Growing Morels

[CP Dan]

Has anyone on this board attempted to grow morels? I always thought that it was impossible, and that is why the little buggers are so desirable. However, after doing a few searches online, it seems like there have been some people that have actually had success at it. It even looks like there is at least one commercial grower out there.

Late in the season this year, I picked a yellow morel that I could tell was dropping or getting ready to drop spores. By trade, I am a scientist, so I needed to at least try. I suspended the mushroom over a TSA plate over night. Within a day I had dark areas of growth forming on the plate. I transfered some of the TSA over to new growing medium and it is continuing to develope. I am far from having a mushroom, but here is what I have so far. It doesn't look like much, but there are more spots around the jar and I am sure that there is hyphae growing thru out.

[Payne]

I've heard of a group of people drilling holes in logs of host trees and inoculating the logs via the holes. Whether or not it works remains to be seen. I spread morel washwater over a tree very close to my house last year and this season, a medium sized yellow popped up. It could very well have been a coincidence though.

[Scott]

You may want to take a look at the following web page:

botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/morel.html

Tom Volk is a prof at UW-La Crosse, and judging from the reference list at the end of his article, he has made some hard core studies of the morel fruiting cycle. It seems that the trick is in trying to trigger the fruiting part of the life cycle. The article is a fun read, and it makes it easier to understand why morels can be so unpredictable.

I guess the bad news is that what you are trying to do is really hard, but the bright side is, that if you are successful, you stand to make some money!

So what kind of scientist are you? Myself, I am a chemist, so I've been interested in obtaining some of the reagents for the color reaction tests. I've been thinking about stocking up on some ammonium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide and ferrous sulfate, but in this day and age, I am wondering it that will get me on some sort of terrorist watch list!

[mikeologist]

Now its been a while, but Im pretty sure that the fungus has to go into its sclerotium development before triggering its fruiting cycle. Basically, it has to form its overwintering dormancy structure via cooling temperatures.

As far as chemicals go, Im pretty sure most chemical companies will only ship out to businesses or academic institutions. Im pretty sure that you can get some of those chemicals from brew or cheese shops though. Ive seen someone on craigslist giving ferrous sulfate away for free... Personally, my employer has a stash that well never get through, and with the bosses permission, I gain access.

[CP Dan]

I work in biopharmaceuticals, although I originally started in tissue culture, then microbiology. We have pretty extensive chemical supplies. We also have pretty strict expiration dates that are applied to reagents after they have been opened, even though they are still good. I will keep my eyes open for items that could be used for the reaction tests and are just going to get thrown out.

A little bad news to accompany my original photo. The jar that is in the photo has come down with a case of mold. I think it would be next to impossible to isolate the growth now. I will probably just take it in my backyard and bury it with a bunch of wood chips. Who knows, maybe in a few years a couple morels might pop.

I do have a couple more jars that are not contaminated, but at the same time, they aren't diplaying any mycelium growth. I'm not giving up hope though.

If nothing happens, I will try again next year......