MUSHROOMS IN MY YARD
Gardeners’ Dirt by Carla Rodriguez
September 21, 2024
I am very thankful for all of the beautiful rain in June and July and the end of August looked great. The downside is having to mow every five to six days, and the upside is the wide variety of mushrooms popping up in the yard.
I grabbed my camera and headed out to take pictures of the mushrooms. Silly me, I thought that I could easily identify them and maybe find some that were edible. Did you know that there are around 10,000 varieties of mushrooms in Texas, with at least one hundred varieties that are harmful? So much for easy identification.
What exactly are mushrooms and why do they growing in my yard? Even though we can find mushrooms in the vegetable section at our local grocery store, mushrooms are not really plants. They are classified as fungi.
Knowledgeable mushroom hunters can identify safe mushrooms that are nutritious and delicious. But the average gardener should not eat wild mushrooms that pop-up in lawns.
Mushrooms cannot produce food for themselves. Some of them get what they need from dead or decaying material, while others attack living plants for their needs.
And why are they growing in my yard? Mushrooms in the yard are an indication there is a lot of organic material in the soil, which is a good thing. Mushrooms help the organic material break down, making it more beneficial.
Mushrooms in the yard are not a bad thing. Mushrooms indicate your soil is healthy. When conditions are not favorable, the fungi stay hidden underground, doing their job breaking down all of that wonderful organic material.
Another benefit of mushroom rich soil is the mushrooms help break down leaves and stems which decreases the amount of thatch in your lawn. Too much thatch in your lawn can keep water and fertilizer from getting to the roots. It can also cause water to stand which can suffocate your lawn. Aerating your lawn can reduce the amount of visible mushrooms and can increase the oxygen for the roots.
Are there mushrooms popping up around the drip lines of your trees? If so, lucky you. These mushrooms indicate that there is mycorrhiza activity, which is a beneficial fungus that can help the trees during drought and other stressors.
If you want fewer mushrooms in your yard, get rid of any rotting wood that you might have laying around. You can add mulched grass and leaves. You would then create a lawn with more bacteria-rich soil which would be a better balance between bacteria and fungi. Also, cutting back trees and shrubs to let in more sunlight and take care of any standing water will reduce the amount of mushrooms
If you had lots of mushrooms throughout your lawn in June and July, what should you have done? The best answer is nothing. Soil that is full of microbial activity is what you really want for your lawn and trees. Destroying all of that beneficial activity to get rid of or prevent mushrooms growing in your yard could actually harm your lawn.
What do you do now? Just let the mushrooms be and enjoy them. Wait a few days, and when the conditions are not favorable and it becomes hot and dry, which it always will, the mushrooms will dry up and go away. To speed up the process, just mow over them.
Warning. What you should not do is apply a fungicide to your yard because it will do more harm than good. Fungicide will probably kill all of the wonderful beneficial microbial activity that you have worked so hard to create.
If you do not have mushrooms growing in your yard, you really need to try harder.
This article by Victoria County Master Gardener Carla Rodriguez originally appeared in The Victoria Advocate, Victoria County, TX