Should I Be Worried About Mushrooms In My Lawn?

The sight of mushrooms growing on your lawn can be equally puzzling and worrisome. After all, you didn’t plant them, so how they appeared may seem like a grand mystery. Should I be worried about mushrooms in my lawn?

You should only be worried about mushrooms in your lawn if you or your pets eat them. Never eat mushrooms growing out of your lawn, because death caps and Chlorophyllum molybdites are toxic to humans and animals. You can prevent mushrooms from growing in your lawn by aerating and dethatching.

It’s also important to replace mulch every year to limit how much organic matter the fungal network can consume. Follow along as we explore what to know about mushrooms growing in your lawn and garden.

Why Are Mushrooms Suddenly Growing In My Yard

1. Shade

Mushrooms sometimes appear in direct sunlight, but that’s less common than them growing in the shade. While they can tolerate sunlight, these fungi prefer shady, damp patches of soil. Moisture quickly evaporates from soil in direct sunlight, which doesn’t support their growth.

The same mushrooms in a shady spot will grow much faster and become more prominent. Sometimes, the shade is due to groundcover plants and thatch, which restrict the soil’s exposure to sunlight. In that case, you can dethatch your lawn to expose the soil and help it dry out quickly after it rains.

2. Rotting Organic Debris

The more organic debris you have in your yard, the better. Rotting, decaying organic matter is great for your yard and the overall environment. This is part of nature, and decayed organic matter reintroduces nutrients to the environment and aids soil structure. However, this can also explain why mushrooms are growing in your yard. Rotting organic matter feeds fungi, and an excess of it can make mushrooms grow aggressively.

That’s why you often see mushrooms in yards with plenty of thatch, grass trimmings, and plant clippings. You can restrict the mushrooms’ food source by removing organic lawn debris as soon as possible. Not only will doing so make your yard look cleaner, but it will also keep mushrooms at bay.

3. Rain And Watering Habits

The mushrooms that you see pop out of your lawn are part of a larger mycelial network that loves organic matter, shade, and most of all, moisture. That’s why you typically see more mushrooms in your yard after a heavy rain, especially when the soil stays damp. This is much worse if your soil doesn’t drain properly, which can cause many problems. Mushrooms should be the least of your worries if your lawn’s soil drains too slowly.

Slow soil drainage can smother the roots, contribute to fungal infections, and cause water runoff. Shady parts of your yard take longer to dry out, which is why you may find mushrooms there. If you have a sprinkler system, you may want to reprogram it so it doesn’t run too long. Otherwise, you can address any soil drainage problems to stop mushrooms from growing in your yard.

4. Old Mulch

Mulch offers many benefits, but to reap them, you must regularly replace it. Otherwise, old mulch can explain why mushrooms are suddenly growing in your yard. Organic mulch contains everything from old bark and grass clippings to wood chips and shredded leaves. At first, mulch infuses your soil with nutrients, promoting healthy growth. After a year, the mulch is more likely to help mushrooms grow than it is to help your soil.

That’s because the decaying wood will retain too much moisture, and also feed the fungal network. You can largely prevent such problems if you avoid packing the mulch too tightly. It’s also important to replace mulch each year to retain the benefits without triggering fungal growth.

5. Humidity

Do you live in a humid climate? If so, that can explain why you find so many mushrooms in your yard and garden. Consistently humid air will support mushrooms and stop them from drying out, which would otherwise restrict growth. Many homeowners and gardeners in Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and Southern Illinois know this all too well.

That’s especially true when the humidity reaches 70% to 90%, indoors and outdoors. While you can’t adjust the outdoor relative humidity, you can at least change some of your habits. For example, don’t water the lawn and plants as much on overly humid days, even if it doesn’t rain. It also helps to remove lawn debris that would otherwise trap moisture and prevent the soil from drying out.

6. Compacted Soil

Compacted soil creates the perfect environment for mycelial networks to thrive in many ways. It doesn’t drain well, which means it stays damp for too long. Even worse, compacted soil restricts the amount of oxygen in the earth, which also contributes to fungal growth.

Your plants will suffer from the lack of oxygen, but that’s not a problem for mushrooms. As your plants die, the dead organic matter will let unwanted mushrooms grow. That’s why you must aerate your lawn if you suspect that the soil is compacted.

How To Get Rid Of Mushrooms On Your Lawn

Pick And Throw Them Away

Pick the mushrooms you find on your lawn. Some people mistakenly throw them into their compost bins, but that’s a mistake. The spores can easily grow throughout the compost pile, and you may spread them when harvesting your compost. That can explain why you recently found mushrooms in your yard after treating the soil with compost.

Put the mushrooms in a separate bag and place them in your yard waste disposal bin to ensure they don’t spread. Make sure to remove mushrooms before mowing the grass, or else the problem will continue. Mowing over mushrooms will likely spread the spores further throughout your lawn.

Dethatch And Loosen The Soil

Is your lawn covered in thatch? If so, mushrooms will keep growing on your lawn until you dethatch. This is also the perfect time to aerate your lawn and get rid of mushrooms. You can find a power rake that makes dethatching much easier, but manual rakes are also effective. The key is to remove as much thatch as possible without damaging the grass beneath it.

Some damage is unavoidable, and that’s okay. You can also rent a core aerator from your local home and garden center. Aerating your lawn will reintroduce oxygen, improve airflow, and prevent soil compaction. The combination of dethatching and aerating will discourage mushroom from growing and improve overall the overall health of your lawn.

Fertilize The Soil

Fertilizer doesn’t kill mushrooms, but it can at least hinder its growth. That’s because nitrogen-rich fertilizers speed up the decomposition of organic matter in soil. High doses of nitrogen make organic matter decay so quickly, fungal networks can’t easily feed on it.

Of course, you should stick to organic fertilizers whenever possible, as they’re safer than synthetic ones. More importantly, you must also address the root of the problem, i.e., moisture, or else you’ll continually struggle with mushrooms.

Are Lawn Mushrooms Poisonous To Humans?

Some lawn mushrooms are toxic, but distinguishing them from safe mushrooms is tough. However, that doesn’t mean you should take a “trial and error” approach to tasting the mushrooms on your lawn. Many safe mushrooms look no different than highly toxic mushrooms, and it’s not worth the risk. Chlorophyllum molybdites is a highly dangerous lawn mushroom that’s lovingly referred to as “the vomiter”. As the name suggests, this mushroom can cause brutal nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) typically grow in the shade near trees, and you can find them on your lawn. Death cap mushrooms can kill you, but you wouldn’t know it just by looking at them. As a rule of thumb, you should never eat mushrooms randomly growing in your yard. Only consume mushrooms that you buy and cultivate from a trustworthy source.

Summing It Up

You shouldn’t worry about the mushrooms in your lawn, but you should do something about them. Mushrooms can quickly spread throughout your lawn due to poor soil drainage, excessive thatch, and decaying organic matter. Aerate your lawn, dethatch it, and avoid overwatering to ensure mushrooms don’t take hold of your property.

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