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MUSHROOMS

WHY ARE THERE MUSHROOMS IN MY LAWN? 

            First and foremost, DO NOT EAT WILD MUSHROOMS unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure you have identified the mushroom correctly and know that it is edible.  Many common lawn mushrooms are poisonous.  If you must eat a wild mushroom, leave one in case the poison control center needs an sample of what you ate.

            Mushrooms are truly unique organism, and their ability to recycle agricultural wastes, tree stumps, and other decomposing matter is usually not fully appreciated because they tend to do it right in the middle of our well cared for lawns!

            Mushrooms, sometimes called toadstools, are the reproductive (fruiting) structures of some kinds of fungi.  Many fungi do not produce visible fruiting structures, including those that cause many lawn diseases.  Most fungi in lawns however, are beneficial because they decompose organic matter, thereby releasing nutrients that are then available for plant growth.  Lawn mushrooms feed off decaying matter such as: old mulch, animal waste, rotting, tree stumps, or muck from newly laid sod.

            The mushrooms that you see are not the whole fungus.  You are in fact seeing the fruiting body, which has a prime function of spreading spores to create new colonies.  It is what’s going on under the ground that keeps the fungus alive.  Most mushrooms reproduce by releasing thousands of spores through their gills into open air for dispersion into the environment.

            Most mushrooms do not harm your lawn nor cause any damage.  But to rid you lawn of mushrooms, first find out why they are there.  Over watering, organic material in the soil, spores being blown in from a neighbor lawn, or decaying foliage near the lawn.

            Just mowing the mushrooms down will only spread the spores and give you more mushrooms.  To rid your lawn of mushrooms try reducing the water irrigating to a mininium to dry out the soil.  Thatch the lawn of excess lawn clippings and foliage to let the soil breathe and dry out.  Hand pick each mushroom with a plastic bag, not to let the spores drop on the ground.  If mushrooms are associated with a lawn fungus called Fairy Ring.  Have the lawn treated with the proper fungicide by a professional pest control operator.  If there is no sign of other damaging fungi on your lawn, you can sometimes eliminate mushrooms growing from organic matter by applying nitrogen fertilizer.  This helps, because fertilization speeds up decomposition of organic matter.  If you fertilize with nitrogen and there is damaging fungi on your lawn, the nitrogen will cause the damaging fungi to spread quickly thorough out the lawn.  Or, rather than trying to kill mushrooms, enjoy their beauty and just what till the weather or environment changes and the mushrooms just stop returning.

            Collier Pest Control, Southwest Florida’s Pest Authority, can help you with mushrooms or lawn fungus.  We can identify the source of your problem and either provide a treatment to eliminate the fungus or give you mechanical or physical methods to reduce the moisture in the lawn to help with the mushrooms.

            If you live in Naples, Fort Myers, or anywhere in Southwest Florida call Collier Pest Control for a full explanation on any of our services or look us up on our web site at collierpestcontrol.com.  Remember Florida does not have to be shared with insects.

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