A BUNCH of folks asked me to show some habitat videos and such for morels. So, I'm making a few videos over the next few weeks to show just that, where and when I find morels in Michigan; trees, plants, shrubs, soil, ground cover, etc. etc.

These tips are geared toward folks who are hunting yellow or "grey" morels in southeast Michigan where the main host tree is the once all mighty American elm. If you hunt elsewhere the vids will likely still be useful, but it will be up to you to find the host plant, shrub or tree, most everything else will be the same or very similar. If you're a seasoned expert then these vids are probably gonna be old news, maybe not. :)

This video is covering soil type, ground cover, early warning signs of fruiting, and maybe a couple other things I can't recall right now. Here it is: http://youtu.be/PV_4QtmlgmE

Morels in northern Ohio, southern Michigan and the northern lower all have in common sandy loam soil, black or almost black with lots of sand and tiny seashells mixed in. I RARELY find morels in any other soil. For me personally, soil type is the most important factor in finding any morel period whether it be a half free, black, yellow, grey, or white...or brown, LOL! Sandy loam is the one ingredient that is "most" always present. The trees may change, the lay of the land may be different, but the soil is always sandy loam. But honestly, the words always and mushrooms go together about as good as two left shoes, this season with it's unusually warm weather is a real good example of that.

The area shown in the vid is by far the best morel habitat I've found in any of these locations and it pays off every year with lots of morels. It isn't to say you won't find them elsewhere, but you will probably increase your odds big time by looking for these features. One other benefit, not mentioned in the vid, this area has going for it a nice gentle slope down to the north. Yellow morels like gentle slopes and north facing hills retain more moisture.

I hope this helps anyone who is struggling to get good advice on shrooms.

Nice video. I plan to share it with some newbies....I think it will be very helpful.

thanks, hopefully it helps.

Nice video. I'm a first-time this year and haven't found anything yet in Central Ohio. I know other people have been though. But, the habitat in your video looks like similar terrain to what I was looking in at the end of March/early April. I gave up on that spot, but maybe I was just too early. Maybe that cold spell in the middle of the month just slowed things down a bit. The forests that I've been looking in have a lot of ash/poplar trees with some elms mixed in. I don't really know where there are woods with a higher density of elms around here yet. Thanks for posting that--I'm going to go back out to that spot today!

definitely go back, they are popping with force right now.

Interesting, when I moved into my house 3 years ago I found morels in my backyard and all we have growing, including all the neighbors yards, are pine trees. I had about 2 dozen ready to pick first week of may and that sparked my interesting in hunting them the following year. With everything I read, a strictly pine area would not be a place I would look. I wish morels were a little more predictable than that.

Morels are fairly predictable if you throw out the oddball finds. It's hard for someone new to know what an oddball find is, that's why I suggest looking for the extremely well known host trees and forgetting about the others. Ash, Elm, BTA. If you know those trees and look you'll find lots of morels in Michigan and surrounding states.

You can find them late season in white oak supposedly, I never have and have checked thousands of white oak.

You can find them in Cottonwood, I do, but it's quite rare so why bother looking there when I know elms are giving them up?

What makes morel hunting unpredictable is people giving all kinds of crazy reports and no specifics.

The yellow morels are fruiting in southern Michigan like never before. It is a great season! I'm finding my morels on Black cherry and dead Elms in areas where there is more sun than normal. We had lots of sun and warmth which warmed the earth and gave some real nice early fruitings, now it's back to normal. I'm waiting for the next flush, hopefully it will come.

i need to start checking the black cherry more... Should there be a good number of cherry trees or will one here and there to bounce to hold some results? Also what are good mix trees for the area? The cherry i have by me is mix of white and red oak, and some pine (northern white/slash/hemlock depending on where you are). If I take a stroll tomorrow that's where im gonna take a look i think.

Thanks for video and other info.Should be helpful when I head north in May.

You're welcome.