All curious what everyone’s go to trees are in there area and what the percentage of your finds break down by tree species. Apples Elms Ash Sycamore Cottonwood Poplar Eric
My go to trees are elm and old apple orchards here in wayne county we have plenty of those. I have also found them under a single pine tree and in working peach orchards.Never hunted hard around ash, poplar or other trees but gonna give it a try this season as I read other threads of people having success around them. Were right around the corner plenty of rain just need some warmer days/nights!
Apples and Ash are my bread and butter tree. They are the most consistent albeit there could be few or a lot and be far between finds. I could look at a 100 dead Elm and find squat but occasionally run into a mother lode. I have one consistent Poplar spot. Have had some luck under Black Walnut. I have walked in many of forest that looked like prime Morel habitat only to be denied. The tree species is important but so is the soil methinks. That is why proven ground is key. The chemistry is there.
My target trees are also elm and apple but as far as percentages go I think it depends on the year. One thing that I have found is that eventually the dead elms will stop producing and I have some apple trees that have produced over 20 years. I have mainly looked for yellows though, I guess blacks prefer Tulip poplar so this year I am going to target them early in my area, I have scouted some spots. My area is central Pa. Last year I did find some under a black cherry tree, so I will see if it was just a fluke or if it will produce every year.
Elms are my go to trees. I've found some under apple n Ash. Beagle boy is right about elms not producing after awhile but usually another tree in the area starts to produce some. I'm in St Lawrence county.
I concur with you all. Elms produce for a limited time. I also have been harvesting under the same Apple trees for a long time.
Otsego and Albany counties. 90% Ash Some Apples and Poplar. 2 dying Elm in 6 years and I never pass one up.
I have a question: so when you look under elms, which is where I've found probably 90% of my morels, you check out the dead or dying ones. Seems to work. Question: when you fine folks find morels under other species, like ash, apple or otherwise, do you only check dead ones or just the forest floor of an mostly uniform stand of that species. It's hard for me to imagine hunting for morels by checking so many different tree species. I feel like I would waste a lot of time and not find much. Hunting under dead elms I am pretty much guaranteed to find some morels almost every single time I go out. Not always a whole bunch--but almost always one or two and often more.
Elm - When the bark is about to slough off is when I start to keep an eye out. Ash- Living, macroscopically healthy, trees. Apples- Seems I have the best luck with half dead/ half live specimens. Always seems to be Ash around said trees. My brother believes that the Apple/Ash combination is the most conducive to our favorite fungi.
I like dead elm, specifically when the bark start to hang off the tree..NOT already off..but peeling off and hanging... 2nd tree is apple and then ash..it is true tho that some elm produce nothing and others bring on a boat load..it's worth looking at 100 elms to find just one boat load IMO
The elm/morel connection is pretty well played out here in NE Ohio. Our elms have been dead for far too long. Considering that the Dutch Elm Disease was introduced into the country from Cleveland, that kind of stands to reason. The few elms that I used to find morels under have not only lost all their bark, but most of them a completely fallen apart! Apple still produces, but the last couple of years sycamores have come on strong.
