It’s been 5 days since my last post, and it’s been good. Lots of rain and the nightly temperatures are finally above 50. We began April with 7″ above normal rainfall for the year. We are ending with 11″. Fuzzy math calculates we had 4 inches of rain above average in April. I can vouch that. Over 3-inches this weekend. Pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday. So, Monday morning was the time to look – picture above.

Backing up a little, a friend wanted to try morel hunting, something he had never done, so I took him along  the heavily hunted creek and we found two nice, medium size yellows. Friday I had to teach class, and then I had my voice lesson, so a quick trip to the orchard was all I fit in. The orchard was a bust. I guess the six I have found may be all that it produces. I’ll give the rains a few days to work their magic and then visit for the last time this Friday.

Saturday, Rich and I met early and went up the mountain to where he, myself and Steve had found some earlier in the week (Tues 4/23). We found about 80 – a mix of yellows, grays and two blacks. Also, a half dozen prime half-frees. The rain set in about noon and stayed through Sunday. Not be be denied, however, I got up early Sunday morning and went back along The Creek and found two large “fresh” yellows (pix left). Oh Boy! I couldn’t wait for Monday morning.

Monday I went back to the mountain the club had bombed out on April 6 (23 days earlier) and picked 248 !! Mostly yellows and grays in the 2 1/2 to 3-inch size along with a few blacks hanging on.I had to walk out the long way (took an hour)  so I could be on an old road. I didn’t want to risk tripping while bushwacking and spill the gold.

On the way out I noticed why turtles don’t eat the morels. Their mind is somewhere else.

Today, Tuesday 4/30, Ed and I dug a few more ramps for pickling and went back into last Wednesday’s hollow. We picked up 20 more blacks along with one 3-inch yellow. Wow! Black morels in East Tennessee the last day of April. After writing all these posts, I am comfortable saying that we were three weeks behind this year. AND yesterdays find was on TOP of the ridge, so there still may be good yellows this week down low. Look for them !!

Happy Hunting. I’m about done here. Might drop in a patch Thursday, but I’ll be speaking at the Georgia Mushroom Club monthly meeting in Atlanta tomorrow. They are a great group, and it gives me a chance to visit with my good friends Sam and Cornelia. Then the Knoxville Market Square Farmers Market opens the season Saturday May 4. I’ll be set up there every Saturday until Novemeber.  HOWEVER – I have two days morel hunting in southern Indiana planned for mid-May. That will be another story.

Pretty nice ramp patch

Ramps and morels are a perfect match, and added to scrambled eggs are heaven incarnate! So, Wednesday Apr 24, Ed Scott and I set off out of the valley and up on the mountains to gather a few pounds of ramps. Rain was (and did) supposed to set in around noon so we headed out of our meeting place in the cool at 7:30 a.m.

After arriving, we dug for about 2 hours going for the most mature plants with large bulbs good for pickling. I wanted to get a few pounds extra to deliver to Steve and Rich on

Mature with large bulbs

Saturday when we’re going out together again. The sweetest ramps are the earlyones without any bulb to speak of, but after growing for a couple of weeks they develop a bulb about the size of the last segment of your thumb.gathering what we needed we headed out, and started talking about how some of the hollows had a lot of poplar and might be good for morels. On a whim, we stopped and found about 25 in one of the hollows. They were an eclectic mix of black from very fresh to old and rotten and small yellows from fresh to dry. The yellows looked like they were the first of the year and coming back in a week might be just the ticket – especially with the weekend rains predicted. Evening temperatures have been around 40 the past two nights, but are expected to rise and stay in the 50′s after the rains come through.

All in all it was a good day and I enjoyed being with Ed. To those reading this post I say – don’t give up yet. The ground is wet, warming up and if black morels aren’t around be on the lookout for the yellows. They’re beginning to show up.

http://www.wbir.com/life/local/programming/liveatfive/article/271328/8/A-fungi-forager-is-a-fun-guy-who-pronounces-it-fun-j-eye

I have now picked 8 out of the small orchard, but I have found no yellows anywhere except in these two places. Some spots known to be productive have not shown any color, although I have gatherd two half frees and a handful of tulip morels.

I have been keeping notes and after tomorrow I will post a summary of the past 10 days morel fruiting and pose some ideas about what has been happening. As of now, I believe we are three weeks behind normal and I am afraid we will get an abrupt end. Hope not.

Another friend has told me of a large abandoned orchard that I’ll be going to later with several friends. Hopefully that will be a good experience.

On April 5th the Asheville mushroom Club had 30+ foragers looking at one site and found a total of mayber 20 small blacks hidden under leaves. It rained on the 11-12. On the 13th, Rich, Steve and I looked along the ridge top at that spot and picked maybe 30 or so. Most were mature fresh blacks around one ridge top ash. One gray was found by Steve. Soil temp there was 45-48. We went several other places known to produce but found only a few

On April 6th the Club had 40+ members combing a 600 ft. ridge and found Zero mushrooms. Ten days later, April 16, I returned and found about three dozen 5″-6″ blacks – ALL were at the very top with about 30 in one spot around three large ash trees. Again, there was one good spot.

Several other locals have had the same experience, That is - blacks are coming up, but they are being found heavy in small spots and missing entirely in others. Maybe it’s natural variation or microclimates. My picture shows that soil temp was only in the 40′s in both cases above.

On the other hand, Gray/yellow are beginning to show up but soil temp along the creeks is still in the high 40′s. I am going to four places today and rain is expected tommorrow. Hopefully Sat and Sun will be good days, albeit a little cooler as a front mves thorough.

I will post the good news on an Apple Orchard later.

Yesterday was our 5th day of 50 degree nights, and there is heavy rain expected tonight. Most poplars are now showing small leaves and the weekend is ahead. Yesteday, I measured 47 degree soil temperature on a south facing slope along a creek. Temperature on a nearby ridge top was 45. So be looking!

The occasion yesterday was an outing with local television Channel 10 (WBIR) folks for a feature on morel hunting. I had found the morels in this picture on Monday, so although we found no yellows yesterday, I fried these blacks up for the crew. I also brought a few ramps to complete the adventure. Locally, look for a 2-min piece on WBIR Channel 10 on April 23 between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.

Just a note here. When walking along a gravel road always look on the shoulder. This picture is from Monday on a shoulder where Rich and I found about 30 lined up two years ago.

Good afternoon,
I did contact the department of conservation liaison regarding your request. I have included below his response. Hopefully, this will answer any questions you have. If not, let me know and I will be happy to follow up with them.
Tyler

REPONSE: There are no state-wide regulations.  State Park rules do allow for picking of berries, nuts, and other fruits and although a mushroom is not a plant, it is the fruiting body of the fungus and collecting mushrooms does not impact the organism.  However, for larger collecting forays, we can offer a scientific research permit.  Once such individual and organization has one and he provides us with some nice species lists.   Their link is at http://www.cumberlandmycology.com/

From the rules (see #3)