[TimG]

View attachment 49866
Interesting to think about,

• Our Human bodies are only 1% FUNGI
• while we do Share almost 50% of Our DNA with FUNGI 🍄‍🟫🍄

Howdy Everyone..
Wade here...🤠✌🌎🦅
Welcome to Our 2025 FUNGI Hunting Conversations.
🌨❄ I'm Hoping, that we get a lot of Snow in January, February, & March...
☃? Does the amount of snowfall effect the amount of Morels that Pop-up?
⛈? What about Rain, what is the right amount of rain, that Morels need?
🌞 ? Will a Quick Early warm spells then a sudden Cold 🥶 Freeze Hurt Morels?
🐢? What is the Ground Temperature needed for Morels to begin Popping up?
🏕? What kind of Trees 🌳 are the most likely to find Morels under or near?
🤠🦅✌ Come Hunt Together with us on here..and along Our Way down the Beautiful, Miles and Miles of Hiking.
Every Question you can imagine, We will find the Answer to Most, but Only Most.
🍄‍🟫✨️🍄 Only Most,
Because the Mystery 🔮🌠🧚‍♀️🌌💫
Will always be.....
❤🍄‍🟫🌎🍄🐢🏕
Join in, Here with us, and Head on through the woods together Walking Miles and Miles into this Amazing Mystery🔮🌠
as We;
❤🍄Love The Hunt🍄‍🟫❤

The amount of snow or rain does not make a difference unless it's in the 3-4 weeks prior to when they normally fruit.
The moisture and soil temperature in the few weeks to a month leading up to the normal season makes all the difference in the wold. One year the area I used to hunt had a record low rain amount and not much snow but had several good rain events in a month and we had an excellent season. Here in SC we only get snow every 10-15 years and less seldom enough to last more than day and we still get loads of morels--- if we get rain just before the season. I kept very detailed records for over 20 years. They interluded the year before rain for each month, etc. Forget soil temperature. look at the stage of a few plants that bloom or get tier leaves when morels normally fruit. I like May apples when they just flatten out and used to like when Ash trees got their first true leaves, not the blossoms that can fool you. I used to like red bud but it will bloom at about the same time every year. Often Red bud blooms when morels fruit but not always.

 

[TimG]

View attachment 49866
Interesting to think about,

• Our Human bodies are only 1% FUNGI
• while we do Share almost 50% of Our DNA with FUNGI 🍄‍🟫🍄

1% is by volume, while 50% is the WE have 30 millions of bacteria and 20 times that amount of virus's in our bodies buy sincxe they're so small they don't take up much space or weight. .

 

[TimG]

They may be edible but just like some edible mushrooms doesn't mean they taste good. Try chewing on white pine needle once. FYI- White pines have 5 long needles. 5 is a key indicator. Sassafras was taken out of products since it has a potentially toxic type effects. He tea made from leaves was used by some Indians. Most use the roots to brew the tea which is similar to root beer flavor. I used a coffee percolator with the upright spout removed to brew it 24 hours a day one of my years in college. To my knowledge I didn't suffer any bad effects. Yetttttt

 

[TimG]

Did you know the Merkel was slang or "mountainspeak" for miracle. It's Merkel how fast they pop up after a spring rain.
I used to work in a senior living facility. One ol' timer from W VA told me they used to float down the Elk river and knock them off the banks with a long pole and scoop them up with a net. He said they were the large late season yellows growing under Sycamore trees.
I had a close friend who found very late season large yellows under sycamores along the C&O canal that runs beside the Potomac river in MD. If any readers live near where they can hunt sycamores in late season remember it can work at times.

 

[TimG]

The shotgun looks like what we used to call a Long Tom single shot with 36" barrel.

 

[TimG]

Personally I discard the stems. They don't hold any flavor but they can add bulk to what you cook. If anyone doubts it next time you find some fresh one try cooking just some stems.
One ting I add to my meatloaf is mustard seeds- whole. I add quire a few. They produce just little tiny crunchy bites.
I earned that for my Mom. My wife raves about my meatloaf due to the mustard seeds. I add some fresh finely chopped onion and if I have ground beef that is lean I ad some bread crumbs to help hold some moisture. My local supermarket often has great deals on 93% lean, which is too dry unless I add the crumbs to hold what fats/juices come out of the meat.
A bit of liquid smoke adds flavor. I use it just about every time I cook with my dried morels and even a few drops for fresh ones. I add it just before it's ode cooking or it gets lost among the other flavors. It can help other earthly fungi such as boletes and hen of the woods.
PLEASE let us know how it turns out. If it's good I'll try it the next time I make meatloaf.

 

[TimG]

Howdy @TattooedGranny and Everyone.
@Stealthshroomer has had Success with his Slurrys .. also some Other members have..
I think they will share their Recipe if you are Curious 🍄‍🟫🍄🐸😍

How did the meatloaf with morels turn out?
Tip- re-hydrated morels are great in homemade mashed potatoes. Re=hydrate them in half and half which you can use to thin the potatoes rather than the usual milk.

 

[TimG]

I use stems in stock for flavor. They are better dried first. If they are old I use them to make spore slurry…not that I have ever had any morels pop after spreading it around my apple tree though. 😄

The only apple trees I've rev found morels under were very old and close to death or wounded prett6y badly. Out of thousands of apple trees I've looked under probably only a dozen or so had morels. It never hurts to toss any re-hydrating liquid. I HAVE ONE FRIEND WHO FOUND BLACK MORELS THE YEAR AFTER TOSSING THEIR WASH WATER IN THEIR BACK YARD. OOPS HIT CAPS BY MISTAKE. One has to be careful not to eat many morels from old apple orchards. It used to be a regular practice to spray the trees with a lead/arsenic to control some diseases. It remains in the soil. Many rice patties also have high levels since most we old cotton fields sprayed with the same mixture.

 

[TimG]

No matter whether he sees his shadow, spring is always bout 6 weeks away, take a week or so. Spring is not a hard date but the average of when people feel the warmer weather. It's earlier here in SC than when I lived in northern MD and "up north" such as concision or minnesota it's later.

 

[TimG]

A half dozen raccoons and several dozen mice and perhaps a bat or two is there's an opening near the roof.
Is it for sale?

 

[TimG]

YOU ARE SICK!
you got morel fever LOL
I've had it a few (dozen) times myself.

 

[TimG]

Quite a few years along the area near Front Royal and Luray VA had he similar conditions caused by an ice storm. Many areas were just not able to be accessed. Weather can do lot of destructive things. Last year Hurricane Helene devastated parts of NC along the Blue Ridge Parkway Near Little Switzerland to Boone. It will probably be years before all the damage is fixed To see some pictures of the damage use this link: Helene Impacts and Recovery - Blue Ridge Parkway (U.S. National Park Service). It's eye opening

 

[TimG]

Do you ever get the yellow morels? All I see are the black type.

 

[TimG]

I prefer the black eating wise but in certain dishes the yellow work better, especially in mashed potatoes. I use my dried white/yellow morels and re hydrate them in half and half. This liquid is what I use to thin the potatoes as I mash them. I then add cooked, chopped morels to the potatoes. YUM.

FYI- I just read about how many mushroom toxicity cases involved morels. Nearly all were under cooked or raw. Even one dog died after eating his owners pile of morels. It didn't say why he died but I assume it was toxins, not an angry owner.

 

[TimG]

The lower picture is what happens if you eat the right mushroom.

 

[TimG]

I don't think it's either. It looks more like one similar to coral fungi. My best guess from the picture is a Tremellodendropsis species. They don't grow much larger than the ones pictured and are very tough. Not considered edible. It could be one of the corals.

 

[TimG]

You certainly took a chance. there is a species of coral that looks similar that can cause severe intestinal issues. Then again some toxins in fungi are destroyed by cooking. one of the leading mushrooms for ill side effects are morels, usually uncooked or under cooked. Some can't eat them no matter how well they are cooked. Last month I was reading mushroom poisonings. Morels led the way. One person's dog ate his haul and died. It didn't say how many he ate.

 

[TimG]

I forgot my manners- I'm glad your OK after eating them..

 

[TimG]

With chicken of the woods only use the soft edges. As it ages the flesh get tough. Eating too much tough chicken can cause impediments n the gastrointestinal track. Mushroom are hard to digest and some can cause stomack issues due to this. I made this mistake the first time I tried chicken of the woods. I had stomach pains for 3 days. For many years I thoguh it was just my body not accepting it. Years later I earned that the tough part Ina case a blockage. No mushroom should cause 3 days of stomach pain but I didn't know that at the time. . I now eat it- but in moderation.

 

[TimG]

I had a significant patch of chants until the year bear corn showed up. It took several year for the chants to make a come back but even so there still isn't nearly as many as there were before the bear corn showed up.

The Bear corn has noting to do with how many chants there are. Chants fruit due to environment condition. The mycelium is there all of the time, associated with and attached to tree roots. They provide most of the food and nutrition to the tree they are attached to,. If you don't get enough rain at the time temperatures are right you get fewer chants. My wife took me to a place the pick them for my first time. She had a pillow case to hold them. I thought she was exaggerating but we got that many and left many more behind. Some other years we got load but some years we almost got skunked in the same month as years before. It takes a series of rains not just one. Here in SC we had no rain for 8 weeks and then got 7" in less than 2 days. Very, very few mushrooms of any kind came up even thoguh it was mid to late summer when we usually get many species fruiting. Where I now live chants begin to fruit anywhere from late May to early to mid August depending on how much and how frequent it rains. Your chants will be back but only they know when to fruit or not.