When Mushrooms Appear In The Lawn
Mushrooms appearing in lawns could be a sign of real problems for the lawn in the very near future. Mushrooms could signify the beginnings of a lawn disease known as Fairy Ring, alternatively, a mushroom is sometimes just a mushroom, and nothing to worry about.
Unknown Mushroom Types
There are literally thousands of different mushrooms and toadstool varieties, many are safe for eating and very tasty, unfortunately many others can be very poisonous, and should never be eaten, or even handled. So if you’re not a confident analyser of mushroom and toadstool varieties – it’s always a good idea to play it safe and remove the mushrooms from the lawn when first seen.
Possible Fairy Ring
Fairy Ring is a very nasty lawn disease with no known cure. The disease is fungus based, which makes Mushrooms the only cause of the disease. While the overwhelming majority of mushrooms in lawns will never become Fairy Rings, it’s really not something to take lightly, and it’s better to remove mushrooms than risk the possibility of Fairy Ring in the lawn.
Removing Mushrooms In The Lawn
We’ve discovered two very compelling reasons to remove Mushrooms in the lawn immediately, so let’s do that now.
To safely remove mushrooms from the lawn, it’s best to also remove some of the soil from underneath and around the mushroom, because mushrooms spread via an underground network of veins.
By assuming the mushrooms could possibly be poisonous, it’s best to wear rubber gloves to be safe.
By assuming the mushroom could possibly cause Fairy Ring, or spread more mushrooms, we need to be careful not to drop any of the soil or mushroom pieces back onto the lawn, so have a plastic bag on hand for removal.
The mushrooms are then simply dug out of the ground using a small gardening spade, also removing the soil to a depth of up to 10 cm, and creating a perimeter around the mushroom by another 10 cm. The mushrooms and soil are then carefully placed into the bag – being careful not to spill any soil. The bag and it’s contents are then placed into the garbage bin.
The empty hole is then filled in with some soil from the property. Warm season grasses will re-spread over the area and repair. Cool Season grasses should be re-seeded.