Question: Over the last several years I have had an increasing problem with mushrooms growing in my lawn. They are ugly looking things, 2 to 8 inches in diameter, brown or blackish in color rather than white. If I chop them out they return in a matter of weeks/months, and recur each year.
Could they be related to trees (root residues) that were cut down 3 to 5 years ago? What can be done to get rid of them?
- Jerry Ansul
Answer: Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder. This month, after such a moist summer and early fall, I got an arc of orange mushrooms in the lawn. To a one, all visitors thought them charming.
Yes, your mushrooms are probably related to the decaying tree roots. It helps to understand the life cycle of fungi (which, by the way, are not plants anymore, having been granted their own kingdom by taxonomists). The mushroom you see is the fruiting structure. In the ground are near-microscopic filaments called hyphae, which en masse become mycelium, sometimes detectable if you dig into the soil. The hyphae spend their time feeding on and decomposing organic matter, such as dead roots, random pieces of buried wood, and lawn thatch. This is a good thing, the natural order of our planet. When the mycelium has grown well and conditions are right, as in sustained moistness, the fruit, that is, mushrooms, are produced.
As you know, removing the mushrooms doesn't keep them from coming back - because the mycelium is still there in the soil, waiting for conditions to prompt fruiting.
The ultimate solution is to remove the conditions that the fungi thrive on. You can dig out dead roots or whatever buried wood is at the site, improve drainage, and prevent accumulation of lawn thatch (most commonly caused by over-fertilization). In some cases, removal of all soil to a depth of several inches would be required. This University of California Web site goes into details: www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74100.html.
It would be a lot easier to think of them as intriguing Halloween lawn ornaments, no?
Q: When is the best time to bring in all the green tomatoes?
- Brenda Rich
A: The day before the first killing frost is predicted. Or whenever you want before then.
Ah, but what is a "killing frost" or a "hard freeze"? Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but light frost can occur when the air temperature is 35 degrees if not higher. For those uninterested in microclimate meteorology, the gardener's practical definition is when the temperature is 31 or below for several hours. It is possible, with a temperature dip of short duration, for only a few ice crystals to form in plant tissue; if they thaw slowly, a fleshy plant that has already experienced near-freezing temperatures is relatively unharmed. The deadly situation is when there are no clouds at sunrise and ice crystals in plant tissue rapidly thaw.
Send questions to Michael Martin Mills, The Inquirer, Box 41705, Philadelphia 19101 or gardenqanda@earthlink.net. Please include locale. Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/michaelmartinmills.
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