# question...help!!!!



## shroomin1234 (Mar 11, 2013)

i know that winter plays an important role in morel mushroom growth... but what exactly is it??? last year we had like no snow and it was so warm i was shroomin before march. the year before, we had a decent winter and i had a great season! i want to know what exactly the snow does that helps the growth


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## jack (Oct 17, 2012)

The snow adds moisture to the ground. What helps more are good Spring Rains !


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## ant (Oct 17, 2012)

Aside from the water.And in my opinion the packing of the leaves Pedro posted a link to a article somewhere about snow providing nitrogen.Maybe he can post it on here.


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## pedro (Oct 17, 2012)

Some more information
www.adn.com/2008/10/08/550298/blanket-of...-is-a-poor-mans.html

www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts/2001/04/17.html

www.butternutvalleyfarm.com/274/poor-mans-fertilizer

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycelium

www.ehow.com/how_5221296_boost-mycelium-growth.html

mushroomwave.wikispaces.com/Mycelium,+The+Big+Picture!

botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/morel.html

explore.globalcreations.com/featured/morel-mushroom-hunting/

bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/long_brad/index.htm

The above site contain a lot of good information. The last site goes into detail explanation of morel mushrooms, a very good read.

My basic conclusion, snow does help in increasing morel production.
I still have not found any information on how deep morel mycelium runs under the ground. It has been my experience that morels will come up near the trees first and then move out away from the trees trunk. I am assuming the tree roots are deeper farther away from the tree. Most of the time I find more morels on the downward slope away from the tree. 

I read once that freezing and thawing of the ground assist in the absorption of nutrients. I quess too much of that is bad and snow prevents over doing it.


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## pomoxis64 (Jan 30, 2013)

While on the subject of fungi growth and snowpacks etc. How do morels spread the spores grown on a fruiting body? Are they eaten by animals like deer and racoons, are they spread by wind, are they spread by bird poopy (scat for you biologist) or are they so widespread that it doesn't matter. I'm thinking about those mesh bags and spore spreading. Are there a lot of patches of woods that look ideal that have no morels. I mean you've got lots of big (almost dead Poplars, a lot of big ash, some sycamores and an occasional dead elm. But no morels. Maybe these woods just haven't been inoculated with Morcella. I mean you can have a petri dish with the most scrumptouos growth medium possible but if it isn't incoulated with the desired organism (in this case morcella) they won't grow. Should we be going through the non productice woods beating on our mesh bags? Just asking!


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## ant (Oct 17, 2012)

They mainly spread by the air,But Ive also noticed finding them downhill from patches .I think this is because of runoff.Not scientific just observation.But they do spread on air currents.And I think they start producing spore almost as soon as they emerge although many would argue this point.


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## pedro (Oct 17, 2012)

Here is a long thread discussing the ins and outs of using mesh bags.



http://morelhunters.com/forum/spore-bags/10666-re-using-mesh-bag-to-distribute-spores


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## pomoxis64 (Jan 30, 2013)

Pedro thanks for the lead and I read the entire string. Still does not explain to me how morels move across the ridge. Water flows downhill. Up at the top of a drainage system if just one morel sporulates it's millions (maybe trillions) of spores and they flow down the stream then everyplace downstream will get inocolated. Still gotta get over that ridge or the next valley could still be sterile. I have read a lot about this because I am a microbiologist. But I am (was) a bacteriologist and don't know squat about fungi and the means of transmission from one ecosystem to another. Somehow they have to get over that ridge. Or maybe we could put the blooming, fruiting morels into a cardboard box, or a mesh bag, and carry them over the ridge. I mean, we transplanted the Ebola virus from Africa to the US on an airplane. Do deer ear morels?


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## ninja jim (Jan 23, 2013)

"Ive also noticed finding them downhill from patches" 

I especially like embankments.. 

My hypothesis : 1) water drains down hill.-Gravity. Down hill of the tree will have more moisture; more nutrients released from the tree. Also I've noticed that on the down hill side of trees, the roots tend to nearer the surface.


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## mushroomhead (Feb 24, 2013)

Discussing this topic is like ten rabbi's discussing a verse in the bible, you will get ten different answers.

Although last year seemed to be bad for morels where i live, and was very few i found in the woods. I did go to other areas that my grandfather use to tell me where he would find them and although they were not alot, i did find many along the railroad tracks. Areas i normally never hunted at, but grandpa was right !

I pave highways in NE Ohio and i have seen them in all kinds of odd places. My foreman being a college grad horticulturists, we look everywhere at work and i have seen morels as well as other shrooms come up in some strange places. I have no idea how spores can just produce in some areas i have seen.

This is what makes it so fun in my opinion.


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