Hey there,

I've just recently been shown a plant nursery where nearly every plant pot contains fruiting bodies of Morchella esculenta – probably thousands of fruiting bodies.

I’ve tried to get a culture, but the wall is fairly thin. Any idea where the best place is to isolate morel mycelium from? Had thought about collecting some spores at least.

All a bit of a rush and I have had practically no time to read up on culture mehtods, but understand this one has been tricky. Can anybody suggest a possible culture method for this species and/or a trigger for fruiting? I guess this is long shot.

Sorry about the English, I can speak some German and understand more, but my writing is crap.

Prost,

Anthony

Hi, Anthony

Growing morels is always a game of chance. I have found out that morels like the following things:
- moist lime soil
- light shade by trees or bushes
- rotting piles of wood
- rotting bark of coniferes (especially M. conica)
- burnt wood (sometimes)
- rotting apples and apple peels (sometimes)

So I would suggest the best method to grow them is to neutralize acidic ground with limestone pieces and cover the beds with a thick cover of bark, especially pine bark works fine. If you prepare the beds in the fall and leave them undisturbed in the winter months, the chance is big that at least M. conica appears in the next spring. One time I have found 200 pieces in the new gardens near a construction site. Morchella esculenta is a bit more difficult to grow, but I have found this species in bark-covered gardens between ferns, too.

Hope this helps & good luck!

Boris