do you want fertile soil yes or no?

Anything organic - like wood based mulches - will eventually decompose and fungi are the primary decomposers :-) The mushrooms are just the visible result of the fungal activity. Almost all fungal species involved in the decomposition process are harmless to plants.

The benefit of a wood based or other organic mulch is that as it decomposes, it releases nutrients into the soil. You won't get that benefit from a rock mulch and they have a few other drawbacks as well. They are much harder to keep clean and weed free than an organic mulch and will also absorb a lot of heat from sunlight and reflect it back on to the plants, often to their disadvantage.

Colored mulches will generate fungal activity just the same as an undyed wood mulch. Personally, I think colored mulches look garish and unnatural and would not consider them for my garden. Plus, they fade faster than a natural mulch and may need to be refreshed more often, meaning more $$ spent (and they are more expensive than natural wood mulch anyway). And while reputable companies use natural pigments to dye the mulch, smaller independent suppliers may not and the colorings they use can be toxic in nature as they breakdown.

Glib's question is valid - a natural wood mulch is going to add significantly to soil fertility over time and a wood chip mulch is one of the best for both weed suppression and durability. Forget the dyed stuff and let you garden have a more natural appearance - the plants should be the featured items, not the soil covering!!

I am not sure what the problem is here - you don't like the look, or are you concerned they are somehow harmful? Quite natural as stated above and if you don't like the look, they usually don't last long (a few days).

I would never expend the effort to remove mulch that is feeding the soil. If you did, the soil is full of spores anyway and the new mulch may develop the same mushrooms.

Consider letting nature do its thing and just grin and bear it. :-D

If the house was just on the market, they may have mulched it more recently than two years ago. I'd suspect the mulch is more recent. I agree with the other remarks above - the mushrooms aren't a sign of anything bad happening.

If you are dealing with a steeply sloped area, I'm having a hard time believing that a rock mulch would stay put and not roll downhill. Shredded bark or other shredded materials may work better, because they kind of "mat together" after you spread them out.

I don't like the colored mulches either. They look fake and the color tends to glop out after a while. I think they are just a way to sell the worst grade of shredded junk wood as mulch and make people think it's "designer" mulch or something.

I asked my landscaping company to get rid of mushrooms in my yard. They didn't even try to help, but simply said "well that's because you must have some kind of decomposing wood there". In other words, mushrooms popping up in the yard is not something to be alarmed about. Whether it comes from mulch or decomposing roots that you can't see, it's not necessarily a weed or pest that you need to give immediate attention to.

Purslane, I'm glad to hear that your landscaping company had a responsible response to your request!

Neil, I hope that you realize that your mushrooms aren't an "issue".

Thanks for the feedback. I wasn't concerned that they were negatively impacting the yard. I just don't like how they look.

Nothing wrong with not liking the look - not all mushrooms are very nice to look at!

If the mushrooms are repeatedly growing back (you said they've been showing up for a couple of weeks, but individual mushrooms usually wouldn't last that long) then raking and "fluffing" the mulch may cut down on them, by making the mulch dryer and more aerated. Other kinds of organisms (including fungi that don't produce prominent mushrooms) will eventually break down the mulch regardless, so it's not environmentally damaging to rake and aerate the mulch - you would just be adjusting the conditions a bit so that this particular fungus isn't so predominant.

Over time, as the existing mulch breaks down you could put a different form of mulch over the top of it. Larger bark "nuggets" are slightly less friendly to fungus growth than shredded bark. You could also try pine needles or straw mulch if they are available where you are. In the autumn you should be able to get shredded leaves (or shred your own), or see if your municipality has leaf mulch available for pick-up. But shredded wood mulch (colored or not) would be just as hospitable to mushroom-producing fungus as what you've got now, if not more so.

It's also quite likely that this is seasonal - rain and warm weather with somewhat cool nights (although don't know where you are) and will slow down soon. I'd just rake them over and try to ignore or learn to love them. inky caps can leave unsightly black stains for a short while though. All in all mushrooms are a good sign.

if you don't like how they look maybe organic gardening is not for you.

Post a pic. If they're tasty ones maybe I'll come over and take them off your hands! :-]

I see nothing to indicate that Neil was interested in organic gardening and since this is not the organic gardening forum to suggest that organic gardening is not for him is not a valid response to the question.

He has indicated that he is aware that the mushrooms come from the mulch but wants to know if that mulch needs to be replaced. No it does not.

He also wants to know if a colored mulch will suppress mushroom growth. Not necessarily. If a mulch has been treated with an anti fungal it may do that, for a time.

If the wood chip mulch is totally replaced with a stone mulch that will suppress the growth of mushrooms.

As many here have indicate the best way to keep this unwanted growth under control is to periodically rake the mulch which will disturb the mycelium that the mushrooms spring from.

kimmq is kimmsr

If you don't like the way they look, knock them down and they will dry out quickly.

It might be an indication that you have wetter than usual conditions in that spot - check for soggy spoil.

But mushrooms live in decaying wood, like mulch and tree roots.

I was just coming to ask about mushroom as well, we recently went with bulk wood mulch for our new flower beds and we have had to deal with a lot of rain lately here in Indiana, so there are mushrooms everywhere... to be honest, I don't remember these many showing up but I figured the rain had a lot to do with it. I definitely do not like the "look", so I will probably be doing some labor work later when the rain stops ;)

Many mushroom types 'fruit' (produce the visible mushroom that we recognize) immediately after a rain. My yard's got a lot of them today, too. My experience is that most of the fruiting bodies decompose very quickly on their own (or as helped/consumed by various other garden/soil denizens). So just raking lightly to knock them down would likely be enough if all that bothers you is the look (and you're not overly picky). Knock 'em down and let them disappear on their own; if they're really gigantic you could break them up. Very little labour needed. You'll probably find there are fewer each time as the wood mulch breaks down.

@roxana, I don't know the name of that type of mushroom, but I get those frequently around and especially in compost. I find they break down _very_ quickly on their own; you may find them already gone by the time you get the rake out (assuming a normal level of procrastination). Even if you do get there in time, they're fragile and will disappear fast.

It would be very easy to knock them down and they would decompose pretty fast.

Those are interesting, with the ragged edges. I don't remember seeing that kind here in MO. But there are so many.

I did see a dog vomit fungus in my woods on the weekend. Definitely a less attractive type. :-p

I just grab a rake and turn the soil around when I see them (I don't care for the look either!), They're good for the soil!

That one's a slime mold, not a fungus. I have had that one pop up in my garden too...and in my worm bin! Pretty gross. It doesn't look so much like dog vomit to me, though, unless the dog just ate some bright yellow paint.

parsley, there is no sign of slime mold in any of the images. Where do you see slime mold?

I was responding to toxcrusader's mention of "dog vomit" slime mold. Apparently renee texas was posting at the same time and I didn't notice, so it's not so clear what I was talking about.

If they are feeding on the wood mulch, yes. However they can also feed on other organic matter or dead roots in the ground, so there's no guarantee. Personally I would rather feed my soil with degradable mulch and tolerate a few of nature's more interesting degraders, but that's just me.

Plant a groundcover in the mulch and keep it lightly dressed with an organic mulch until it grows together. Then top dress the groundcover as needed. That's what I do.

Mike

Interesting podcast on mushrooms/fungi; mostly about forests but still lots of interest.

http://www.radiolab.org/story/from-tree-to-shining-tree/

Hello, spent what we consider to be a lot of money on new landscaping for our home. It has been about 1 month (decent amount of rain) and we have been watering just the plants. We have a ton of mushrooms already, is this normal? Is this a good sign? We didn't have them before. I have read that the spores keep spreading. So since it is brand new mulch I think we will be dealing with this problem for a while... can someone help who knows more whether this is good or I should have the mulch removed and replaced?

Dis you read any of the previous posts? They will have answered all your questions.

• Completely normal, especially with plentiful rainfall.
• They are harmless to any existing plants.
• No need to remove and replace mulch.
• They will typically disappear in a few days to weeks; faster if weather is hot and dry.
• Scrape or rake them off if you don't like the look.

I completely agree with all of the above by GardenGal. Why are all the plants evenly spaced?

Nick Pro just wants to know what to do about the mushrooms and didn't come here for us to judge the landscaping design. :-D At least he didn't say it was 'installed' like an appliance. LOL

However the great thing is we know now that mycelium behaves not only like a neural network. It's able to break down rocks and other material not only organic. [ Paul Stamets was involved in one with petroleum, "spoiler alert" He was the only successful 1 out of 3 // and another one where they radioactively tagged a rock and come back later to verify minerals were being transported across a mycelial network some distance away from its origin. ]

It's been proven that they can communicate with other plants in a way.

This also is a few interesting test studies with aphids and the natural defense that was provided by the mushroom mycelium. In relation to a few plants.

Taking the time to identify maybe a hidden treasure in itself. Otherwise if you just don't like them I agree with the right method knock them down and turn them under the soil if you want.