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Morel Mushrooms whait for nobody, get out there and find them before it's too late!
Sunny hillsides early in the season, Shady hillsides in late season.
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The Typical Michigan Morel Season:
A good morel season will depend on the spring weather and the amount of snowfall during the winter months. I understand that the more snow the better the season will be. Perhaps this is because of all the moisture the snow brings. You see, morels like moist conditions. After the weather breaks and the snow melts, it puts plenty of water into the soil thus preventing the soil from becoming too dry to soon. A good morel season depends on a gradual warm-up in the spring. Many will argue about what the ideal temperatures would be for morel growth. Typically for a banner crop, the daytime highs would be in the 60's to low 70's and lows no cooler at night than 50 degrees. Warm rainy nights will really get morels popping.
Many Michigan Morel Hunters will begin looking for signs as early as the month of March. Normally March is a cool month. March is basically the kick-off if you ask me. I beleive that the weather in March does have an effect on the morels. You see March is when the ground is beginning to thaw from the long cold winter. We don't want the temperature climbing too high too fast . A slow steady warm-up is ideal. Then as April takes over, you would want to see weather starting to get warmer during the daytime hours like in the low to mid 60's up to around 70 degrees with plenty of warm rain and mild temperatures during the night time hours idealy in the 50's. With a continuous flow of weather like this you can bet on a nice flush of morels. But hey! wake up! This is Michigan we are talking about. Since when does the weather ever cooperate like this?
In Southern Michigan areas the start of the Morel season will normally begin to show its first signs of morels in Early to mid April depending on the weather but it seems that every year I can always recall a few small finds being reported as early as March. The black and brown morels (Morchella angusticeps, Morchella elata, Morchella conica) will kick off the season. Along with these you may run across the half free morel (Morchella semilibera.) These are the first true morels to fruit. These will usually fruit through out most of the month of April and into May. A word of caution, during the early season be on the look out for the so-called false morel (verpa bohemica) this morel resembles the half free. See my page on Morels for a more descriptive outline of the Verpa and half free morel. Also, The beefsteak morel (Gyromitra esculenta) is also an early morel and should not be eaten see my morel page for more information on the beefsteak morel.
As the season progresses into late April and May, the Greys, yellows, whites Morchella esculenta, Morchella deliciosa, Morchella crassipes will begin to fruit as the blacks wined down. This, in my opinion is the best part of the season but also is a sad indicator that the season is coming to a close. The yellows and whites are the last of the species of morels to fruit for the season and can become very large and plentiful if the weather is right. The woods becomes filled with morel hunters this time of year. Typically the peak season for Morles is during the month of May depending on how the weather coopoerates and also depends on which portion of the state you are in.
Soil Conditions and Soil Temperatures
The soil temperatures can be a helpful sign to determine when morels may be ready to fruit. There have been many studies on the ideal ground temps and many people will have their own theories. What I have concluded is soil temps ranging from 47-55 degrees for morels to begin their growth cycle. (Althogh it seems like the early black morels prefer the cooler temperatures) but can't really prove this theory. Typically you would want to check the soil temperature at a depth of 4 inches in bare soil. If you take a meat thermometer or soil thermometer and stick it in the ground at a depth of 4 inches for at least 5 minutes, you can get a pretty accurate reading. I have also heard of people doing their own studies and claim they have found morels with a soil temp of 40-45 degrees.In cases like this, the morels would probably be far and between. I will be honest when I say "Don't totally rely on soil temperatures to determine when it is time. The best way to tell is actually taking a walk in the woods and look for the signs. There are a couple web sites that actually record soil temperature throughout the year. This is a very good source of information and one of my favorites. A place where you can track soil temperatures daily or hourly. I visit this site as soon as I see signs of spring.
Click here for soil temps.
So basically the information above, is a representation of a Typical Michigan Morel Season but not written in stone, since ther are so many variables that will affect how the Morel Season will react.
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