Most people are very fond of picking and eating mushrooms. And what a pleasure it is to collect them right in your garden! Morels appear in spring and bear fruit until June. Growing morels in the garden is not as laborious as it might seem at first glance.
To get started, you need to purchase morel mycelium. It is easy to find it in garden or online stores. It is better not to take mycelium for this, obtained from self-collected mushrooms, but to use purchased, specially prepared. 
Choose the right place to plant your mushrooms. Morels love shaded areas, it is desirable that deciduous trees grow nearby. Water should not stagnate on the site, but it should not dry out either. In the selected area, remove the topsoil, approximately 15 cm thick. 
Prepare a special substrate: mix 3 parts sawdust, 1 part wood ash, 1 part tree leaves, 6 parts garden soil. Put the prepared substrate on the area with a layer of about 10 cm, pour water at the rate of 10 liters per 1 m². 
Put the pieces of mycelium on top, put the soil removed earlier on top of it and pour again. Finally, cover the surface with tree leaves. 
It is best to plant morels in the spring (but you can do it throughout the summer), then the next year you will get an excellent harvest. Fruiting mycelium can last from 3 to 5 years. 
All summer you need to monitor the sown area, water it when it dries, and feed it with wood ash. In the fall, cover the area with straw, branches, leaves, and in the spring, after the snow melts, remove this protective layer. After 2-3 weeks, the mushrooms will begin to bear fruit. 
Growing morels in the garden is certainly a pleasant experience, but do not forget about the rest of the mushrooms that await us in the forest. In addition, no one has yet canceled the benefits of walking in the forest and the excitement of a mushroom picker.
29 March 2011
Oleg Markaryan
Who doesn't love mushrooms? Probably only those who have never tried them. What could be tastier than fresh fried mushrooms or pickled mushrooms? In terms of taste, they may have very few competitors, but it is very difficult to call these types of mushrooms exotic. Morels are a completely different matter. These amazing mushrooms are classified as conditionally edible, which already sets them apart from more “white and fluffy” competitors. What does conditionally edible mean? It's simple - before using in various dishes, they must be boiled for 20 minutes, and then rinsed with cold water. In addition, morels have a very bizarre shape with many cells, which gives these mushrooms a fantastic look.
For some time now, this type of mushroom has been grown at home. In total, at the moment, there are two proven methods of growing morels at home. Both methods came to us from Europe, and both are associated with apples. I'll explain everything now.
The first way is French. It consists in growing morels in ordinary beds (in the garden). With the onset of spring, pieces of forest mushrooms are scattered over the garden bed and this place is poured with water, in which fresh morels were washed. The thing is that spores of fresh mushrooms remain in this water, which are perfectly accepted at home. In the summer, the garden bed is not touched, and in the fall it is sprinkled with "apple" waste, which creates an excellent environment for the growth and development of morels. For the winter, the bed with morels is covered with dry leaves or hay.
The origin of this method is quite interesting. In French gardens where morels grew, the greatest harvest was always taken in places where apple trees grew. Especially where rotting apples lay on the ground. Since then, this method of growing morels has been practiced by mushroom farmers all over the world.
The second method was invented by ingenious Germans. It completely repeats French, but has one difference. Pieces of mushrooms and water with spores are poured directly into the gardens under the apple trees. Further, the "bed" is covered with ash, and for the winter it is covered with a layer of leaves or straw. The first mushrooms appear about a couple of weeks after the leaves or straw are removed in the spring.
As you can see, growing morels is not overly difficult and tedious. And each of you, in the presence of a garden or vegetable garden, is able to organize such a very promising business.
Earnings on growing morels
Who doesn't know about the fantastic taste of mushrooms? Probably only those who have never tried them. It is always nice to see pickled mushrooms or fried mushrooms on the festive table. But these mushrooms have already become commonplace. And we so want exotic. In this case, you can pay attention to morels... These mushrooms are classified as conditionally edible species. This means that before eating, morels need to be boiled for about 20 minutes and rinsed with cold water. This fact already sets them apart from the mushrooms we are used to. And the appearance of morels attracts with its originality.
More recently, morels have begun to grow at home.
There are two ways of this technology, which were invented in Europe and associated with apples. Let's take a closer look at them.
The first way was invented in France. Its essence lies in growing morels in the beds. As soon as spring comes, pieces of mushrooms are scattered around the garden bed. From above, this place is watered with water, in which fresh mushrooms were washed. It is in this water that morel spores remain, which are well accepted in a well-equipped habitat. In the summer, the garden is left untouched. In the fall, it is constantly sprinkled with apple waste. It is apples that create a favorable environment for the life of mushrooms. For the winter, the beds are covered with hay or dry leaves.
This method did not arise by chance. It was observed that morels that grew in orchards gave the best results where apple trees grew, and there were many rotting apples on the ground. This fact was adopted by farmers all over the world.
The Germans came up with several another way growing morels. They scatter pieces of mushrooms and sprinkle water with spores directly in apple orchards. Further, the plots are sprinkled with ash, and for the winter they are covered with leaves or straw. The first mushrooms appear a couple of weeks after the cover is removed.
Based on the information provided, we can conclude that the technology of growing morels is not a complicated process. Anyone can do this business on their personal plot. After setting up sales channels for growing morels, you can build a promising and profitable business.
Growing morel mushrooms... Spring! And now the first mushrooms appear. The mushroom calendar is opened by mysterious, unusual shapes, without the usual tubes or plates, morels and lines that are cool to the touch, which are the first edible spring mushrooms. They appear in mid-April - early May, when in central Russia along the ravines, and in some places in the forest, somewhere under the spruce trees, you can still find unmelted snow. For this they were called snowdrop mushrooms. Morels and stitches grow more on non-sodded soil, along forest edges and clearings in small forests, along forest roads. These mushrooms bear fruit until June inclusive.
The names "morels" and "lines" are to a certain extent arbitrary. They divide morel mushrooms into two groups. Morels are those of them in which the surface of the cap is divided by ribs into more or less regular cells. In the lines, the cap is folded, cerebral, and in some it consists of intersecting blades.
The line is ordinary.
Such mushrooms are also called lobules. However, it is not necessary to go to the forest for morels.They can also be grown in the garden. From the middle of the XIX century. in France and Germany, morels began to be grown in groves and apple orchards, and mainly morels are conical with an elongated cap and common morels with a rounded cap.
Lobster.
Morel conical appears in spring in coniferous and mixed forests on sandy or sandy loam soil, often and sometimes abundantly. It has a very characteristic elongated and tapering cap, 2–8 cm high and 1.5–4 cm wide. On the surface, the cap has well-positioned, strongly protruding intersecting ribs. The color is brown, yellowish-brown or gray-brown. The leg is white or yellowish, 2–4.5 cm tall.
In Western Europe and especially in North America (in particular, in the USA) conical morel is considered a delicacy; it is served at celebrations on the occasion of the annual congresses of American mushroom specialists - mycologists.
Another cultivated morel mushroom is the common morel, with a height of 6 to 15 cm, growing in deciduous forests and parks in well-lit areas. Its cap is ovoid or oval with transverse and longitudinal folds forming cells of irregular shape, brown or ocher-brown. The leg is whitish or yellowish, hollow inside. The two methods of growing conical and common morels that have survived to our time can also be useful to Russian amateur mushroom growers. Therefore, let us dwell on them in more detail.
Morel is common.
According to the German method, in the spring, scattered pieces of mushrooms collected in the forest were scattered in a suitable place in the garden, usually among the grass under the apple trees, and these places were watered with the water left over from their washing. This water contains morel spores.
Then the planting sites were covered with ash, and in the fall they were covered with a layer of fallen leaves of an apple tree or other small-leaved tree species (birch, etc.), or a layer of straw. In the spring, the cover of leaves or straw was carefully removed, leaving only a thin layer to protect the mycelium from drying out. Such a plantation can bear fruit for several years. Usually, already 2 weeks after removing the tire, the first morels appear.
According to the French method, morels are grown in ordinary beds, where, as described above, pieces of mushrooms are scattered in the spring.
In the fall, the garden bed is loosened and covered with a layer of apple pomace or other apple waste left over from the preparation of juices, jams, etc., since it has been noticed that they contribute to the development and fruiting of morels. This method is based on the observation that in France in orchards, especially a lot of morels appear where there are unharvested rotting apples. For the winter, the beds are covered with leaves, and in the spring the tire is removed.
These methods may well be tested by amateur mushroom growers, since they do not require any costs. Many additions can be made to them based on climatic and other conditions. But it should be noted that the artificial cultivation of morels remains at the level of amateur cultivation. However, recently in the United States, a method of growing conical morel in artificial culture on a special substrate in a special closed room was patented, in the same way as mushrooms are grown. Morels have the prospect of becoming an agricultural crop. But the opportunity to have your own plantation of these delicious spring mushrooms in your garden will probably always attract hobbyist mushroom growers.
It remains to be recalled that morels and lines belong to conditionally edible mushrooms: they must first be boiled for 15–20 minutes, and then rinsed with cold water. After that, you can prepare a variety of mushroom dishes.
