Ramp and Mushroom question

[jp82]

will ramps and morel mushrooms grow in areas where it is mostly rocky or not? Thanks

[LowKey]

Depends on where in the world you live.

[jp82]

Sorry for not putting that in there but i'm in WV

[LowKey]

If you are in a USDA zone 7 part of West Virginia you may have more trouble growing morels than if you are in a zone 5 area. Morels are seasonal. They don't grow in "the tropics"

Morels are saprophytes that live in decomposing wood and leaf matter and are usually associated with or symbiotic with the roots of Apple, Elm, and Ash trees. Maybe a few others. (Side note, beware of morels from old orchards. Some have been found to have high levels of arsenic in them due to old pesticides used.)

If your soil is rocky, you may need to prepare a bed for them. There are kits you can purchase with instructions on how to do that. There are online sources that explain how to use a spore slurry. All of them say it can take a couple years before you see results.

With ramps, you are going to have to prepare covered beds. They grow in forest understory (ie in the shade) in leaf litter usually damp but well drained, not standing water conditions. Ramps shouldn't be harvested untl 5-7 years after sowing or transplanting. They should have gotten large enough to produce flowers and seed at least once.
When harvesting wild ones, be sure to leave 80-90% of the wild plants alone in order for the population to maintain itself. If you are planting, learn about the life cycle so you can propagate by seed. Ramp seeds have a double dormancy and can take two years to germinate unless artificially stratified. They are warm/cold seeds that need to be sown in soil and kept warm for a couple months then exposed to cold for a couple months.