Leaving the Morels Alone

April 13, 2008

We’ve had a weird and wacky spring already here in the Puget Sound area! 3 weeks ago, snow fell in appreciable accumulations in many areas. The past few days, it’s been quite warm and lovely outside, with temperatures in the mid 70’s yesterday. This oughta really cook up my morel mycelium growth!

My second morel mushroom planting bed consists of spores from Gourmet Mushroom company. For their species of morels, they recommend frequent addition and turning of compost directly into the morel bed. I’m happy to add kitchen scraps, but I haven’t been very good actually tilling the refuse into the soil. I’m afraid I’ll harm the growing mycelium beneath the surface, if it is indeed there. Brocolli stalks, squash and melon remains, even coffee grounds and eggshells have been dumped on the second morel mushroom bed.