There is nothing in food that is more loved and hated than the mushroom. People get very passionate about mushrooms when they are mentioned. They either profess their undying love or spit their venomous hate for them. Mushrooms are a divisive issue much like politics or religion. As a subject, they should be avoided at family gatherings, weddings, parties, and public outings. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of a mycelium (fungus). But calling a mushroom a fungus is like calling an apple an apple tree. The mushroom, like the apple, is just an organism's attempt at reproduction. There are five kingdoms of life: Animalia, Plantae, Monera, Protista and Fungus. Fungi belong to the kingdom Fungus. Duh.
A fungi is different from a plant in that it lacks chlorophyll because fungus don't use the sun for energy. Fungus require a nutrient-dense substrate to grow in. This is why mushrooms are commonly found growing on dead logs, compost, and feces. Mushrooms occur on the surface when the mycelium have grown large enough and have saturated the substrate with mycelial strands. Mycelial strands are called hyphae, and they can grow up to a ½ mile per day collectively. Mycelium have many hyphae, which make them a good candidate for the largest living organism on earth. So how exactly do we get rid of mushrooms?
Getting Rid of Mushrooms
Keep your lawn trimmed, dry, and free of litter like poop, leaves, and grass trimmings. Mushrooms like moisture where they grow. Moisture helps their hyphae break down the nutrients around them to be absorbed into the mycelium. So ,by reducing your watering to the bare minimum, it will discourage the fungi from sprouting fruit. Also, rake up the leaves, fecal mater, and other detritus; this will decrease the amount of consumable nutrients thereby reducing the fungus' ability to grow and reproduce.
Mushroom spores are everywhere all the time. I guarantee there is absolutely no way that you are going to get rid of all the mushroom spores that are in the soil or air. Spores are extremely small, and a mature mushrooms releases thousands of them. They can lay dormant for years before swelling and becoming a mycelium and eventually more mushrooms. So don't waste your time here.
Pick the mushrooms before they mature and release the spores. Mushrooms don't release their spores until they are mature. So, if the gills aren't exposed, you shouldn't have to worry about releasing more spores and adding to your problem. If you don't feel like picking them, kick them or just mow them. It may even give you some sense of satisfaction. That is unless you kick an Inky mushroom with white shoes on. I ruined a baseball cap that way.
Eat at your own risk. If you are one of the chosen people who enjoy the divine diversity of flavor the fungal kingdom has to offer us, you are probably wondering if you have edible mushrooms growing in your lawn. Well, I would suggest buying some books and taking a class on mushroom identification before eating any of them. There are thousands of mushrooms in the world and many, many, many look almost identical, and lots of them are poisonous, so eat at your own risk.
Use lawn fungicide. There are some fungicides available to treat your lawn. The two most popular are Bayleton and Daconil. The active ingredient in Bayleton is triadimefon and is mildly toxic. The active ingredient in Daconil is chlorothalonil, and it is a severe irritant. Bayleton is the better of these two fungicides. Applications for preventing fungus is1.5–3 pounds per 1000 square feet. For curative applications, the amount needed is 6 pounds per 1000 square feet.Lawn Fungus
As you have probably gathered, mushrooms are very difficult to get rid of. All we can do is try to control the conditions of your lawn. A healthy lawn will be better able to fight of fungal attacks. Take care not to over fertilize your grass. Excess fertilizer is utilized by the fungus to compete against the grass. Never water your lawn at night. The best time to water your lawn is in the early morning. When applying water, give the grass a good dosing to encourage deep-root formation. But be careful not to douse your lawn with water too frequently as this will only benefit the fungus. Rake up the detritus to keep the fungus from eating it. Pick the mushrooms by hand or run them over with a lawnmower. And if nothing else, use a fungicide. Make sure to follow the recommendations for application to ensure fungal death. I hope you have found the information in this article helpful. If you have questions, ask them here.
