Presumably saprobic; growing scattered to gregarious or in clusters on the duff of spruces and other conifers, and occasionally on well-rotted wood; late summer and fall.

In N. Macedonia, it has been collected at two sites with natural spruce woods, at an altitude ranging between 1,500 and 1,800 m. Both sites are either within or in the vicinity of the two best-developed spruce communities in the country. They are affiliated to HD Annex 1: 9410: Acidophilous Picea forests of the montane to alpine levels (Vaccinio-Piceetea). Popova Sapka, where the largest number of fruit bodies have been observed, comprises a well-developed spruce community (ass. Piceetum abietis scardicum Em 1986) whereas the other site is near the confluence of the Adzina Reka into the Radika river, in the southern complex of spruce forest in the Adzina Reka river valley. Individual spruce trees have also been recorded in Malesevo Mts (at the site Murite), in the eastern part of the country, near the Bulgarian border. It is worth underscoring that given its geographic position, the territory of N. Macedonia is the southern boundary of spruce forest European areal of distribution. The third find is in mixed forest of birch, poplar, Macedonian pine, fir and planted spruce, at an altitude of 1,200 m.