[Evan]

Enjoy the dinner and congrats on your son's marriage.

[Morel Doctor]

thanks Evan,

OK, here are shots from this past week of Blue Mountain OREGON research...








2 hours yesterday produced... one gallon of fresh morels and four gallons of trash... in one of my research areas.






... a few photo shots from this past week ...

[Ducks n' Morels]

MD, your finds and pics are always great, keep up the good work!

[Dave W]

Thanks for cleaning up the earth just a bit, MD . Trash in the woods can be overwhelming around here. Sometimes I carry out stuff from one or another of my favorite trails.

[Morel Doctor]

Dave, the fire morel season this year is perhaps the worst I have ever seen, when you, Karen and Mary were foraging with me in August of 2006 it was perhaps the very best year or maybe a close proximity thereof.


Grey Fire Morels are often very difficult to see if your eyes are not used to seeing them.


I just got back from a trip to my Iron Basin porcini patch that isn't a patch at all this year, in a good year there would be thousands of 'little pigs' with more flushing each day.

It has been raining there each afternoon but the soil temperature is low this year and it probably snowed there today.


burnsites are hard on shoes ... these are about half my size and like some types of trash that I research, I can usually pinpoint the type of commercial picker who wore them.



I found these worn-out shoes in the road at the edge of a burnsite and figured they fell of of a mushroomers vehicle. They were about 100 yards apart so I placed them together at the side of the road and when I came back a week later they were scattered in the road again. That time I put them in my trash bag and disposed with other garbage from that site.



I used this same grabber in Arizona & SoCal this past winter when foraging for various small gems & rocks, it is about worn out, but it saves my back a bit...

I find these types of interesting rocks while hunting for gold nuggets which sometimes lay on top of the ground in the same areas...

[Dave W]

Cool rocks MD! I collected rocks/minerals when I was a kid. That pic really takes me back to when spotting a scene like this was as exciting as winning the state lottery. I also enjoyed the little docu on the trash collecting.

Looks like it's gonna continue to be hot in eastern NA and cool in the west. Too bad we can't trade some weather!

[Morel Doctor]

.... going GREEN this week in OREGON




young Green Fire Morels are often found in their lighter state



...they change color as they age.


I am going to place more copyright notices on my photographs and double copy so that they will be less suitable for publishing. Some of my fire morel photos that I had shared were published without my permission in a book.

Even though it is unlawful, some folks continue to use my photographs in direct violation of US copywrite laws.

[Morel Doctor]

.... going greener in 2010...

26 F degrees in the morning with ice at my camp






This burnsite was reported to have a fairly large picking crew consisting of persons who might not speak or read English, they just pick where they are taken and the broker gets cheaper labor.



...however most of it was bone-dry down deep with no current wildflowers growing, to me this indicates an area of dead burnsite that is finished flushing for the year, even underground spring fed areas were devoid of any morel indications. Often if there are higher alpine areas then late morels may be found.

I surmise that the majority of morels currently being sold are being pilfered from a near-by burnsite that I have been told is more conducive to morel propagation, that particular burnsite is closed to entry so I did not visit there. A site that is closed to entry attracts people who are pleased that the closure keeps others away.



Dry conditions do not necessarily prevent a flush of green fire morels which are prone at times to grow in harsher conditions than other morel varieties



Dave, please note the funny little nodules growing on the ridges on some of these greenies. They look like tiny seed-pods to me.


...and finally a gaggle of baby greenies for all cluster lovers to enjoy viewing.

[Dave W]

MD, I surmise that the nodules are what I see growing from the interior parts of the ridges. Don't reacll if I've seen that in any morels here... kinda doubt it. My guess is that these nodules will expand and flatten out a bit as the mushrooms mature. An intersting observation.

[Morel Doctor]

Dave, here is a blown-up shot of one of the morels posted above.

[Dave W]

The Greenies are large morels. Maybe these extra bumps, nodules, folds inside the pits smooth out a bit as the mushoom grows.

[Morel Doctor]

Interesting thought Dave and that may occur.

That particular morel was already green and mature.

In the photo below you can view the same things on a younger greenie.

[Dave W]

I don't know how well this applies to the western Fire Morels, but if the weather turns hot and dry, a morel may undergo the color-changes associated with maturation without growing very much. Next spring (hopefully I'll remember!) to look for this nodule phenomenon in some of our PA/NJ morels.