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Wild morel mushrooms (Morchellaspp.)
are beloved for their delicious meaty flavor.
Foragers make a tradition out of hunting for morel mushrooms in the spring.
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You may not have success the first season, but that’s due to their unpredictability.
Want to learn how to grow morel mushrooms indoors or at home?
Here’s how to set yourself up for mushroom growing success.
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This is why wild patches of morel mushrooms are so highly prized.
Careful observation is a must.
There are commercial kits available that allow you to grow your own morel mushrooms, each with detailed instructions.
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But there are also successful home formulas.
One well-known home formula for a spore mixture involves mixing molasses, salt, and shredded mushrooms.
Here’s how to do it.
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Do not be discouraged if you do not grow mushrooms in the first year.
If you choose to use a commercial morel spore kit, check that to follow the instructions exactly.
Morel Mushroom Care
Light
Provide morels with light that mimics the filtered light of forests.
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Wood chips,wood ash, peat moss, and sand are also desirable soil additives for growing morels.
Water
Keep the environment moist for your morelsideally as moist as a wrung-out sponge.
Watering withcaptured rainwateris preferred to chlorinated tap water.
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Temperature and Humidity
Plant morel mushrooms in cool, moist weather.
Conversely, when the season is dry and hot, morels quickly wither away.
True morel mushrooms have a uniformly shaped cap that is attached to the stem, and a hollow interior.
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Never eat a mushroom unless you are confident in its identification.
Harvest morels by cutting or pinching them off at ground level.
This will reduce the amount of dirt in your harvest.
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Store up to one week in the refrigerator between moist paper towels.
Propagating
Each morel mushroom contains hundreds of thousands of microscopic spores capable of growing a new mushroom.
Soak a freshly picked morel in a bucket of distilled water overnight.
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The mushrooms, which are the fruiting bodies, are the last stage of growth.
Growing morel mushrooms requires patience.
It could be several years before you see any fruits of your labor.
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And it also requires recreating the exact environment that the morel mushrooms would find in the woods.
It can take morel mushrooms two to five years to grow, which adds to their mystique and rarity!
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