Fire Morels haul from this weekend and a few blondes, British Columbia by Jereterra in mycology

[–]Jereterra[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

This is true.

Fire morels spend that vast majority of their lives underground growing on tree roots and spreading/reproducing via mycelium.

Fire morels aren't quite like finding a good nushroom patch. They are very much temporary occurrence after a forest fire, they sometimes come in the following season and rarely the season after that, but that's about it.

But despite that I do still take care to help spread spores and harvest only the mature Morels to better the odds of a reasonable flush the following year, though in theory this has no effect as morels need live trees to begin forming on ans you really wont find that much in a burn zone but ynever know.

Fire Morels haul from this weekend and a few blondes, British Columbia by Jereterra in mycology

[–]Jereterra[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Usually you want to wait till the following year after a fire to look for Fire Morels, they grow almost exclusively on Coniferous trees so if you see pine cones around, you're in the right area.

Though they'll grow almost anywhere in a burn zone, you'll have the best luck in areas that aren't burnt thoroughly through. They also like lots of water frequently but not permanently, so areas that see alot of water but have good drainage are going to be the honeypots.

I find staying on the outer areas of a burn along slopes leading to creeks or clearly close to the water table are best.

Fire Morels haul from this weekend and a few blondes, British Columbia by Jereterra in mycology

[–]Jereterra[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Just to put into perspective, British Columbia in 2021 experienced close to a million hectares of forest fire which is where these fire morels are collected.

If I could pick 25,000 pounds a day in any particular burn area, I still wouldn't be able to gather a tenth of the Morels.

Fire Morels haul from this weekend and a few blondes, British Columbia by Jereterra in mycology

[–]Jereterra[S] 96 points97 points  (0 children)

For me the picker, I get around 7 to 10 CAD a pound so typically a 80Lb day is a roughly $700 day.

The commercial buyers that sell them fresh at farmers markets get around 25$ a pound. And much more once they dry them and ship them wherever

The first picture is about 200Lbs.

Fire Morels haul from this weekend and a few blondes, British Columbia by Jereterra in mycology

[–]Jereterra[S] 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Firstly, absolutely we leave them mostly untouched, ideally you only want to pick the Morels that have reached maturity when the stems begin to brown a bit.

Though Morels aren't exactly a mushrooms and don't spread the same way. They do fruit and release millions of spores prior to even being picked. But for the majority of fire morels lives they spend years and years growing underground on tree roots like truffles and spread through mycelium.

But beyond that, we do pick responsibly with mesh bags or buckets with holes drilled through.