My 1st morel mushroom this year I picked on the 15th of April in the mixed forest with mostly oak & hornbeam trees. Very close to the place where I found it, there was a small elm tree growing. That day I went to hunt asparagus so this morel was a big surprise for me cause I didn't even think about them. My mind was focused on asparagus.
It was also growing next to the animal-made forest path... The temperature was around 12-14 C & it was raining 2-3 days before & also 5-6 days before. Also the Moon was "uprising" at the time I picked it, but just started "uprising", 2nd or 3rd day of Moon "uprising". The altitude was very low, around 100 m above the sea level.
Just 20-30 m away I found a dying piece of wood full of medicinal mushroom - the wood ear. Auricularia auricular-judae is well-known in the Chinese traditional medicine. It dilutes blood.
2 days later, on the 17th of April, I went to check another location which I've explored earlier this year, in March. There were more elm & ash trees growing & many other plants like black cherry, blackberry, blackthorn, hawthorn, several species of oaks, one kind of pine & other plants... Most important was the elm!
this was the entrance in this elm forest
some of the elms there were already dead, but many were very much alive & healthy
the terrain in the elm forest looked like this
In this small elm forest I picked 8 kg of morels! 😃 I couldn't believe my eyes cause I never saw so many morels on one site! It was incredible!
this was me with almost full basket of morels
Usually when I go hunting mushrooms, I take 2-3 baskets with me cause Croatian forest are very rich with mushrooms in general & I have many clients ordering from me so I pick a lot... but I never imagined nor expected to catch so many morels so later on I was filling canvas bags like auxiliary equipment, instead of baskets.
These were my best moments of this year's spring mushroom hunt:
3 in 1
the biggest one was almost 200 g in weight
full basket
After picking these 8 kg, I went further around & found 2 more kg. All together, that day, in only 4-5 h I picked 10 kg & sold 9 kg the next day to one of the best restaurants in Croatia. The chef there was thrilled with the shrooms & I was thrilled with the money I earned.
3 days later, on the 20th of April, I went back to that same location but then I picked only 1 kg. Nevermind, I was still happy with that! I cooked & ate one the most tasty & most expansive mushrooms in the world! Some of them I dried to have them for later.
Later on in March, I was exploring more sites around Croatia in search for morels & still I found some more but never again so much on one place & in one day.
The morel season is gonna last for few more weeks & then it's over till next year. But now, cause on the lower altitudes is too hot for morels to grow, you can find them only on 500 m high altitudes or higher cause there's now 12-14 C.
For example, I found these on approx. 700 m high above the sea level, growing close to the stream between one huge black ash tree & hazelnuts.
these are a different species - Morchella elata
There's another interesting fact I noticed... I was searching for, exploring, researching, reading books, watching videos about morels for 3 years & in those 3 years I found only 13 pieces! But this year it was my diploma-year so in only few days, I picked around 16 kg all together.
This year I picked several subspecies of morels like:
Morchela rotunda
Morchella vulgaris
Morchella spongiola
Morchella crassipes
Morchella elata (conica)
But also some similar mushrooms & very tasty too:
Mitrophora semilibera
Verpa bohemica
I hope, if you are interested & studying about morels, that this article will be helpful! 😉
Thanks for stopping by!