suspected, several nights at or near freezing seemed to inhibit further mushroom production. I checked my patches on Monday and found nothing. Things have warmed a bit since then so I checked again today (Wednesday). I found five nice, fat morels that had popped up since Monday.
We are getting a nice rain as I write this and the forecast is for cool nights but somewhat warmer temperatures than earlier in the week. So, hope springs eternal that this might be the rain to really get things rolling. I wrote a previous post about how difficult it can be to spot black morels hiding in the shadows and I was reminded of that again this spring. Take a look at the attached photo. The white stem of the harvested mushroom makes it easy to see. But how easy would it be to miss the nearby mushroom just poking through the leaves? They are well camouflaged! And it seems the first morel is always the most difficult to find. It takes a bit to get the eye and brain trained to recognize the subtle shape, color, and texture of the morel hiding in the leaf duff there among the shadows. Morels rarely grow alone. When you find one, there usually are others nearby. So take a minute to study the first morel you find before collecting it. Look away and then relocate it. Look at it from several angles and note what makes it distinguishable from the area around it. Then look closely at the area around the mushroom, focusing on one small area at a time. It is very likely you will soon spot other mushrooms you did not initially notice. And then you are on your way to finding more in other locations. So the first time each spring you head afield in search of morels, take your time and look closely in the areas you most expect to find them. But as Bob has said, also look everywhere you go. The mushrooms grow wherever they please, sometimes even right along the road or trail.
Dave
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