What is the best date in s.e.pa to look for morels and what would be the best habitat to find them? I just started looking for sheeps heads last fall and found a few beautie. They taste great!! The others i found were frozen but didnt last long at all. Great to just fry and eat as a snack. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Finding Morels
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April of course...You get some warm weather and warm rain at night the Morel can pop up in Early April...Probably to visit your areas starting the first week of April in the SEPA. The window only runs for about three weeks.. Schuylkill County...Oh normal weather conditions starting about 23 April out until 14 May. the further North you go you can add more days on to the window of time...
Now find yourself stands of Tulip Poplar trees...Learn how to ID them..As you know they are a tall tree and they are a straight tree too going up...Look for the pods on the ground in the leaf matter now if you have no snow to cover them. The leaf if there will have a tulip shape to the leaf..
Also old old old apple orchards or places with a few apple trees around. have to be old since they spray for bugs on regular or commercial orchards and this stops the growth of Morel's. try to find those abandon farms that have apple trees just behind the old farm house!!!!!
Now find yourself stands of Tulip Poplar trees...Learn how to ID them..As you know they are a tall tree and they are a straight tree too going up...Look for the pods on the ground in the leaf matter now if you have no snow to cover them. The leaf if there will have a tulip shape to the leaf..
Also old old old apple orchards or places with a few apple trees around. have to be old since they spray for bugs on regular or commercial orchards and this stops the growth of Morel's. try to find those abandon farms that have apple trees just behind the old farm house!!!!!
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Call your state park office and ask them if there are stands of Tulip Poplars in their area...Surely the county or the state has a county forester tel too..They can also pinpoint where certain tree grow in the counties..
Check areas that controlled burning or a forest fire also burned the timber... That is also suppose to be good places to harvest Morel's. The Spring closes to the occurence is better then a longer period since a fire in the area...
Also....soil....that you find Mayapple growing in too...(Dark black soil not the clay looking stuff) Now even though you do have all of this..The tree, Mayapple, the dark soil etc that does not mean they will be there..However when I find all I have mentioned that is when I find the Morel's.
Check areas that controlled burning or a forest fire also burned the timber... That is also suppose to be good places to harvest Morel's. The Spring closes to the occurence is better then a longer period since a fire in the area...
Also....soil....that you find Mayapple growing in too...(Dark black soil not the clay looking stuff) Now even though you do have all of this..The tree, Mayapple, the dark soil etc that does not mean they will be there..However when I find all I have mentioned that is when I find the Morel's.
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For some reason the Tulip Poplar doesn't seem to grow much in the northern teirs of the state. I had a camp in Potter for 15 years and only ever found 1 morel and no Poplars at all. And in those 15 years I really got around. I now have a camp in Warren near Tidioute, same thing. In the last 2 years I found maybe 3 trees, no morels yet. When I still had my parents farm in Lehigh County, there were many stands of Tulips and morels to be found everwhere. My buddy and I found a place on South Mtn. once that had really large stand of old gigantic Poplars. There were so many morels there you could hardly take a step without crushing a morel.
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if this is the case in the Northern Tier? Lack of the Poplar trees. ...Look for apple tree stands near old abandon properties. Also in NEPA...there are so many apple trees that grow wild... Sweet and sour apple trees abound in fields... Might be good to think back when you were a kid and visit some of these areas... Many were on Golf courses or on public lands...Even in peoples backyards.
Also? look for the Mayapple bushes too.....There is something about the black dirt that Mayapple grow well in?????
Also? look for the Mayapple bushes too.....There is something about the black dirt that Mayapple grow well in?????
That is going to be my main goal this spring, I MUST find morels. After the rams heads we found and ate, I never expected that taste. I can only imagine what morels taste like. The only morel i ever found was last spring in New York turkey huntin. This year when im up there i will be looking for them after the hunt is over in the afternoon. I love mushrooms, any kind.
Last year was my first year looking for them with a friend. Here is my experience from last year.
We found quite few in the limestone along a paved driveway, high pH soil, I'd say.
Found a bunch along an old railroad track, rail trail, again, using limestone ballast rock, making the soil higer pH. Interesting to note, along that same RR track, where creek stone was used after a portion was washed out, the morels quit.
Under the autumn olive on that rail trail, we found many more. Autumn olive fixes nitrogen in the soil.
Another place there were a TON, just a TON, was in a friends flower beds. The flower beds looked like potting soil and they had nothing but hostas in those flower beds.
A friend said he knows someone that looks for them in Iowa. Finds tons of them out there. Some of the best soils in the nation. Again, higher pH than mountain soils and rich in nutrients.
A friend finds tons. He won't disclose where, but I now suspect he is hunting the old charcoal "pits" in the local hills. These are places where pioneers burnt timber to create charcoal to run the iron ore furnaces back in the 1700's. These flat spots in the hills have dark black, rich soils. Burning wood creates ashes that are higher in pH than surrounding soils.
Again, it seems to me, pH has something to do with where they grow and thats why I don't think we see them in the northern mountains, very low pH soils.
HOWEVER, I could be wrong about all this. LOL
We found quite few in the limestone along a paved driveway, high pH soil, I'd say.
Found a bunch along an old railroad track, rail trail, again, using limestone ballast rock, making the soil higer pH. Interesting to note, along that same RR track, where creek stone was used after a portion was washed out, the morels quit.
Under the autumn olive on that rail trail, we found many more. Autumn olive fixes nitrogen in the soil.
Another place there were a TON, just a TON, was in a friends flower beds. The flower beds looked like potting soil and they had nothing but hostas in those flower beds.
A friend said he knows someone that looks for them in Iowa. Finds tons of them out there. Some of the best soils in the nation. Again, higher pH than mountain soils and rich in nutrients.
A friend finds tons. He won't disclose where, but I now suspect he is hunting the old charcoal "pits" in the local hills. These are places where pioneers burnt timber to create charcoal to run the iron ore furnaces back in the 1700's. These flat spots in the hills have dark black, rich soils. Burning wood creates ashes that are higher in pH than surrounding soils.
Again, it seems to me, pH has something to do with where they grow and thats why I don't think we see them in the northern mountains, very low pH soils.
HOWEVER, I could be wrong about all this. LOL
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LOL yes I too think they smell a bit like Napalm!!!LOLpumpgun said:
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Make sure you soak your Morel's in a bit of salt water...You will know why you should do this almost immediately. You do not have to keep them in the salt water for an extended period of time...Maybe 30 minutes at most...Dry them at room temp on a piece of paper towel before you dry them in lunch bags on your frig....Unless your going to eat them that same day?
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Dutch there is something about the dark dirt so you may be on to something...Plain ole clay dirt just does not seem to make them grow.?????
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I found a couple hundred last spring on old logged out hillsides with rotten poplar stumps on um. Normally if you find 1 there will be others close by.
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Great replies!
Here's a site that I visit to check soil temps etc. This should answer all your questions if not light your fire. Check out their pics.
http://thegreatmorel.com/
My personal experiences have been sheltered tulip hollows. Dead elm stands and stumps. When you do find them. Observe your surroundings. Happy hunting!
Here's a site that I visit to check soil temps etc. This should answer all your questions if not light your fire. Check out their pics.
http://thegreatmorel.com/
My personal experiences have been sheltered tulip hollows. Dead elm stands and stumps. When you do find them. Observe your surroundings. Happy hunting!
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