It's been a heckuva weird winter, but Austin, anyone out searching? You've had more than 20 inches of rain since September, most of it in the early and late fall, which seems to have MORE of an impact on spring flushes than winter or even spring precip. (According to Kuo and others.) Your soil temps are in the mid 50s right now, which is perfect. (Though tonight's winter storm may pull that down a bit.) Seems like this late cold snap and precip should combine with the fall moisture for a decent season for yall. Been checking my spots in the Dallas area consistently for the last month, due to the extreme warmth, but nothing yet up here. Hopefully all the ice over the past two weeks will get things going when we warm up again, I was afraid we'd have no winter at all.
Gotta reference besides Kuo for that claim? Yes the fall the rain is important for sclerotia formation and the germination of spores to begin the mycelium running and forming sclerotia...however if you do not get adequate spring moisture and there is a drought those sclerotia are less likely to form fruit bodies and will continue to act as storage vessels waiting until the right moisture levels and temperatures exist. Those sclerotia can wait years for the right conditions to emerge. I am in North Texas and won't be out looking for another two or three weeks at least...maybe longer.. I don't suppose they will fruit until the soil temps hit mid 50s consecutively for a few weeks without freezing at night. All the ice and snow in the last few weeks plus the freezing precip tonight lets us know it's not really time yet....but should get those sclerotia a soakin. I would not be surprised if all this late winter/early spring moisture led to a bumper crop.
Well, Kuo's record keeping shows far less correlation between spring moisture and morel flushes than what conventional wisdom claims. Last year, OKC got 1 inch in March and less than 1 inch in April, and you can see on the message board that folks were pulling serious poundage. (I found 2 pounds in a dry creek drainage there with bone-dry leaves and soil.) Of course, serious drought will definitely curtail the morel flush, but we don't really need as much moisture as most people think for them to fruit. Kuo has recorded record seasons in very dry years, and terrible seasons in very wet years. But I think our Texas drought has definitely taken its toll on the harvest in recent years. Regarding "other" references for fall moisture's impact, I've heard more than a few old-timers say a cold, wet fall makes for a great morel spring. But they aren't scientists. (Nor is Kuo, for that matter.)
Kuo is an expert and has more observations over the years than many other researchers but I take what he says with a grain of salt. I suppose just a little moisture goes a long way with fruiting and too much can hamper the formation if you get an overly wet spring. Theres a goldilocks gradient in moisture levels..gotta have it just right. It makes sense; other mushroom species will not fruit as prolifically when waterlogged.
Well, there's also something to be said for DRAMATICALLY different fruiting rules, regionally. In the northern Midwest, Kuo finds morels underwater and growing in the snow. Apparently in northern Michigan, morels love ash (as they do in Oklahoma) but in southern Michigan you can't find them under ANY ash trees. So regional knowledge is definitely best. Austin is warm and sunny this week with a significant chance for an inch of rain Sunday/Monday, and soil temps will be in the 50s again by tomorrow or Saturday. Gonna head down there next weekend and get myself under some cedar/juniper trees on southern slopes and see what's going on!
I relocated from North Texas to San Antonio during the offseason and have been busy researching since. It's still a week or so off in the Hill Country/Austin area and 2 weeks early for the North Texas area. This is based entirely on years of hunting them and following weather patterns prior to fruiting. Don't get me wrong you may find a handful early on but you will trample many more that you couldn't see. I'll be hitting the Hill Country next weekend and working may way up from there. Best of luck to all of you!!
Derrek, good to see you checking in. I'm going on a camping trip next weekend in Montague county and will scout some areas on my way back down 35 on sunday. I wish you luck and abundance on your hunt this week. :mrgreen:
Y'all. I'm desperate for morels. Haven't had them since moving here from Iowa when I was 10 (43 years old now). I so want to introduce my hubby and sons (after I eat at least half). Live south of Austin. Where do I even start???
As far as the Austin area goes, supposedly they can be found in some of the parks there. I think morels are much more abundant near the Pedernales river valley. Dripping Springs is close to Austin and has many creeks and slopes with cedar as well as other prime morel habitats. I have never been hunting down there but it's a good area it seems. Good luck I hope you find some!
Derreck, you may have misunderstood my timing...I'm going down NEXT weekend (seems like you are too). This weekend was definitely too close to the cold snap.
March 18th was my first find for the DFW area last year. I had a friend who found them about a week earlier. This year has been a lot colder the last 2 weeks over last year but with the nice warm up this weekend I will start hunting next week. In 2012 I saw my first blacks in Febuary!!!
newbie here, been reading this site for couple years. any idea where i could look for them in the dfw? thanks.
Roll call everyone, who's headed out and what county will you be searching? I'm headed out to Hays county this weekend and will be hitting my honey holes in Collin and Grayson county next weekend. Good luck to everyone. Don't forget to check for ticks and watch out for the poison ivy!
I will be hitting my spot in Wise county and my farm in Grayson county next weekend but I think it will be a week early still. I have a couple spots I want to check out locally in DFW that I saw while hiking with my boys this past fall.
The good thing about hunting in DFW is you can find morels right off the trail and people walk past them because they don't know what they are. I found a bunch along a mountain biking path and had bikers stop and tell me where they had seen a bunch more of them on the trails. Their loss was certainly my gain
It's right on the cusp here. Found a bunch of cup fungi, trout lilies, and jelly fungus today. Shouldn't be but a few more days for us in Nortex.
Any suggestions on where to look for them on the south side of Dallas?? I went out today and had a hard time finding any. Up in Indiana I found them right and left along with in Kentucky as well. I am a native Texan hooked on hunting them now..
Wandering Badger, I would say check the Trinity River bottoms south of Dallas county. In Dallas I would look in the Great Trinity Forest around the confluence of lower White Rock creek and the Trinity river. Look for dead elm trees and scan the riparian zones in the bramble. Watch out for snakes! Het Derrik I think I know the mountain biking trail you are talking about.
