Discovering mushrooms is fascinating, and if you find the right ones, they can be a tasty addition to meals. However, mushrooms growing in lawn aren’t as much fun. Mushroom growth can cause an eyesore on what used to be a lush green lawn. It might be tough to know how to get rid of mushrooms in yard as they stem from things happening beneath the surface of your lawn.
Luckily, you can often find these lawn mushrooms safe, and these lawn fungi don’t cause disease. However, some strains of mushrooms can be poisonous to kids and pets. So, you do need to err on the side of caution. Mushroom varieties are numerous and are found in various shapes and sizes, with the umbrella-shaped mushroom the most common.
In our guide, you can learn how to get rid of mushrooms in yard using various methods. By the end, you’ll know why they exist, how they reproduce, and the best ways how to kill mushrooms in lawn. (Learn How To Get Rid Of Mushrooms In Mulch)
Why Do Mushrooms Grow in Lawns?
Mushrooms are the fungus world’s fruits, and like flower seeds, mushrooms serve to multiply fungi and ensure survival. Instead of seeds, fungi produce spores carried by the wind or eaten by other animals.
Fungi exist in abundance in soils, and they help organic matter break down. Thus, fungi in the lawn ecosystem benefit from the carbon and other nutrients provided by fallen leaves or grass clippings. The fungi help the conversion of clippings, dead grass, and leaves into soil nutrients.
Mushrooms are a sign your lawn’s soil gives you a healthy lawn, although excess moisture from overwatering can lead to more mushrooms appearing. Browning grass, which appears in dark circles or bands before mushrooms, is a natural part of the soil process.
Half-circles of white mushrooms or puffy balls may be seen following the patterns; the circles are often referred to as “fairy rings.” You often begin to see mushroom growth in shaded areas rather than across the whole yard where there is more sunlight blessing your beautiful lawn.
Drawbacks of Lawn Mushrooms
Although they are harmless, there are a few disadvantages to having mushrooms on the lawn. Their presence could also indicate a problem:
- In an otherwise perfect lawn, the puffs and mushrooms can be unattractive.
- Some lawn mushroom species are toxic, and if eaten by children or dogs, they can cause severe stomach discomfort.
- Continued fungi development above the soil line might harm grass in isolated regions.
- Mushrooms may show the lawn has been overwatered, or you have poor drainage.
- Mushrooms prefer moist, dark environments with plenty of decaying organic debris.
- Rotting leaves, dead grass, tree stumps, animal waste, and other items can all be found in this area.
Benefits of Mushrooms
Beneficial fungi are helpful to the garden because they consume decaying organic debris and provide nutrients to the soil and plants around them. This function is critical for keeping decaying organic matter from accumulating and retaining healthy soil.
In ideal conditions, happy and thriving fungi will produce mushrooms, the fruiting bodies that aid in spore propagation. The fungi have already established themselves beneath the surface, and mushrooms simply indicate that a fungus is thriving in your lawn.
How To Get Rid of Mushrooms In Lawn
Homeowners have trouble getting mushrooms off their lawn because they treat the symptom rather than the source. The fungus problem beneath the soil surface will not be solved by removing mushrooms above the surface. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies solely responsible for the dispersion of spores, as previously stated.
The best technique to get rid of them is to dig out the entire mushroom using a garden shovel. You can get rid of mushrooms in your lawn with various methods. There are several ways to get rid of them, and you can utilize a mix of them to get rid of them the fastest and most efficiently.
It is important to remove mushrooms from areas where they could come into contact with humans or animals due to safety issues. (Read Do Mushrooms Need Light To Grow)
Kill Mushrooms Using Fungicide
The mushrooms you see in your yard are the ‘fruit’ of fungi growing beneath the soil’s surface. As a result, applying fungicide directly to the mushrooms popping through the grass is unlikely to kill all the mushrooms.
It can, however, be used to kill fungi that develop beneath the soil. In order to get rid of your lawn or garden’s mushroom infestation, you can use fungicides. These should be handled with care in yards where children and pets are present.
You can buy sprayer attachments for your garden hose to spray the damaged areas. Using a backpack sprayer or pump sprayer, diluting the substance with water is also possible. It’s also possible to use a granular substance that can be sprinkled or sprayed on your lawn to prevent mushrooms from sprouting.
The mushrooms should fade away over time. However, because this may not be a long-term solution, you’ll need to take other steps to keep the new mushrooms from reappearing. Pick up and dispose of any visible mushrooms in a plastic bag to stop spreading spores, and clean up any rotting waste that could encourage new mushroom spores to develop on your lawn.
If these household treatments fail to solve the problem, you might engage a professional to treat your lawn with more powerful remedies. (Read Can Ducks Eat Mushrooms)
Natural Ways How To Get Rid Of Mushrooms In Lawn
Allowing mushrooms to disperse naturally by following their life cycle is the most natural way to get rid of them in your yard. Because mushrooms thrive in decaying and breaking down organic matter after the process is complete, there is no food source, so the mushrooms naturally die and disappear.
Remove any visible food source or organic material such as decaying matter, old rotting wood, tree branches, animal waste, grass clippings, and clear thatch with a thatching rake regularly to help this process maintain a healthy lawn.
Use Vinegar Mushroom Killer
Vinegar is another natural way to get rid of mushrooms in your garden. But, first, you’ll need to get horticultural vinegar, which is usually reasonably potent because household or cooking vinegar is too diluted to work effectively.
To dilute the horticultural vinegar to the proper strength, follow the guidelines on the bottle. It’s easier to use if you put it in a spray bottle, but as this vinegar can quickly burn skin, you need to wear eye protection and gloves.
The mushrooms will be killed simply by spraying them with the vinegar solution. Spray with caution because it may kill the surrounding grass.
You could do a test area on a few mushrooms and leave it for a few days to check the effect.
Baking Soda
Baking soda can remove mushrooms or fairy rings in a more delicate manner. Baking soda is not a fungicide, but it can help ease the problem by raising the pH of the soil, which prevents the fungus from growing.
It’s not a long-term fix, but gentle, safe, and effective.
Stir two tablespoons of baking soda into a gallon of water until completely dissolved. Spray the mixture on the mushrooms and the surrounding soil. This will slow the growth of the mushrooms and maybe kill them.
You can also sprinkle baking soda directly on the mushrooms and soil and water it in. To see benefits, you may need to repeat this approach frequently, but it is both affordable and safe to use around children and pets.
Just keep in mind that any significant changes in the pH level of the healthy soil surrounding the area could stunt the growth of other plants and tree roots.
Dish Soap
Dish soap is another natural way of killing mushrooms in your yard.
- Using up to one gallon of water, combine one or two tablespoons of commercial dish soap.
- Poke holes in the soil around the lawn mushrooms with a screwdriver.
- Soapy water should be poured over the mushrooms and into the holes to disrupt the fungi’s life cycle beneath the soil surface.
- Repeat this process several times every day for a week to witness a rapid drop in new mushrooms.
- The key to making this work is ensuring that the soapy water penetrates deep into the soil, where the fungi live.
Clean
To get rid of mushrooms in your yard, make sure your yard is clean first. Then, remove any decaying organic material food source such as dead grass clippings, old mulch, leaves, and other debris in yard areas where mushrooms grow. (Learn How Deep Are Banana Tree Roots)
It provides the ideal food supply for mushrooms to thrive if left in the yard. As a result, removing it will aid in the control of the mushroom population.
If your yard is too shady, check if targeted trimming or pruning of nearby trees will help bring in more light.
To assist the soil get more air, cut the grass shorter using your lawnmower, even if only for a short time.
Moisture Control
Lawn mushrooms’ extensive root system helps soil retain water and break down organic debris, which aids in adding nutrients to the lawn.
This can result in mushroom growth when you don’t want it.
Use only a small amount of water in your yard. Early in the morning is the best time to water the lawn so that any excess moisture can be evaporated by the sun. Don’t overwater your lawn since dampness encourages the growth of mushrooms.
Because fungi thrive in shaded regions, prune and remove extra branches from trees and bushes.
By Hand
You can manually remove mushrooms if you observe mushrooms growing on organic material around your yard. However, if you’re picking them by hand, wear gloves, place them in a garbage bag, close them tightly, and toss them in the trash.
Mushrooms should not be added to your compost pile as their spores may continue to spread.
Nitrogen Fertilizer
Treat your yard using a nitrogen-based fertilizer to prevent more mushrooms from growing. Mushrooms will eat decaying organic matter in your soil. The rate at which decaying matter breaks down will be accelerated if nitrogen is added to the yard. The faster it decomposes, the faster the mushroom’s life cycle will conclude.
This is a terrific two-pronged technique to get rid of mushrooms in grass. First, simple lawn care will concurrently address your mushroom problem.
Are Mushrooms In Lawn Dangerous
The mushrooms in your yard are not harmful to the yard. On the contrary, they are beneficial because they convert organic matter into nutrients that your lawn can easily absorb. They won’t transfer diseases to your yard and will likely vanish once the organic matter has decomposed and the mushrooms and fungi have run out of food.
Toxic mushrooms cause symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In addition, some mushrooms can cause renal failure, while the most poisonous mushrooms can cause liver failure and death. Death Caps (Amanita phalloides) are the most toxic mushrooms.
Because wild mushrooms are difficult to identify, the risk of death or severe sickness is too high with kids or where your pets play.
Mushroom poisoning symptoms emerge 20 minutes to 24 hours after eating. Symptoms of amanita poisoning include stomach upset, followed by a recovery period. Septic shock, internal bleeding, and liver failure can occur within hours or days of consumption. Currently, no treatments exist to counteract this toxin.
Teach your kids not to touch or consume mushrooms they find in the yard or the outdoors. If you suspect someone has eaten a mushroom, call 911. If possible, bag and transport the suspected mushroom to aid medical personnel. (Read When To Aerate Bermuda Grass)