skip to main content

Soil, Compost & Mulch

Mushrooms in garden bed, good or bad?

10 years ago

Not sure where to put this, so I'll just stick it here. I woke up the other day and found some mushrooms had grown literally over night in a small sqft bed I have.

I know that mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi in the soil, but I am wondering if these are good or bad, mycorrhizal or saprophobic? It has been rather overcast and rainy for the past week here in Japan (we had two or three typhoons blow through), so my soil has been fairly wet if this helps at all.

As for the mushrooms, they look very delicate, tops are cone shaped, gills are brown. They grew in an area that as far as I know doesn't have any dead/decaying matter.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

TXEB
10 years ago
It's a sign of healthy soil. It shows you have active fungi working on that soil, and have carbon in that soil that they can feed on.

edit added -- looking at your photo t appears that there are lots of bits of decomposed wood or bark on/in that soil. That's decaying organic matter.

This post was edited by TXEB on Mon, Sep 9, 13 at 8:38
0
Kimmsr
10 years ago
Mycorrhiza refers to a relationship that certain fungi develop with some plants and not to any specific type of fungi, and saprophobic simply refers to how fungi obtain the nutrients they need to exist.
Most fungi are beneficial and are part of Ma Natures recycling machine, but some fungi are not. Whether what you have is beneficial or not then depends on what you do have, but most likely they are beneficial.
0
Related Discussions
Mushrooms in my soil bed...Good or Bad?
Q
Comments (9)
Pull them up and throw them out ? ? ? Where's the fun in that ? They are not hurting anything and just don't last all that long. Your other option is to enjoy them. Watch the life process they go through, learn to identify them or not, but I've found I now can mark the parts of each season by which of my various mushrooms pop up and disappear. I've even gone to the extreme of picking up tiny starts of any new mushroom that has not already set up shop in my garden. Many then reappear forever. Others don't happen to love what I'm providing and don't come back the next year. You'll know when you've gone too far. If you look forward to your patch of dog vomit slime appearing each year, to watch it's whole process, well.... ;)
...See More
February 2014 what looks good/bad in your garden?
Q
Comments (22)
Awesome updates everyone. So fun to see. Like several posters mentioned, my tomato plants (and basil!) survived this winter just fine and are producing quite nicely again. Leaf lettuce is just making an amazing crop so I can have several salads a week (the earliest sowings from October have started bolting/flowering so I'm ripping those out and replacing with new youngsters). What a mild winter this has been! Jon, does your Senecio usually survive the winter or do you re-start it from cuttings? I grew it at my last Scottsdale garden and always took cuttings as insurance, but after selling that place I have no idea if it got torched in a freeze or what. I love your beds, Mary, especially the neat trellis on the last pic--so neat! I've got aloe blooms, and lemon fruit coming out my eyeballs, lol. Here's a quick pic of my covered patio yesterday, just for fun (Wilson the tennis ball discreetly placed to show relative size, hah). Agave parryi and Euphorbia rigida in the front garden this morning: A fun "mutt" "mongrel" or "hybrid" (depending on who you ask and what their mood is, LOL) aloe, which clearly has mostly Aloe striata in its ancestry, blooming away (tennis ball to show size). Happy gardening everyone, enjoy this fabulous weather! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from my garden, Feb 2014
...See More
Ants in the daylily garden -Good or bad?
Q
Comments (11)
Yes, be very careful what you use if you have pets. I have 2 cats and 1 dog. One concoction I found on the internet recommended adding peanut butter to the bait. Ha! I have a dog that LOVES peanut butter - so no, that one won't work for me. I am currently using a commercial product that has boric acid as it's main ingredient along with a sweetener. I have done 3x3 squares of parchment paper (could use wax paper), placed them on the ant patch (I have 12-18" diameter sand circles in my lawn) and placed a small rock on top (to keep the wind from taking them away) that creates a depression on the paper. I let a couple drop hit the rock and then puddle under the rock. The ants can squeeze in there to get the bait but the cats can't. This only works on dry days. If it rains you'll have to start again. I had it all set up yesterday, then it poured. Freak thunderstorm. Had to start over today. I'm testing on 16 of 40 or 50 colonies that are in the lawn. My commercial product sounds very similar to that already described. It would be cheaper to brew up your own. I tried my own last year with honey instead of sugar. It didn't work for me but I may have given up too soon. BTW, ants are good for Peonies (almost necessary) and a couple of other plants but I can't think of any reason they would benefit a daylily.
...See More
Mushrooms growing in garden? Good or bad?
Q
Comments (3)
If it were a Morel mushroom I would say it was a great thing but this one I would call neutral.
...See More
filmost
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the great info! My mind has expanded a little! Going to assume what I have here is beneficial. And yes you are right, I realized I mixed in a bunch of tree bark compost when I built this bed.
0
TXEB
10 years ago
I think you can be very secure that what you are seeing is the manifestation of something beneficial.

You can be certain that it arises from a parent soil-borne fungus. I have yet to hear or learn of any phytopathogneic fungus that spreads via mushrooms. The ones I know of all use other methods to spread their spores. There may be one or more, but I've never heard of them. If they exist and were prevalent I think every gardener would be looking for "the mushroom". We aren't. That leads me to believe that any such fungus, if it exists, must be quite rare. I would view those mushrooms as a good sign for your soil.

What part of Japan?
0
filmost
Original Author
10 years ago
I'm in an area called Saitama, part of the greater Tokyo metro area. Kind of like how New Jersey is to New York.

Originally from the US, I moved out here back in 2006 after Uni.
0
TXEB
10 years ago
Very nice. I believe you're still on the coastal plain, so I suspect in normal years reasonably wet? That tends to make for more mushrooms. Perhaps you should consider culturing them. I believe there are many which are quite prized in Japanese cuisine.

I miss travelling to Japan. But retirement is better.
0
filmost
Original Author
10 years ago
Oh, I wouldn't be able to cultivate the priced varieties. They require special relationships to very specific trees and other organisms from what I have read. Perhaps at some point when I am a bit more experienced, I will try shiitake since we tend to use those quite a bit. ;-)
0
TXEB
10 years ago
Well, there are the wild ones that have defied cultivation (for example Morels in the U.S., Matsutake in Japan), but then there are those that have been cultivated, which I believe includes all of the Shimeji.
0

Related Stories

GARDENING AND LANDSCAPING Bid Bad Garden Bugs Goodbye and Usher In the Good

By Matt Kilburn

Give ants their marching orders and send mosquitoes moseying, while creating a garden that draws pollinators and helpful eaters

LANDSCAPE DESIGN Good Fences, Good Neighbors — and Good Views

By Carol Crotta

See-through vertical fencing connects a yard with its surroundings while keeping children and pets safely inside

EDIBLE GARDENS Grow Herbs for Fresh Flavor and Good Looks in the Garden

By Marianne Lipanovich

With sun and a patch of ground, you can have all the fresh flavor you need for cooking right outside your door. Here's how to get started

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Common Boneset Helps Good Bugs Thrive

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Support bees, moths and butterflies with the nectar of this low-maintenance, versatile and tactile prairie-style plant

GARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIES Gardening for the Bees, and Why It’s a Good Thing

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

When you discover how hard bees work for our food supply, you may never garden without them in mind again

FARM YOUR YARD How to Get Good Soil for Your Edible Garden

By Abundant City

The nutrients in your soil feed the plants that feed you. Here are tips on getting it right — just in time for planting season

LANDSCAPE DESIGN Why the Art of Restraint Is So Good for Your Garden

By Donald Pell - Gardens

Drifts of naturalized plantings offer the perfect inspiration for your home landscape

MOST POPULAR How to Design a Colorful Flower Bed

By Marianne Lipanovich

Fall planting: Delight the eye through 3 seasons with bright flowers placed just right. Late summer is the time to plan

GREEN Palatable Palettes: Green Goodness for Bedrooms

By Jennifer Ott Design

As ripe as a summer garden, green shades and tones help bedrooms show off their freshest face

GARDENING GUIDES The Poop Scoop: Enrich Your Soil With Good Old Manure

By Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting

Get over the ick factor already — this natural super-ingredient for soil has so many benefits, you'll wonder why you ever went chemical

Sponsored

More Discussions

Using Pebbles as a Mulch in Succulent Garden

1

growing grass after pine trees removed

4

Worms in compact clay soil

1

Need advice - got into some ‘DIRT’

14

Buried concrete affecting pH?

0