Auriscalpium vulgare is a saprobic species. Its mushrooms grow solitary or clustered on fallen pine cones, especially those that are fully or partially buried. It typically favors Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), but has also been reported on spruce cones, and in California grows primarily on Douglas-fir cones. One author noted finding the mushroom on spruce needles on top of squirrel dens where cone bracts were present in the forest floor. In a study conducted in the Laojun Mountain region of Yunnan Province, China, A. vulgare was found to be one of the most dominant species collected from mixed forest at an altitude of . A study on the effect of slash and burn practices in northeast India showed that the fungus prefers to fruit on burned cones of the Khasi Pine, and that the number of fruit bodies on unburned cones increases with cone girth.