Morel Mushrooms Appear When Multiflora Rose Leaves Reach Size of Mouse Ear

At this month's meeting of our local archaeological club, I got at tip on morel mushroom hunting from Eric Taylor, a lifelong mushroom hunter in a family for whom mushroom hunting has been a tradition for generations.


His tip:  Looks for morels when the leaves of multiflora rose bushes reach about a half-inch in length.


This reminds me of a North American folklore saying:


"Morel mushrooms will suddenly appear
 When oak leaves are the size of a mouse's ear"


That saying comes from a book I just bought, "Morel Mushrooms in Michigan And Other Great Lakes States".


I watched a DVD by "The Taylor Boys" (Eric and Keith), "Mushrooms Grown Wild", and got ideas about where to look for morels, such as pine plantation edges, streambanks, old apple orchards, burn areas, and around certain trees like sycamores, in addition to the obvious wooded areas.


Eric told me that because of cold weather, like a fairly recent 1-inch snowfall, morels likely won't show up in my areas north of Columbus, Ohio, until later--which I guess means May.

Eric Taylor, wearing new "Morel Mushroom Hunter" t-shirt, selling DVDs at April 17, 2014 meeting of the Kokosing Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Ohio.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I bought this 40-page book recently.

Morels Fever

I recently bought this DVD for $7 from Eric Taylor, pictured at right next to his brother Keith, morels in all four hands and a bin overflowing with morels.  (Front cover photo by Jim Brewer)

Back cover of DVD showing Eric in 1978, at age 9, next to his "Grandpa and Teacher", the late Lincoln Miller, both holding morels.  (Back cover photo by Jim Brewer)

Last night I joined a morels forum and posted some questions, with more to come, to help me start my first morel mushroom hunt.


Everyone has morel fever in this area so I've caught it.  I bought a DVD on morel hunting from a local mushroom hunter I met at our local archaeological club meeting in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. 


Morels usually come out in early April in Ohio but may be a bit delayed by the cold winter, which, on the other hand, is said to promise a better than usual morel season.


The site has a video on morel hunting and links to sites where you can learn the soil moisture and soil temperature in your area to time your morel searches.  Morels like a soil temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit.


From the forum I learned of another soil moisture and temperature forecast site.