Early season morel sightings

[leech~~]

I went down to Whitewater last weekend for trout opener and looked for shrooms with no luck. I did catch a bunch of browns and kept my 5 fish limit. When I got home Sunday I went out to the compost bin to throw some in some heads and guts and found my first ever morel growing right out in the open in the dirt where my veggie garden was last summer. It was the only one. I picked it yesterday, but wasn't sure if I should've waited for it to get bigger. The cap was completely out of the soil, but not much stem showing. How much of the shroom is edible? When I picked it there was maybe a half inch of stem with a ball still stuck in the ground.

KC, if it was only just one you may have wanted to just let it grow and spore out for more to grow there next year.

[KC612]

I live in S. Mpls. and thought it was a weird spot for it to be growing. It was the first one I've ever found and I'm eatin' it! I wasn't even looking for it. My little tasty morsel of morel...

[KC612]

I read somewhere that I should soak it for a few hours in a bowl of salt water and put it in the fridge to get the bugs out if there are any in there. Is this true?

[croixeyes]

You dont have to soak them for that long.I slice them in half and sprinkle some salt in the water,about a twenty minute soak this will get most of the bugs out,then i hand wash them all with the sprayer from the sink and dry them in a papertowel then cook and enjoy.If i want to keep them fresh for awhile,I just toss them in a ziplock and putem in the fridge.I donot clean them or get them wet before I do this,I think the water starts to break them down quicker.Going out in the morning to see if I can locate some a little closer to home.If we get a nice rain on saturday they should start popping pretty good,I will expect to start finding some yellows sometime this coming week........Happy Hunting...

[leech~~]

I live in S. Mpls. and thought it was a weird spot for it to be growing. It was the first one I've ever found and I'm eatin' it! I wasn't even looking for it. My little tasty morsel of morel...

KC, on one of Ron Shara's sports reports last year in the paper he did a thing on Morels and said that he has a good friend in South Mpls that has some big yellows growing in his back yard ever year and since he doesn't eat them, Ron picks them every year! So, I think with all the Elm's around there are some hiding here in there. Croix, I found some nice Yellows just today! Good luck after the rain!

[carpmanjake]

found a few down by brownsville over the past week. also the first morels i have ever found. its actually quite fun. im gonna be checking up here in alex today, and over the next few days. we just got a bit of rain over night.

i was finding them along trout streams. but no where else. maybe because the ground is to dry anywhere else?

[flipper]

Nice find Jake. Some of them you might want to let grow up a little bit. That's just my opinion though.

[DARK30]

Had a good morning in Scott county.....

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

[trolloni]

happy days are here again ,fungus is among us!thats what mushrooms are fungus, they do not grow any larger after they pop up ,they straighten up more but they do not grow!also on some of the clips guys show them being put in plastic bags or paper ,dont use either!!if you want to pick more mushrooms in the years ahead use a mesh bag so that the spores can return to the earth.best way to describe a spore is its like dust it takes 5 years for them to become a mushroom unless a fire or flood covers them and the survival instincnt kicks in they will come up earlier than the 5 year plan.happy hunting !!

[leech~~]

happy days are here again ,fungus is among us!thats what mushrooms are fungus, they do not grow any larger after they pop up ,they straighten up more but they do not grow!also on some of the clips guys show them being put in plastic bags or paper ,dont use either!!if you want to pick more mushrooms in the years ahead use a mesh bag so that the spores can return to the earth.best way to describe a spore is its like dust it takes 5 years for them to become a mushroom unless a fire or flood covers them and the survival instincnt kicks in they will come up earlier than the 5 year plan.happy hunting !!

Good advise on the mesh bag trolloni! If you want to know when to pick them, small grey's or yellows, look at how wide the vains or ribs are open. If their all very tight together then the schroom just popped recently and is not grown all the way. I found 32 yellows and a few small grey's yesterday! Yuuum!

[DARK30]

I know,I know, we can save the mushrooms with mesh turkey bags. I heard a story of someone who was able to "relocate" some morels by dumping the bucket of water used to saok them in a desirable spot...so I'm pickin um deep and putting um in plastic....we'll see

[Scott M]

Saw a few tonight. They were kinda small, not truly opened up. I let them sit. I'll try again tomorrow or Monday.

[croixeyes]

Good advise Trolloni,Ive used mesh bags for years.Good video Dark30,I just love coming across a place where u see one shroom and then they come into view one after another and you dont want to move to avoid stepping on any.Nice find CmanJake,as stated above they pretty much are done growing when they pop.Anyway I prefer those smaller mushrooms over a large anyday.Trolloni I noticed your avatar states pool 13,I grew up in that area excellent shroomin grounds not to mention fishing and hunting.

[DARK30]

Hey Jake....you did buy your 2010 morel stamp I hope?

[R. Miller]

Found 47 yesterday in the metro and another 22 today. Made some morel soup last night and might fry up a few tonight in butter with a hint of olive oil...love this time of year...

[harvey lee]

Saw a few tonight. They were kinda small, not truly opened up. I let them sit. I'll try again tomorrow or Monday.

Hopefully the deer don't woof them up before you get back for them. I use to leave some and when I got back I saw either deer or humans tracks and no morels left.

[Scott M]

Should have talked to you harvey lee! Somebody wiped out half the patch...luckily they aren't very good at looking closely. I found enough today to enjoy a few tonight and let a few others dry out.

[HotPocket]

[kenais]

I hear you can lay back some sod in a moist spot, lay a couple of inches of ash from your wood stove and a few burnt logs, lay the sod back down and throw the morel wash water on the spot. Apparently there is a good chance they will grow there in the future. Has anyone tried this?

[daylate]

I had an old timer tell me to try this trick:

Find a small grey, place a canning jar over it, pour water around jar, cover with leaves, and leave it for a couple of warm days(rewater if dry)

He claims if the morel is still grey it will grow as the bottle will hold in moisture and heat required to make it grow. When it is finished growing it will turn yellow.

He may be cracked, but I think I will give it a try as it seems very simple and may be worth the reward!

[leech~~]

daylate, I have heard about people trying to re-grown them and I guess they are very hard if at all to re-grown out of the woods like other schrooms.

Jake, never leave clues to where you found your schrooms. Or next year down in "Brownsville" there will be a ton of people walking all the "Trout stream"

Harvey, I'm not sure how much if at all Deer eat schrooms, one of my spots is Deer central with schrooms growing right along some trails and I have left some new ones grown a few days and the Deer never seem to bother them except for steping on them sometimes!

Muske, the Schrooms on your last pic have a lot of dirt on the bottom of them. Not sure if you are pulling them out, but I have heard if you want a spot to re-grow more next year you should cut them off and not pull them out by the root? Just what I heard not sure if it's true or not? Happy hunting to all!

[R. Miller]

Leech,

Yes, thanks for the tip. I tried pinching them off but maybe if you see that dirt maybe I'm going to far down? I know they're not all like that but I hear ya. Maybe I'll try cutting them a little higher next time. I did leave a few in my spot I found as well. I checked about 10 dead elms that looked good that I found over the winter- one of the last ones I checked had about 70something growing around it! Pretty cool.

Miller

[leech~~]

Leech,

Yes, thanks for the tip. I tried pinching them off but maybe if you see that dirt maybe I'm going to far down? I know they're not all like that but I hear ya. Maybe I'll try cutting them a little higher next time. I did leave a few in my spot I found as well. I checked about 10 dead elms that looked good that I found over the winter- one of the last ones I checked had about 70something growing around it! Pretty cool.

Miller

Miller, I carry a really sharp small folding knive with me so I can cut them off clean a little higher then the bump on the bottom. I heard that leaving some from there down is good for next years re-growth. I also try and leave a few around so they will spoor out and hopefully help regrow more. But one of my spots was found out by some biker looking guy and his girlfreind and I can tell they were back again this year because they use sticks to try and brush clean the area to find them under the leafs. I know this because I actually walked in on them one day. I asked them what they were looking for and they said,"those big flat things that grown off the sides of trees". They said what are you looking for? I said, shead "Deer Antlers" I think we both knew that we were all lying!

[croixeyes]

This morning went well found around 7lbs of shrooms.Nice mix of greys and yellows,the rain has improved things alot.Now the not so fun part...cleaning these things... .

[leech~~]

This morning went well found around 7lbs of shrooms.Nice mix of greys and yellows,the rain has improved things alot.Now the not so fun part...cleaning these things... .

croixeyes, You can send them all to Leech's schroom cleaning shop and he will Clean them all up for you for free! yuuum!