Mushrooms Galore

Discussion in 'HortForum' started by dickturpin, Oct 21, 2003.

  1. dickturpin

    dickturpin Member

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    Sheffield
    Hi
    About a year ago my wife & i moved to our new house, all the garden was covered in wood chippings instead of turf, but none the less i planned on turfing it all anyway.
    In spring i set about preparing the ground, i turned the soil mixing some of the wood chippings in, all seemed fine until a few months later.
    We started to get these really tall grey mushrooms, although they didn't seem to live that long they did make the garden look untidy and there was alot of them, pretty much all over the garden, well the problem didn't stop there, as time went on we started to get these new type of mushrooms, these where fatter in appearence and where small with red tops. Yet again they started to pop up everywhere and as much as i mow them down, they just keep coming back, My main concern is that we have 6 children and our youngest is just a toddler and im scared in case she starts putting them in her mouth and eating them.
    My questions are " did i do something wrong when i prepared the ground for our turf ??" also "is there anyway of getting rid of them ??" also would they be dangerous to little children ??"
    thank you for any help on this matter.
     
  2. jimmyq

    jimmyq Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    First off, stop mowing them. pick them gently before they open their gills and spread spores to try to reduce the spreading. Decomposing wood and debris is a breeding ground for mushrooms and fungus, the mulch you turned into the soil under your lawn sounds like it is a perfect breeding medium. As for the poisonousnous (sp?) of the shrooms, get a local experts opinion and refer to good pictures in mushroom ID books, generally speaking its safer to treat them as very dangerous until proven otherwise. There are no products that I know of licensed or registered to control mushrooms in my area, might be something available in the UK but I am the wrong guy to try to answer that for you.
     
  3. Chris Klapwijk

    Chris Klapwijk Active Member 10 Years

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    Fungi are primary decomposers and play a vital role in the world's ecosystem.
    Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of a vegetative substance called mycelium.
    Mycelium, depending on the type, may be found growing on
    a. living matter (parasite)
    b. dead or dying matter (saprophyte)
    c. symbiotically with other organisms (mycorrhizal)

    Identification of mushrooms include the taking of a spore print and close examination of the structure of the mushroom.
    What does the cap look like? Is it convex, bell-shaped, conical, knobbed, flat, or sunken?
    Is the cap's surface smooth, velvety, hairy or fibrous, does it have raised scales, flat scales or does it have patches?

    Does the cap have gills? Not all mushrooms do. If so, how are the gills spaced; crowded, close or distant? How are the gills attached to the stalk? Are they attached, seceding, descending or free?

    Does the stalk have a ring? If so, is it pendant, flaring, sheathing, double, or cobwebby?
    What is the shape of the stalk? Is it equal along its entire length, club-shaped, bulbous, with a cup?
    Is the stalk attached centrally to the cap, off-center or stalkless?

    Even after answering all the above, sometimes the only positive identification of a mushroom, in addition to the above, comes from the microscopic examination of the spores.

    There is no harm in mowing the mushrooms. Since the organic matter contains a finite supply of nutrients, eventually the nutrient source will be exhausted and the mushrooms will disappear.
    Picking the mushrooms will not prevent the mycelium from continuing to grow underground.

    Posting some good close-ups of the mushrooms would be of help but no guarantee it could be positively identified.
     
  4. Mushroom help

    Many thanks for your replys,
    Is there anyway of attaching a photo ?? or anywhere i can send a photo ?? as i have a digital camera and i can take some detailed shots of the mushrooms.
     
  5. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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