Asked on Sep 16, 2014

Help please! These mushrooms seem to be taking over part of my yard

Pop
by Pop
These little guys are growing like crazy near a huge Maple tree that fell and was removed in 2011. I had the stump dug out earlier this summer,I wonder could there be a connection?
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of them and to keep them from growing back?
This thing is growing in the mulch with others like him.
  21 answers
  • Carole Carole on Sep 16, 2014
    Mushrooms often grow near or around dead trees. Although the tree is gone I note you have wood mulch and there are probably dead tree roots in the soil from the removal of your tree. Also, now the tree is gone, there is nothing to soak up the water in that area. Trees drink a lot of water. Could be a combination of dead tree roots rotting in the ground and too much moisture in that area in general. A fungicide should see them off if you really need to get rid of them.
  • Jeanette S Jeanette S on Sep 17, 2014
    We are having some this year because of all the rain. Look on the spray bottle of "Fungicide" at the big box stores and see if it gets rid of mushrooms. We need another spraying of our entire yard!
  • Diane Diane on Sep 17, 2014
    I have used the following non-toxic method. POWDERED LAUNDRY DETERGENT. Sprinkle it all over the mushrooms. Check out any of Jerry Baker's books on garden tips and tricks. There are loads of safe recipes for combatting or aiding all things in your yard and garden. I have been using his information for years..
    • See 3 previous
    • Diane Diane on Sep 17, 2014
      Not to start a "word war"... but just to make my suggestion clearer, you sprinkle it on as you would lawn fertilizer at night. I have been doing it for years and my dog and child are just fine. The most important thing with any yard chemical is to watch your children or dog. Unattended inside or outside, they could get into a lot more dangerous situations than the stuff you wash your clothes with.
  • Elaine Simmons Elaine Simmons on Sep 17, 2014
    Maybe you are lucky? Look in the bottom left hand corner of your pic. It looks like a 4 leaf clover to me!
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Sep 17, 2014
    I suspect you have them because of the decaying roots of your maple. In most cases, mushrooms do no harm to a lawn. If these are breaking down the roots of your maple, you should thank them for helping to make organic material available to other plants.
    • See 3 previous
    • Candy Nelson Candy Nelson on May 14, 2019

      I have pets that the mushrooms could hurt or worse. I want them gone. the tree has been history for quite a few years now. This is about my 3rd year of these pests. I'll try anything safe for pets.

  • Pam Longville Pam Longville on Sep 17, 2014
    Our family owned a golf course for many years. When mushrooms steed growing on the greens every year, he had us kids go around and sprinkle white garden lime on the greens. And they would then disappear. They grow when the ground is too acidic. Lime brings the ground back to a basic.
  • EL Hoard EL Hoard on Sep 17, 2014
    I'm with Doug Hunt. Shrooms are beneficial. I actually find them an attractive Addtion to any lawn and garden. It brings out the nature juxtaposed against an designed setting. Mother Nature exploding and doing her on thing. They generally don't last long.
  • Kit389052 Kit389052 on Sep 17, 2014
    Have you or a neighbor removed a tree, or have a dead or dying tree, schrooms will grow there.
  • Dianne D Dianne D on Sep 17, 2014
    Douglas Hunt, can you collect these and make mushroom compost or add to soil conditioner? Any particular kind of mushroom?
    • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Sep 18, 2014
      @Dianne D See @Katie Price 's comment above. As she says, mushroom compost is not actually made from mushrooms, it is made from the material they are grown in. But you can certainly add them to your compost pile.
  • Nancy Jenkins Nancy Jenkins on Sep 17, 2014
    Is there rotting wood, stump? Check with professional to see if edible if not destroy, do not eat. Usually my mower or when raking leaves etc I get rid of them that way.
  • Missingtx Missingtx on Sep 17, 2014
    I lost two peach trees this past June while we were in Texas for a visit. It seems that even though they were trees for Kansas, that they never last for more than three to four years.This ended my dream of many years of peaches and that's sad because they were the sweetest peaches I'd ever tasted! I too have had a plague of mushrooms in my yard so I spoke with our county agent. He explained that there's nothing to be done about them because they spring up from the roots of the dead trees. In fact he said that the mushrooms coming up like this are actually beneficial because they're breaking down the roots systems and thereby enriching the soil. All you can do is what we do...get you some plastic gloves and pick them and place them in a sack and place them in the garbage can, because if you don't when they open their little spores will cover the entire yard. I have noticed though that our mushrooms come up in the area where the trees were only after a rain. I hope this helps.
  • Denise Rankin Denise Rankin on Sep 17, 2014
    I agree with everyone else. You are lucky that your soil is being enriched naturally. I would find a local expert on mushrooms and ask if these are edible. I love cream of mushroom soup!
  • Pop Pop on Sep 17, 2014
    Thank you all so much for all the great information! This is my first time posting a question and I had no idea I would get so much help. I will just mow and let the mushrooms do there job at helping to compost the tree roots. Oh and I just love the 4 leaf clover real or not:) Thank you again!!
    • Tish Brooks Tish Brooks on Apr 21, 2020

      Excellent choice. I'm currently researching mycology and have identified many types of mushrooms. All mushrooms, even toxic ones are extremely beneficial to all of us. Those mushrooms are breaking down the lignin (the tough fibrous part of the tree and roots) from your old tree, in a way that no other organism, other than a fungus, is capable of doing. They'll break down that tree and all it's parts, to their most basic molecules, which renews the soil in their area.


      Some mushrooms even supply nutrients to live tree in a type of beneficial exchange, which keeps the trees healthy,when others, without the fungus would starve or perish of diseases that the shrooms ward off.


      Most mushrooms are not toxic to humans or dogs. There are many that are excellent and choice wild edibles. I recently found one that tasted lime lobster (No kidding! I think I like the mushroom better than my favorite lobster, though).


      One last thought... The majority of the mushrooms you find will be sprouted up and gone within 24 hours and I know of none, which will cause harm to your lawn. Just the opposite, in fact. Mushrooms are a sign of a healthy backyard ecosystem.

  • Marion Nesbitt Marion Nesbitt on Sep 18, 2014
    Have same problem - different variety. They are destroying my lawn. Never mind the enrichment business - I hate them. Someone suggested white vinegar which wilts them. I then dig them out. None grow back where I have dug. Just appear in different spots. Read on Internet that no fungicide works and you have to dig 8" down and 22'" out to remove their rooty things. Would need a backhoe! Did I say I hate them? Oh, yeah.
  • MARY MARY on Sep 18, 2014
    Marion you don't have to dig just pull em' Made a spoon rake with your hand, scoop and pull up gently and toss in a bucket.This way your yard don't be full of shovel cuts.
    • See 1 previous
    • MARY MARY on Sep 22, 2014
      @Marion Nesbitt Hon don't ever use round up if you want something to grow Round Up is a killer and nothing will grow not even a weed
  • Esther D Esther D on Sep 18, 2014
    Our lawn always grows mushrooms, sometimes huge ones. Thanks for the suggestion to include them in our compost. lost 3 huge yews in the 2010 storm that grew for over 30 years.
  • Kit389052 Kit389052 on Sep 19, 2014
    As Douglas suggested, use them as compost
  • Constanzia Constanzia on Sep 20, 2014
    I live in a wet climate and my property is heavily treed, so I get mushrooms often. I worry about my dogs eating them, or small visiting children. So I spray the mushrooms with a half white vinegar and half water solution. I wait a couple of days, then dig them out. They do have a root system so digging down an inch or more is necessary. Then I put vinegar in the dug up area just to make sure. They don't come back in that place.
  • EL Hoard EL Hoard on Sep 21, 2014
    Constanza, I'm no expert, but I don't think that dogs would eat them. If so, there would be dead dogs lying around all over the place. I think they have a natural sense to avoid them.
    • See 1 previous
    • EL Hoard EL Hoard on Sep 24, 2014
      You are probably right Contanza. Hope that doesn't happen to yours.
  • Feral Turtle Feral Turtle on Sep 21, 2014
    Check out our mushrooms...and yes they are real!
    comment photo
    comment photo
    • See 3 previous
    • Feral Turtle Feral Turtle on Sep 22, 2014
      Yah they are huge Normally I would have mowed over them but they were so big I was able to see them before the mower got to them!
  • Connie Connie on Oct 21, 2014
    Mushroom spores are in the caps and are like a mushrooms seeds. So to get rid of them avoid letting the mushroom mature and release its spores. Vinegar will change the soils ph, I think a better bet is boiling water. Will kill off everything for maybe a season, then grass seed can be spread there. I hate to use Roundup or even vinegar to kill unwanted plants.