Unwanted Mushrooms in Raised Bed

[tlintx]

This is the second time I've found horrible looking mushrooms growing in my raised tomato bed. These things are AWFUL. White, stringy, with diseased-looking black caps. They shoot up like undead claws around the stem of each plant.

I used mushroom compost as one of the ingredients in the bed. I've had mushrooms pop up in other beds before but they were much less disgusting and I ignored them. I read it could mean the soil is a bit wet (the tomatoes are not showing signs of overwatering).

Is there anything I can or should do? Should I pull them out, or will that just spread more spores? They wilt and collapse in the heat but don't go completely away.

[whistech]

I'm not an expert, by any means, but I always thought that mushrooms meant that organic materials were breaking down in the soil and therefore indicated a healthy soil.

[Darren Abbey]

You can pull the mushrooms if you feel like it, but that won't stop them from appearing since the main body of the fungus is distributed throughout the soil.

Got a picture to post?

[tlintx]

I will try to take a picture in a bit, it's hot!

I figured there wasn't much to be done, they're just horrible looking. The usual mushrooms I get are brown and Alice-in-Wonderland-y. These look like something out of a horror movie.

[rockhound]

The mushrooms shouldn't hurt anything, except for the neatness factor. Any fungi that are big enough to see, just turn them under. Free organic matter.

[zeroma]

Free organic matter indeed. They (fungus)break down the more woody things in the soil. That is a great thing. Although as you said, "ugly". They often appear in wood mulches too.

[KarenO]

pictures? if it was from mushroom compost then they may well be edible as typically only edible mushroom spores should be in mushroom compost. you might be disparaging a gourmet delight

karen O.

[tlintx]

I promise, I'll take some in the morning!

Pretty sure this is them:

http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/galle...oserresult.asp

Could have blown in from anywhere, and I also used other composts. They seem to only be shooting up at spots where I've dug holes, though, like around the stems and plant markers, so maybe they were in the mushroom compost (which was layered under peat humus).

I won't be eating them, yuck!


Tl

[livinonfaith]

Yeah, you're smart.

I've kind of studied mushrooms,(in a self taught haphazard kind of way) doing spore tests and such. I've found a couple of varieties around here that were almost certainly very good edibles. (Honey mushroom is one, and there was also a type of Bolete) But the only one I've felt comfortable enough to eat from the wild is the Lion's Mane. (And only because there is nothing else that looks like it.)

Too many ways to make a mistake, and mistakes with mushrooms can be extremely uncomfortable, if not fatal. Then again, if you could have a mushroom expert take a look at one, You may find that you are sitting on a gastronomical treasure trove!

I wonder if your local agricultural office might be able to recommend someone who could identify it?

[tlintx]

I'm pretty sure it's the one I linked above -- but they're gone now so I'll have to wait for another rain to snap pictures!

I feel like wild mushrooms are an unacceptable risk. If I succeed, we saved a few dollars over buying from the store. If I fail, my whole family gets sick or worse!

[Redbaron]

Well no one should eat any mushroom they don't know. But if it is this: Shaggy Mane Inkcap They are very good if you catch them before they open.

[Darren Abbey]

Shaggy Mane (Coprinus spp.) is widely considered a choice edible, if you get it before it goes inky... but the mushroom does have a factor/'toxin' that interferes with your body's ability to process alcohol. The consequence of this is that a beer with dinner could become very unpleasant. (This effect has sometimes been used in treatment of alcoholics.)

[jasonig]

I saw some mushrooms in the Miracle Grow Organic potting soil when I was planting and a week later here's what I have. I guess thats not a surprise considering they were in the soil. Hopefully they are not harmful....

[dpurdy]

jasonig,
How do you keep the dirt in your pot hanging upside down like that? These are some of the mushrooms that I've found in my beds this week.
dpurdy

[tlintx]

I'm just glad I'm in such esteemed Accidental Mushroom Growing company.