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Earthbox morels

 
pollinator
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A couple months ago I planted 3 bags of Morchella Imortuna around my yard. Each bag had grain in the bottom and sawdust above that, mycellium in all of it. The instructions said to throw the grain part away. That's just not me. I planted it in 4 Earthboxes with some comfrey root cuttings and some strawberry plants. I just now transplanted the comfrey in my yard. I disturbed the mycellium as little as posible. I still found a cluster of 4 primordia! Would these have actually produced this fall? Maybe they can wait until spring? Maybe they won't do anything but the mycellium is thriving, so I can plant more places in my yard or just leave it in the boxes and see if I get Earthbox morels next spring. I think I'll wait.
I guess the primordia could be a contaminant, but the mycellium looks just like what I've been planting.


Also, I'm hoping the mycellium on the comfrey and strawberries may spread it around even more.
 
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Hi Ken, I would really like to know how your planting works out come spring, I've been looking into the morel growing kits, and would really like to hear from someone that has had success. I know that soil, sun, and wind all play a factor, but a real first-hand account would speak volumes. Please update this thread in the spring and let us all know about your experience with Morchella Imortuna, (and also where you bought from if you don't mind). I had been looking into several varieties of spawn to purchase, but I didn't have time to get beds ready this year. Also, we prefer from our limited foraging the black morels to the yellow, and many of the "kit" suppliers that I have seen only offered yellow, or undefined species. So I would really love to hear where you sourced the black morel spawn.
 
Ken W Wilson
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The primordial on the earth boxes turned out to be something else, fawn mushrooms, I think. The places that I put the main part of the spawn didn't have those.  

I bought two blocks of Morchella importuna two months ago from Leighton Banks on Facebook. They aren't fully colonized yet , but they are doing fine. My basement was a little too cool so I moved them up stairs.

I also planted a Morel Habitat Kit from Amazon last spring. It's supposed to be Morchella esculente.  It cost twice as much as Leighton's and only had half as much spawn. It was more mature though.

I will post updates. It's good to know that someone else is interested.
 
Denise Kersting
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Fawn mushrooms are one of our favorites too, we were lucky enough to have a couple in our yard last season and found a few more locations nearby to keep an eye out for them. We are just getting into learning/hunting/growing mushrooms, so I appreciate reading from anyone else that is willing to share their experiences and knowledge. Thank you for checking back!
 
Ken W Wilson
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I wasnt sure enough of the ID to try them. I had read that fawn mushrooms aren't very good. I guess I'll learn to ID them if they come back.
 
Denise Kersting
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I apologize for my mistake, we had what we call "pinks" or meadow mushroom, Agaricus campestris in our lawn, and not the fawn or Pluteus cervinus, also known as Pluteus atricapillus. We did find a few "possible" fawns up at our camp, but like your experience, we weren't positive on those either, and didn't try them. I'd be interested to try the fawns, but as of now, we are only trying 100% positive id'd varieties. So far we have only been brave enough for morels, puffball, chicken of the woods, lion's mane, pinks, and crown corals.
 
Ken W Wilson
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I really like meadow mushrooms.
 
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I haven't done any mushroom gardening, but plenty of wild foraging, both in the forest and in meadows, and both for home use and commercial harvest.  Be careful with meadow mushrooms as other Agaricus species can be deadly, or dangerous, especially in field/forest interfaces.  That said; I'm very interested in growing some Morels.  Please keep this thread alive.  And... pardon my ignorance, but are the Earthboxes those plastic sub irrigated planters?  ...  that's what I seem to get when looking on google.    
 
Ken W Wilson
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Yes. The earthboxes are planters that hold a gallon or more of water that wicks up to the potting soil. I mostly grow strawberries in them.

Thanks for the warning. I make sure they don't bruise yellow and have brown spores. I also wait for the gills to darken. Are there any other features I should be careful of? I'm
 
Roberto pokachinni
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I'm not that well versed on them, but I just wanted to put that caution out there, since I never eat mushrooms that I don't know for sure, especially if they have a harmful look alike; and I know these do.  That info must be searchable, though.      Safe Harvesting.  
 
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