Controlled Indoor Cultivation of Black Morel (Morchella sp.) All-year-round

Published: 3 December 2021
By: Jacob Kirk and Karsten Kirk

Indoor cultivated morel mushrooms
Jacob Kirk and Karsten Kirk inspecting the indoor cultivated morels in a climate chamber.

The morel mushroom is known as one of the world’s most coveted edible mushrooms. During the last hundred years, it has only with limited success been possible to cultivate black morel mushrooms under controlled, indoor conditions. We are therefore very pleased to announce that we finally, after many years of intensive research at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University and the University of Copenhagen, have invented and developed a method for controlled indoor cultivation of black morel mushrooms all-year-round under well defined conditions in climate chambers. We are able to produce 4.2 kilos of first-class morels per square metre within a total cultivation period of 22 weeks, corresponding to an annual production of 10 kilos of morels per square metre. The method is so well developed, that a commercial production can be started after an appropriate automation of the cultivation process.

Video presentation of The Danish Morel Project.