Can morels be cultivated? How can I grow them?
Yes, mushroom growers have worked out ways to cultivate morels, but these mushrooms are still among the most difficult to grow, at least in any quantity. If you are determined to grow them indoors, there is a partial procedure posted on this page. It is fairly complicated. For outdoor growing, some companies are selling morel "kits." With these, you prepare an outdoor space according to specifications and inoculate with morel spawn or spore slurry. Then, if you are lucky and weather conditions cooperate, you may see morels the following season.
Agar cultures of morel mycelium and morel spawn can both be prepared by the peroxide method following the same procedures used for other mushrooms. Morel spores germinate very quickly, and the mycelium grows faster than virtually any other mushroom mycelium, covering an agar plate in 3 days or so. But the difficulty with morels is getting the actual mushrooms to form.
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This document is Copyright: ©1999 by Randall R. Wayne, Ph.D. All commercial rights are reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used for sale in any form or by any means without permission of the author.