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Upper Strasburg, PA

Do any of you forage for morels? I’m living right down the road from state game lands right now, so I am going to try to find some out there. Any tips? Necessary gear? Any chance of encountering snakes during morel season? We do have copperheads and timber rattlesnakes here.

3/12/2021 4:24:50 PM

Cheshire Ma USA

Usually out mid to late May in western Mass. Bring a sharp knife and a basket. Old apple orchards and sandy soil seem to be the spots they grow here.

3/12/2021 4:42:29 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

April here. When you find one, you will usually find a mess. Look in wooded draws and natural swales with higher moisture. Dead trees are a staple. Maples, Sycamores, Elms, Cottonwoods... You might get shut out one week, and then find a bunch in the exact spot the next.

If worried about snakes, wear boots.

3/12/2021 4:57:58 PM

dead elms

3/12/2021 6:58:16 PM

Upper Strasburg, PA

Spring peepers have been chirping the last couple of days, so I will wear boots to be safe. I’m not sure how early the snakes start moving, but I have seen copperheads and heard rattlesnakes around here in the summer.

3/12/2021 8:00:20 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

Amphibians in general get going earlier, (here salamanders move in February rains), but snakes will start being active and looking to heat up when Morels are popping. Better safe than sorry especially when jumping around downed trees.

3/12/2021 9:03:30 PM

Central Illinois

Dont think that you have to go deep into the woods Ive been to popular spots and found them right along the tree line

3/13/2021 6:47:15 AM

Clinton, Iowa

In iowa Dead elms...lost most of the places I could find the little gems and switched to Fall mushrooms now.. I am a huge searcher for Hen of the woods in october and late september...they are a real treat and freeze extremely well...If ya would like to see a few pics of what they are and how big they get send me a text I can send you some 563 242 0749....live or dead oaks are the trees to find these by and they get huge...

3/13/2021 9:49:47 AM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

In PA most elms are dead and gone and Morels are hard to find. Been picking Honey mushrooms since I could walk. They are also found in the fall. Locals call them Papinkas.They are found all over the world and photos are easily found on the web.

3/13/2021 8:02:49 PM

Upper Strasburg, PA

If I come back empty handed, at least I will have had a good walk through the woods. We have a few apple orchards in Franklin County, but they’re all on active farm/orchards, so that’s not an option. Maybe in Fulton County, there’s a place like that. Fulton County is pretty beat and it’s just a few miles away. Might see if I can find a spot out there where the land owner will give me permission to forage. From what I have read so far, I have a couple weeks at least. I hear people are starting to find some farther south right now

3/14/2021 1:14:23 AM

Upper Strasburg, PA

How about foraging along a creek? I mean a real creek, not a stream. The West branch of the Conococheague Creek runs near my place. That feeds into the Potomac River in Western Maryland. Would flooding disturb the soil too much right along the creek? Would tree lines around the high water marks be a good environment to target? I haven’t seen anyone mention this idea in the other fora I have been reading, but I get the impression that people don’t want to give away too many secrets.

3/14/2021 1:46:59 AM

Northern Cambria, Pa.

An interesting side note is that the largest living organism on earth isn't the Blue whale or even the mighty redwood, it's a honey mushroom. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/606952-largest-living-organism

3/14/2021 8:48:02 AM

Upper Strasburg, PA

Larry, I never knew you were such a mushroom junky. It must be a Pennsylvania thing. I’ve seen that giant mushroom before in a TED talk by Paul Stamets, a mycologist at Washington State. I actually used his talk as the subject of a paper for my persuasive writing class in college. The assignment was to do a rhetorical analysis of a TED talk. When I looked into Dr. Stamets’s educational history, I found that he went to Mercersburg Academy, which is right here in Franklin County, PA. That was one of those “small world” moments.

3/14/2021 1:40:31 PM