When morels grow in the Leningrad region

Time to collect morels

There are many mushroom spots on the territory of the Leningrad Region. You can find both edible mushrooms, which are successfully used in cooking, and poisonous, which are dangerous to human health.

In the local forests, you can pick mushrooms throughout the year, even in January. The best time to harvest morels is spring.

It is interesting, but it is not in vain that they got their second name - "snowdrops". Morels are able to withstand cold weather and not be harmed in such conditions.

Many avid mushroom pickers claim that in April, and sometimes even in March, you can already pick mushrooms. Experienced "hunters" know the places where morels are most common.

Thus, morels are the first mushrooms to appear in the Leningrad Region. They do not have a beautiful appearance, but they surpass many other species in taste and can only compete with young boletus (porcini mushrooms). To please yourself with a delicious mushroom dish, you should familiarize yourself in advance with the places where morels grow.

Where morels grow

The main thing with which to start the process of picking mushrooms in the Leningrad Region is to determine in what area they grow. Morel, or rather conical morel, grows mostly on the territory of coniferous and deciduous forests.

It can be found at the site of clearings, fireplaces, as well as burnt forests. If at least one mushroom is caught, in 99 out of 100 cases a whole family will surely grow nearby.

The mushroom often grows in the southern part of the Leningrad Region, in particular, in the territory of the village of Tosno. After all, the most pressing question for mushroom pickers is where to find them.

The mushroom map will help with this, indicating the more successful routes along which you can find the gifts of the forest. However, it is important to understand that the years may be different and, if one season was fruitful for mushrooms, there is no guarantee that the other will be the same.

In addition to deciduous and mixed forests, morels grow in suburban plantings, as well as in parks and gardens. According to the advice of mushroom pickers, morels should be looked for in April or May, not under the trees, but in the grass in the meadows, where a sufficient amount of sunlight enters.

Morels can also be found on sandstone or dead wood. Their favorite place of growth is in the glades warmed by the sun near ash trees.

It is not worth picking mushrooms near industrial enterprises, highways, which are characterized by active traffic of cars.

What they say about the 2019 mushroom season

According to mushroom pickers, 2019 was very rich in morels. They were actively collected in May. A large number of mushrooms were in the Lomonosov region near the village of Russko-Vysotskoye, as well as near the village of Eglizi (near Tosno).

Mushroom pickers advise picking morels in May, as they are still watery in April. It is important to understand that morels, like many other mushrooms, are conditionally edible, so they should be boiled before eating.

It is necessary to collect fruiting bodies, the size of which does not exceed 8 centimeters. If you look at the photo below, then morels have a conical wrinkled cap and a white body (leg).

Interesting! Where to grow and when to collect morels and stitches in the Moscow region

Similarity to lines

In addition to the fact that it is important to know when and where morels grow in the Leningrad Region, you should choose these mushrooms correctly. It is very easy to confuse morel with a line, although they are not similar in appearance and taste.

The line has a short, hollow leg, which is practically invisible due to the ugly head of a dark brown or black color. The lines are much larger than morels in size. If you find them in one burnt place, then you can collect 2-3 buckets at a time, and each mushroom will be the size of a grapefruit.

As for the taste, morels are much tastier, however, the aroma of the lines is very pleasant, spicy, mushroom, bright and memorable.

Interestingly, unlike most forest mushrooms, growing morels is possible at home. It was first tried in the 19th century. In particular, the French have achieved success. According to their research, morels grew in orchards in places where fallen apples accumulated.

In the spring, the mushrooms were cut up and scattered over the ridges so that throughout the summer they rot and fill the ground with spores. In the fall, the ridges were plowed up and thrown into the waste that remained after the production of apple cider. With the arrival of spring, morels grew, although there were not many of them - enough to cook one mushroom dish.

Summarize

Morels are the very first mushrooms in the Leningrad Region; they can be picked already in April and May.
They grow mainly on the territory of coniferous and deciduous forests, in meadows, where a sufficient amount of sunlight enters, on a fireplace and burned flattering places. Also, mushrooms can be found on roadsides, sandstone and dead wood.
Back in the 19th century, people tried to grow morels on their own. The French noticed that they grow in places where apples fall.