I went out early in the season this year and i checked a few of the well producing spots around my house and in my 78 acre backyard, i didnt observe anything at first, then when i decided to take a closer look on the leaf-littered ground i saw something tiny that looked like a morel... well indeed it was. It was the smalest one that ive ever had the pleasure of finding. it was probably no bigger than an eraser on the end of a normal pencil. The only wierd thing was that it wasnt fully formed yet... as i looked closely at it i noticed half of the cap was solid... at first i thought maybe it wasnt a morel after all but then i went onto the internet and looked it up... sure as heck it was a morel that must have just sprouted... so im pretty sure ive come to the conclusion that i have duped the old myth of ''they just pop up''. A nother thing is if you go back to your ussual spotts, its a good idea to not walk around were you think they are gonna sprout cause most likely your stompin on half the load thats growing... i made this mistake yesterday when i decided to use my hands to rake the leaves to see if i could find some sprouters and i ended up smashing about four or five... oops.. never gonna try that trick again.. haha happy hunting fellow shroomers!

to add to Villepickin's own personal finding and discovery, check out this page on The Great Morel - Growing Lifecycle which should help lay the "pop" myth to rest.

Here you will find some GREAT images one of which is available to download and you can zoom in on the newly developing morels.


The Great Morel