How to Grow Morel Mushrooms

Morel mushrooms are a type of fungi known for their rich, meaty flavor and are classified in the Fungi kingdom, not the Plantae kingdom, meaning they lack roots and seeds. They are traditionally foraged in spring, hidden beneath forest leaf litter and thriving on decaying wood. Despite their elusive nature, you can cultivate morel mushrooms at home by simulating their natural conditions. While the cultivation process can take two to five years and may be unpredictable, the effort can yield delicious rewards.

How to Plant Morel Mushrooms

If you decide to plant morel mushrooms at home, it can take three to five years from “seeding” the soil with spores until a good colony of mushrooms appears, which is why wild patches are prized. But once the mycelium is established, it can take as little as six days from the time shoots appear until full-sized mushrooms are ready to harvest. Careful observation is a must.

There are commercial kits available that allow you to grow your own morel mushrooms, each with detailed instructions. Successful home methods include using soil with plenty of decaying wood matter (a dying tree is ideal), the right amount of shade and moisture, and morel fungi spores.

One well-known home formula for a spore mixture involves mixing molasses, salt, and shredded mushrooms. Here’s how to do it.

1. Boil the mixture: Boil one gallon of distilled water and add one tablespoon of molasses and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. The molasses will provide energy for the mushrooms to grow, and the salt will prevent bacteria from growing.
2. Add the mushrooms: Let the water cool to room temperature, then add in full shredded morel mushrooms.
3. Collect the spores: Let the mixture sit for about two days, then strain it through cheesecloth and collect the liquid, which will contain the microscopic spores. As the mixture sits, you can prepare the soil in the planting area.
4. Add burnt wood chips: To help recreate the environment that morel mushrooms grow best in, add burnt wood chips to the soil.
5. Check the pH level: Make sure the soil you’re using has a pH level of 6.5 to 7.5.
6. Plant the spores: To plant the spores, sprinkle the liquid over the prepared soil area.
7. Cover the soil: Cover the area with about 1/4 inch of compost and watch daily for the growth of mushrooms.

Do not be discouraged if you do not grow mushrooms in the first year. You may get a few mushrooms, but the process of establishing a colony can take several years in most cases.

If you choose to use a commercial morel spore kit, make sure to follow the instructions exactly.

Morel Mushroom Care

Light

Provide morels with light that mimics the filtered light of forests. They grow under and around deciduous trees such as elm, ash, alder, apple, and oak, frequently appearing before these trees have leafed out. Unlike plants, fungi species such as morel mushrooms do not make chlorophyll, but the sun’s light plays a role in warming the soil.

Soil

Recreate the soil mushrooms prefer that is usually found around dead, decaying, and burned trees. The nutrients released by dying trees and the leaf litter of the forest create the loamy soil that morel mushrooms thrive in. Wood chips, wood ash, peat moss, and sand are also desirable soil additives for growing morels. Many homeowners have success in growing morels near a tree stump or in a mix of decaying wood chips from an ash, elm, or oak trees.

Water

Keep the environment moist for your morels—ideally as moist as a wrung-out sponge. Watering with captured rainwater is preferred to chlorinated tap water.

Temperature and Humidity

Plant morel mushrooms in cool, moist weather. The quintessential spring weather of mild days with temperatures of 60 degrees to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and cool evenings in the 40s with scattered rain and cloudy days will extend the morel growing and harvesting season. Conversely, when the season is dry and hot, morels quickly wither away.

Fertilizer

Give morel mushrooms soil made from compost, leaf mold, wood ash, and composted manure, which are all appropriate enrichments for morel mushroom beds.

Varieties of Morel Mushrooms

The Morchella genus contains several edible mushrooms with similar look, taste, and growing requirements. There are as many as 70 species in the genus, but there are three that are more commonly seen.

• Black morel (Morchella elata): The black morel arrives first on the scene, preferring sites around elm, ash, aspen, or oak trees where it grows in large colonies.
• Common morel (Morchella esculenta): A couple of weeks later the common morels sprout, growing singly or in small groups.
• Late morel (Morchella deliciosa): Late morels are the last pick of the season, but their small size and infrequent number are a disappointment to those who appreciate its fine flavor.

Morel Mushrooms vs. False Morels

When growing mushrooms for consumption, proper identification is critical; in fact, your life can depend on it. False morels contain hydrazine compound that decomposes in the body into methyl hydrazine, and it is absolutely not safe to consume these.

Morel mushrooms have a distinctive appearance, but false morel mushrooms (which encompass multiple species, including Gyromitra) can fool the untrained eye. True morel mushrooms have a uniformly shaped cap that is attached to the stem, and a hollow interior. False morel mushrooms have a wavy or irregular cap that may hang free from the stem, and web-like or cottony fibers inside. Never eat a mushroom unless you are confident in its identification.

How to Harvest Morel Mushrooms

Morel mushrooms don’t need to reach a certain size to achieve ripeness. Older mushrooms are just as tasty as young specimens, but the longer they grow, the greater the chance that weather or animal damage will occur. Harvest morels by cutting or pinching them off at ground level. This will reduce the amount of dirt in your harvest. Store up to one week in the refrigerator between moist paper towels.

Propagating

Each morel mushroom contains hundreds of thousands of microscopic spores capable of growing a new mushroom. In nature, these spores travel by air, but to cultivate morels in a desired area, you must capture them in a slurry.

Soak a freshly picked morel in a bucket of distilled water overnight. Broadcast this slurry around an area you have previously found morels growing, or around the base of mature or dead ash, elm, oak, or apple trees.

In a newly “seeded” area, it will take three- to five-years for a network of underground filaments called mycelium form. The mushrooms, which are the fruiting bodies, are the last stage of growth. Once the mycelium has formed, mushrooms will sprout and mature in a matter of just a few days each spring.